Ticking crank

Ahem, my friend's got a langster, since new it's always made a ticking noise from the crank area when i'm pedalling hard. any ideas what it could be and how to fix it. Thank you

don't touch the bike . . . call bomb disposal.

try re greasing the chain ring bolts that should help

or tighten the crank bolts

Remove saddle, clean rails, refit.
Do the same wit the seatpost.
Buy new bike.
Job done.

Seriously, does the noise happen when you stand up? If you're sure it's the cranks. undo and refit with smear of grease to contacting parts.

I'd say it's the bottom-bracket, the standard ones are cheap and nasty. Replace it with a Shimano one.

But try tightening/re-fitting cranks first.

chainring bolts
bottom bracket
pedals
saddle rails / seatpost

degrease/regrease/repack/tighten to proper torque

thanks for your help folks, i've just shown tom all your helpful information and he's grateful, he loved the bomb difusal (?) joke response he got, but he's just coming to terms with the fact that the langster might not be the most popular bike on this forum (he's an ex-soldier, not long back from afghanistan and iraq and stuff, thinks he's got a top racing bike, he's going to sleep right now, in the spare room, he's hard as nails, so i've had to pretend to him he's got a great bike, but thanks a lot, he'll probably take the bike apart like it's a tank or a gun tomorrow. i just thank my stars he didn't get a london langster).

There is nothing wrong with a Langster. It's very light, and sloping top-tubes are "in".
The stock bottom-brackets in most new bikes in the lower-to-mid price-ranges are usually cheap and nasty, it's where the companies can save a bit of money.

If it's the cranks , then the click may be grease on the axle. So clean with meths etc or a degreaser of some sort .

Does the click come when you put pressure on or is it every rotation?

I have a Langster and a fine bit of reasonably priced kit it is. However, it too had a ticking crank. I cured it by stripping the BB out, prising off the bearing seals and packing them with decent grease. Then, on reassembly making sure the BB cups were in tight.

...d.. .i.

I have a similar problem except it's coming from the left hand crank (I'm guessing, it only happens when pedalling with the left crank anyway) and is more of a creaking cracking sound. There was a slight bit of play between the crank and the bb spindle which I got rid of by tightening the nut on the spindle but the sound is still there. It happens more so when I'm pedalling slowly rather than keeping a constant forward pressure whilst pedalling fast. Any ideas?

I have a similar problem except it's coming from the left hand crank (I'm guessing, it only happens when pedalling with the left crank anyway) and is more of a creaking cracking sound. There was a slight bit of play between the crank and the bb spindle which I got rid of by tightening the nut on the spindle but the sound is still there. It happens more so when I'm pedalling slowly rather than keeping a constant forward pressure whilst pedalling fast. Any ideas?

Just lube between the pedal and crank? If it's happening while you're accelerating that's because there's more strain. I often neglect this area and have heard this sound. Feels like BB but it's the pedal.

take the pedals off and grease the thread that goes into the crank arm. that took the clicking noise out of my life!

what brand cranks, sugino's?

what brand cranks, sugino's?

Hi,
funny you mention Sugino, i'm getting a similar noise with these. Did you have a similar experience with sugino's?
thanks

I've had this problem with my left crank for a while now. It definitely is to do with cranks not torque'd on properply, grease on taper of spindle/crank, and cheap quality of cranks (for me at least).

I quietened them down a bit by wrapping the spindle with a bit of PTFE tape (for sealing plumbing joins). This reduced the creaking to a tick when I put pressure on it.

All I can think of is just getting a better crankset.

Had the same thing recently with my bianchi pista, it was the cranks being loose.
Removed them, greased and tightened them up and now have no clicking...

Same problem recently. Basically had to take off and refit my cranks everytime I went on the thing. The crank bolts kept coming lose, crank wouldn't sit tight, and creaking ensued.

Tiny bit of epoxy on the bolt threads, tighten it up proper, problem solved.