My Road bike, which has been squeeking due to bottom bracket
For the past several months I have had a persistent clicking on my best road bike. It has proved very difficult to isolate and rectify. I wish I had been able to do it earlier as a clicking bike does start to get irritating on longer rides (as well as being indicative of mechanical problems reducing power output). This is what I suggest:
- Try tightening everything up. This should include wheels, bottle cages, headsets, anything that may be lose. Often this will solve the problem
- Try replacing the wheels. If the clicking stops, you have isolated the problem to your wheels. One friend’s clicking sound could be traced to a quick release mechanism on a Mavic Kyrsium wheel.
- Try riding in and out of the saddle. If the sound only occurs when in the saddle, check the seat post. One friend said he had a clicking sound which was due to a seatpost being too far out. When he sat on the saddle, the seat post was moving against the frame.
- Does it occur with every pedal stroke or only when you apply a lot of pressure? If it only occurs when you apply a lot of pressure going up hills or sprinting, it is indicative of a bottom bracket that needs replacing. If it occurs with every pedal, it may just be some bearings. If the sound occurs when you are freewheeling, it is probably due to something in the wheel.
Other Strategies to Dealing With Clicking Sounds
- Strip down bike and regrease. This can often solve problems
- Take bike to bike shop and have someone else have a go at locating it.
- If your bike is carbon fibre or has a lot of carbon fibre components, creaking is more likely to occur.
In my case I took it into a bike shop 3 times. The first time, everything got tightened up. The second time, the bike was stripped down and regreased. The third time we changed the bottom bracket.
For some reason it really gets on my wick when I hear people’s bikes with noisy freewheels. Think of how much effort all these people could save if they improved their coasting efficiency by getting their freewheels sorted out. Of the ways you can ride a manky bike, that one makes me cringe every time I hear it: even worse than wobbly wheels, misadjusted brake blocks, or chains so rusty they crunch as they go round.