What does a knackered bottom bracket sound like?
Discussion
Got a new and expensive sounding noise on my bike.
It's a randomly-timed clunking sound (the closest thing i can liken it too is a stone in a cement mixer). Three or four clunks per turn of the cranks. It's not rhythmic in time with pedal strokes and doesn't seem to change much with speed either.
The noise stops if i stop pedalling, and also stops under heavy load (like when i cycled up Cheddar Gorge) but soon returns.
Does that point to bottom bracket issues?
It's a randomly-timed clunking sound (the closest thing i can liken it too is a stone in a cement mixer). Three or four clunks per turn of the cranks. It's not rhythmic in time with pedal strokes and doesn't seem to change much with speed either.
The noise stops if i stop pedalling, and also stops under heavy load (like when i cycled up Cheddar Gorge) but soon returns.
Does that point to bottom bracket issues?
boyse7en said:
Got a new and expensive sounding noise on my bike.
It's a randomly-timed clunking sound (the closest thing i can liken it too is a stone in a cement mixer). Three or four clunks per turn of the cranks. It's not rhythmic in time with pedal strokes and doesn't seem to change much with speed either.
The noise stops if i stop pedalling, and also stops under heavy load (like when i cycled up Cheddar Gorge) but soon returns.
Does that point to bottom bracket issues?
Does it make noise when out of the saddle?It's a randomly-timed clunking sound (the closest thing i can liken it too is a stone in a cement mixer). Three or four clunks per turn of the cranks. It's not rhythmic in time with pedal strokes and doesn't seem to change much with speed either.
The noise stops if i stop pedalling, and also stops under heavy load (like when i cycled up Cheddar Gorge) but soon returns.
Does that point to bottom bracket issues?
I'd be checking that your saddle rails are tight, your quick release / axles are tight, everything that can possibly need grease or lube has it applied, check your pedals and cleats before looking at a bottom bracket.
Edit: When my BB died recently it the noise got louder the more power I applied through the pedals.
Check 'everything' is tightened up as it should be.
I recently had a random noise which I put down to bottom bracket - turned out the crank was very very slightly loose and was causing an awful noise.
In the past a slightly loose rear axle, peddle bearings shot, plus a lot of other loose/wormn items have also made noises that sound like a shot BB.
Good Luck finding it!
I recently had a random noise which I put down to bottom bracket - turned out the crank was very very slightly loose and was causing an awful noise.
In the past a slightly loose rear axle, peddle bearings shot, plus a lot of other loose/wormn items have also made noises that sound like a shot BB.
Good Luck finding it!
river_rat said:
Check 'everything' is tightened up as it should be.
Yep, EVERYTHING. Almost a year of replacing, dismantling, greasing, reassembling to eventually find the cause of the click driving me crazy. The tiny screw holding the front mech bracket to the frame being slightly loose. jfdi said:
take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:
Also worth checking chain ring bolt tightness.
I'd done those at least 5 times.A creaky stem turned out to be the brake cable housing moving in its frame attachment.
A bottom bracket click turned out to be a couple of loose spokes moving against each other as the chain pulled the wheel around, and not while free-wheeling.
A cartilage click in my knee turned out to be my lace hitting the top of my shoe on the downstroke.
Bicycles are b
ds.
A bottom bracket click turned out to be a couple of loose spokes moving against each other as the chain pulled the wheel around, and not while free-wheeling.
A cartilage click in my knee turned out to be my lace hitting the top of my shoe on the downstroke.
Bicycles are b
ds.ScotHill said:
A creaky stem turned out to be the brake cable housing moving in its frame attachment.
A bottom bracket click turned out to be a couple of loose spokes moving against each other as the chain pulled the wheel around, and not while free-wheeling.
A cartilage click in my knee turned out to be my lace hitting the top of my shoe on the downstroke.
Bicycles are bds.
We ought to have a thread on this - hugely frustrating noises that took ages to diagnose. A bottom bracket click turned out to be a couple of loose spokes moving against each other as the chain pulled the wheel around, and not while free-wheeling.
