Clicks and cures

Clicks can be interesting, writes Dr Bicycle Engineering Mike P.

They invariably foster conversation, comradeship, and at coffee time, tech-talk.

Investigating them can even be useful on a steep hill. But then they quickly move to nuisance, then a bike-brand selection doubt that gets personally discrediting.

A bit later it escalates to irritatingly performance sapping before becoming a right down-hill worry. Especially if you ride a Cannondale.

Then after extensive checking and dismantling to no avail, fucking annoying. Not to mention expensive, time consuming and worst of all, ride-compromising when bike-shopped, especially

for the second or third time.

When clicks are found, they are equally a source of annoyance (Why didn't I think of that?), embarrassment (Oh shit…) and guilt when not disclosing the whole truth to your financial manager.

The problem is, the occurrence of each type is long enough ago from its previous occurrence to be new for the young and forgotten for the infirm.

So here is a head start for your next click-hunt.

There are no doubt a hundred more click-factors, so your contribution is very welcome,

and will be added. Bear in mind though, café forums may be used to extract the required detail.

1. Bottom Bracket bearing/s

A click at the same place in the pedal circle, but otherwise random with respect to its noise level, and pedal load and speed.

Cause: One of the BB30 bearings had a seal failure resulting in some water ingress, micro-corrosion in the bearing race, reduced and contaminated lubricant.

Diagnosis: Remove the chain and spin the pedals. There should be no bearing noise at all. The click while riding translates to a very light smooth hum under no-load rotation.

Cure: New bearings

Who: The good doctor Mike P.

2. Rear Skewer not tight enough

Cause: Can be just not tightened enough of course. But it can also be:

- Skewer lever hitting the frame in the closed position. This can do two click-things:

1. Prevents full lever closure, so not tight on the axle, but the lever will go no further.

2. It stops fractionally from the frame, so can tap it.

- Fancy gram saving titanium skewers. Titanium is comparatively very flexible/ stretchable. Also as after-market products, appear to require a lot of pressure to close due to poor cam design (as opposed to pressure from stretching the skewer as required).

-Dryness of all clamping surfaces (axle ends, drops, inner and outer, skewer cam, contact faces and pivot pin

Diagnosis: Just tighten / grease-smear all contact surfaces and tighten / replace with nothing-fancy Shimano Ultegra steel shaft skewers.

Cure: Postion the closed lever away from the seats stay or chain stay / Learn the tension / Biff

Who: Thompson

3. Front Skewer not tight enough / loose

Loose = more rattle than click

Cause: Forgot to tighten it.

Who: Carter

4. Worn joiner link in chain

SRAM POWER-LOCK connector link found very worn compared to the rest of the chain.

Cause: Joiner life maybe not up to it? Maybe used with previous chains?

Diagnosis: Remove link and look at the wear pattern on the pins (a click = obvious groves).

Cure: Buy some spares. Check whenever the chain is off. Change twice as often as the chain.

Who: Pengelly

5. Rear derailleur bent

Twisted a little so that the bottom jockey wheel did not line up with the chain rings. The click was one of the teeth randomly snagging one side of the chain, slightly gear-combo dependent.

Cause: An off. Derailleur hit.

Diagnosis: Bike on work-stand, pedals spun up: as viewed from behind the bottom pulley should be more or less parallel with the bike vertically and longitudinally, and the chain should pass smoothly through, and appear centered on the chain. The occasional snag, as well as making a click, makes the chain jump a little.

Cure: Grab hold of the lower sprocket: twist /bend progressively until it aligns a little better…. Hope nothing breaks.

Who: Pengelly

6. Frame

Carbon-fibre frame seat tube cracking

Cause: Clydesdale. Possibly. Offs, also possibly. More likely an over-tight front derailleur mount or deficient frame design.

Diagnosis: Front derailleur won't work properly / needs continual adjustment

Cure: New frame / new bike

Who: McGechie

7. Broken spoke

Spokes break, but does that ever cause a click? These days spoke counts are so low and tensions so high that a buckled rim is an instant result, and a dragging brake an instant effect.

Cause: a) wheel being run over by another bike when horizontal on the road. b)Fancy as all hell rims

Diagnosis: You won't miss it. It's and all or nothing thing

(or is it?)

Cure: Be luckier

Who: Pengelly (a.); Hall (b.)

8. Non-LABC / coffee-talk clicks

- Seat post: dry; seat post skewer not tight enough

- Seat rails moving in seat plastic either end

- Spare shoe cleat mounting fasteners (for alternative cleat systems) rattling in shoe base and hidden under the cleat

- Frame lay-up fault: BMC “just clicked”. Found to be the internals in the BB area. No fault apparently. Only clicked with respect to the right pedal. Free frame replacement , but a lot of shop-time finding it.

- Tick or click? The inner cable tail a bit long and bent outwards hitting the right crank arm.