Cracking sound coming from crank on climb

shansey

Hi all,

I've recently started getting a crack/click sound coming from the crank when i push hard on the right pedal on steep climbs.

Its just one single noise every time i push down on the right pedal.. something to worry about?

Its a felt S22 with FSA crank

longshank

shansey wrote: »

Hi all,

I've recently started getting a crack/click sound coming from the crank when i push hard on the right pedal on steep climbs.

Its just one single noise every time i push down on the right pedal.. something to worry about?

Its a felt S22 with FSA crank

Check the pedal?

marty_crane

I had this last year. 5 minute repair in the LBS. They used a tool I'd never seen before or since though.

JBokeh

Some squre taper cranks are prone to it. A bit of grease on the square helps, but you've to have a crank extractor to do it.

Sometime the bottom bracket can crackle if the bearings are dried out or full of dirt. Or in my case, the suspension bearings were a bit worn and creaked and cracked under pedalling

Luxman

don't rule out headset either, recently had a clicking sound that I sworn was from the drive chain

listermint

Its probably loose / needs grease.


Grease it now. or it will continue to annoy you.

outfox

Had a similar problem last year. Repaired in a local bike shop in town I was passing through.
Happened again over the Conor Pass the next day, and crank fell off. Had to walk last 2 km to top, and free wheel to Dingle.
Was told entire crank system was gone, and had to be replaced. Luckily the bottom bracket was OK.
Don't ask me for specifics - I'm just the driver.

shansey

Cheers lads.. i'll drop into lbs next time i'm passing so..

smacl

Knees?

Statler

As said above, could be the headset, or could also be the hubs, seatpost or pedals. Had a similar issue that was solved by lightly greasing the rear dropouts, I'm currently troubleshooting a knocking noise on one of my bikes which is driving me insane, just about reached the 'hit it with a hammer' stage.

Daroxtar

Had similar, checked everything and couldn't find the problem. Turns out the sole of my shoe was cracked.

Koobcam

I've had similar problems in the past, which turned out to be headset and spoke noises rather than crank.

wirelessdude01

I've had this for the past 4 days, wasn't that bad on the flat but once on a drag/hill and the pressure was put on then it was crazy annoying. Took off the pedals, cleaned and greased the threads both on the pedals and the cranks and the annoying sound is gone. Can be the simple things. If you have the tools i'd try cleaning them before bringing to a bike shop. 5min job.

WillyFXP

outfox wrote: »

Had a similar problem last year. Repaired in a local bike shop in town I was passing through.
Happened again over the Conor Pass the next day, and crank fell off. Had to walk last 2 km to top, and free wheel to Dingle.
Was told entire crank system was gone, and had to be replaced. Luckily the bottom bracket was OK.
Don't ask me for specifics - I'm just the driver.

Top notch LBS you used there.....

wirelessdude01

outfox wrote: »

Had a similar problem last year. Repaired in a local bike shop in town I was passing through.
Happened again over the Conor Pass the next day, and crank fell off. Had to walk last 2 km to top, and free wheel to Dingle.
Was told entire crank system was gone, and had to be replaced. Luckily the bottom bracket was OK.
Don't ask me for specifics - I'm just the driver.

That shop comes highly recommended so :P

outfox

Yeah, some little back street place in Dingle. Only one I could find on the way through. It was like something out of the 50s. Yer man was looking at my bike like it was from the future.

tailendcharlie

grab the crank and check if there is any play in the bottom bracket, if there is your better off getting it replaced. I had a bottom bracket fall to bits on me out on a spin, and had to limp home with the cranks going all over the place

07Lapierre

Could also be the Pedals, remove them, grease the threads and refit tightly.
Also..check your wheels...remove them, put a drop of oil on your finger and rub the dropouts. Then refit the wheels.

billyhead

Could be anything that was already mentioned O/P. I had the exact same problem your experiencing with my bike just before x-mas. I took it to the local bike shop and it was the bottom bracket bearings. I had to get new bearings as the ones on the bike were worn.

iwillhtfu

shansey wrote: »

Hi all,

I've recently started getting a crack/click sound coming from the crank when i push hard on the right pedal on steep climbs.

Its just one single noise every time i push down on the right pedal.. something to worry about?

Its a felt S22 with FSA crank

Steep climbs on a tri bike.

I think you need another bike

kal7

mine was bearings needed replace at least grease. could be broken crank shaft had that too.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I had a similar problem with my Felt F5 with FSA cranks. I suspected it was the BB30 bearings and left it into LBS to have them cleaned and reset but it turned out to be loose chain ring bolts. Tightened up and done approx 1500kms click free (till I upgraded to 6800)

coastwatch

My guess is that the FSA crankset needs to be re-tightened to the correct torque setting, about 5 minutes in a bike shop if you don't have the tools. I have an FSA SL-K crankset. It has to be tightened to the spec, 45-55Nm. If it's less, it can make creaking / clicking sounds (and may fall off apparently), more likely under load.

eeeee

Getting a similar noise on my F5, with a fsa gossamer crankset. So it's a tightening it needs? It got tightened about three weeks ago and it started cracking then I might bring it back in this Sunday and get it looked at again. Doing my chainring bolts tonight!

coastwatch

gadetra wrote: »

Getting a similar noise on my F5, with a fsa gossamer crankset. So it's a tightening it needs?...

Thats been experience anyway. The FSA crasksets use a wave washer on the non-drive side. The washer is compressed (but not flattened) when the crankset is tightened to the recommended torque setting. FSA instructions mention using a calibrated torque wrench for this, so it's not one of those torque settings you can sometimes improvise, "yep, that feels pretty tight". I borrowed one from work, removed the crankset, greased the spindle, re-installed and torqued to the spec and it's been quiet since.

Nice cranksets anyway, and I think some campy cranksets use a similar wave washer design.

Zyzz

Seatpost.

eeeee

Zyzz wrote: »

Seatpost.

Happens out of the saddle so not seat post I think.

wowy

Bike is obviously a write-off. No choice but to get a new one.

Zyzz

gadetra wrote: »

Happens out of the saddle so not seat post I think.

Out of saddle is why I posted it :pac:

ckeego

Try the quick release skewers, front and rear-I was 100% sure a BB was shot earlier this week-tried the BB, pedals, cranks, rear DR-the whole shebang..

30 seconds with my wrench guy and he copped the rear QR skewer was creaking-problem solved.