A cartilage click in my knee turned out to be my lace hitting the top of my shoe on the downstroke.
Bicycles are b
ds.take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:
ScotHill said:
A creaky stem turned out to be the brake cable housing moving in its frame attachment.
A bottom bracket click turned out to be a couple of loose spokes moving against each other as the chain pulled the wheel around, and not while free-wheeling.
A cartilage click in my knee turned out to be my lace hitting the top of my shoe on the downstroke.
Bicycles are bds.
We ought to have a thread on this - hugely frustrating noises that took ages to diagnose. A bottom bracket click turned out to be a couple of loose spokes moving against each other as the chain pulled the wheel around, and not while free-wheeling.
A cartilage click in my knee turned out to be my lace hitting the top of my shoe on the downstroke.
Bicycles are b
ds.Listen to your bearings. All of them.
You need to lift the bike, at least one end of it at a time. Work stand, hooked on a fence, suspended from a tree branch or the rafters in a garage/shed will do it. Then literally put your ear to the frame and operate each bearing ONE AT A TIME. Move your ear closer to the bearing you are listening for helps, but the tubes amplify the noises your bike makes. This is bad when you are riding it because you are fooled into thinking it is one thing (and fixing that thing) when the source of irritation is something else entirely. But it is good when you isolate each bearing individually. Listen at the top tube for headset bearings, non drive-side seat tube or down tube for bottom bracket bearings, fork legs for front hub bearings and seat stays for rear hubs. In fact, for a bottom bracket bearing you don't even need to lift the bike - just roll the pedal cranks backwards and you'll either get the smooth "rush" of a bearing in fine fettle, or you'll get a crunching or grumbling noise which will be somewhere on the scale between "keep an eye on it" to "m8, it's farked - change it NOW!"
My current annoying noise is emanating from my road bike's saddle. Everything that can be "nipped up" is correctly so nipped. The creak is coming from the saddle rails which aren't holding the nose and tail of the saddle apart with quite the tension they were when new. Fair play to it, I've ridden (and sometimes abused) it for 20,500 miles, but every time I get close to thinking I've put enough aside for a new seat another more pressing matter will raise it's head like a new crankset for my gravel bike or a chain/cassette refresh for my MTB. It's not uncomfortable, just audibly annoying. And not so much annoying me, but it crimps the st of anyone who rides with me...
You need to lift the bike, at least one end of it at a time. Work stand, hooked on a fence, suspended from a tree branch or the rafters in a garage/shed will do it. Then literally put your ear to the frame and operate each bearing ONE AT A TIME. Move your ear closer to the bearing you are listening for helps, but the tubes amplify the noises your bike makes. This is bad when you are riding it because you are fooled into thinking it is one thing (and fixing that thing) when the source of irritation is something else entirely. But it is good when you isolate each bearing individually. Listen at the top tube for headset bearings, non drive-side seat tube or down tube for bottom bracket bearings, fork legs for front hub bearings and seat stays for rear hubs. In fact, for a bottom bracket bearing you don't even need to lift the bike - just roll the pedal cranks backwards and you'll either get the smooth "rush" of a bearing in fine fettle, or you'll get a crunching or grumbling noise which will be somewhere on the scale between "keep an eye on it" to "m8, it's farked - change it NOW!"
My current annoying noise is emanating from my road bike's saddle. Everything that can be "nipped up" is correctly so nipped. The creak is coming from the saddle rails which aren't holding the nose and tail of the saddle apart with quite the tension they were when new. Fair play to it, I've ridden (and sometimes abused) it for 20,500 miles, but every time I get close to thinking I've put enough aside for a new seat another more pressing matter will raise it's head like a new crankset for my gravel bike or a chain/cassette refresh for my MTB. It's not uncomfortable, just audibly annoying. And not so much annoying me, but it crimps the s
t of anyone who rides with me...
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