Bike noise, creak, click, creaks, clicks, clicking, pinging sound - help

It went away for maybe 30mins after reinstalling and tightening. The brake is on uber tight! If i hold the brake down and rock the bike forward and back i get a constant knock not a judder each time a push forward?

Explain the process you use to tighten the headset. Maybe it's just come loose again.

If you left your headset loose for too long you may have an ovalised head tube resulting in the cups not sitting properly in the head tube, but that usually takes more force or a longish time.

keep riding, it'll stop eventually :p

loosen stem, tighten top cap then tighten stem

You're on threadless then I take it?

I was expecting threaded as these require more attention and a bit more of a knack to get adjusted correctly. Can't help minimal experience with threaded, or more I've never had any problems with them compared to threaded I find they're zero maintenance.

yeah...threadless

You might have already pitted the bearing races or flattened some bearings while riding it loose.

Follow these instructions to adjust your headset correctly and if it still knocks you 'might' need a new headset. It could also be your brakes but try lifting the front wheel and moving the fork around, rather than using the brakes for testing - this eliminates them from noise/movement causing action.

You might have already pitted the bearing races or flattened some bearings while riding it loose.

almost certainly - very easy to do in >1mile of london riding.Take the thing apart and check it first...

are u on a machined rim?

Thanks for all the tips...i've sorted it! Happened to have the instruction manual which came with my cinelli stem. It stated that you need 3 - 4 mm space between the top of the steerer and the top of the stem. Checked mine it was about 1 - 2 mm. So i added an extra spacer so its now 6mm (only had a 5mm spacer to hand) and the noise has dissapeared!

just for curiosity what stem is this one?

Cinelli vai

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/id34584.html

You'll do well to get a shallower spacer to get the clearance to the specified 3mm.

If you've too much clearance at the top the top stem bolt has nothing to clamp against (ie no steerer).

Thanks for all the tips...i've sorted it! Happened to have the instruction manual which came with my cinelli stem. It stated that you need 3 - 4 mm space between the top of the steerer and the top of the stem. Checked mine it was about 1 - 2 mm. So i added an extra spacer so its now 6mm (only had a 5mm spacer to hand) and the noise has dissapeared!

dented rims ?

Go brakeless. The knocking will go away.

Hillbilly, Head Mechanic, undisclosed location.

go stemless, you don't really need it

I've had a nasty creaking noise for a while, I thought it was maybe my pedals or maybe my BB, but today it was so bad that I was embarrassed to be seen (heard) riding in public, so I rushed back home (in shame) to have a tinker. Tried standing on the cranks (not pedals) and the creaking was still creaking, so it wasn't the pedals (old though they are). Took the BB out (standard Shimano type, nothing special), all looked fine, then tried putting it back in, and as I screwed it in - well, it just kept turning. The threads on the BB look fine, and the threads in the BB frame look reasonably fine, so... Not sure which bit's gone wrong. Anyhow, I put it all back together and the creaking's gone, so it's fine for the moment but something is bad, and my guess is it's the BB shell on the frame. Either that or there's a teeny crack in the frame somewhere, I dunno... I don't really want to spend big $$ fixing it because the frame only cost me little $$, I'd rather save the cash till the day I find a new frame i like...

I'm not looking for advice here, I'm just rambling :)

Sounds like it might be the BB shell indeed.

But BB cups are made of soft thin lightweight aluminium, so it be surprised if they were capable of prising open a slightly cracked BB shell.

Ride around some more, agressiveley on bumpy roads (but somewhere safe for a crash) and see if it comes back.

I had/have this problem too. when I tighten the left bb cup (plastic) it keeps turning, you can feel it tighten, then "fall off" as it skips threads. I think the creaking is when it works a little loose...

I am trying to source a replacement cup / cheap bb (penniless student), but in mean time I just remove left crank every few days and tighten the cup.

Did you look at the chainring bolts, if they are not tight or some have dropped out it will creak.

As in the title. At first I thought it was my bottom bracket. I greased it and put it back in.

I have now realised that it is the rear hub/freewheel that is clicking. Is there such thing as greasing a cluster? I sprayed some lube in it but that didn't work very well - only marginally quieter...

Is it a crunchy clicking?

probably a clicky crunching. Lenni, you can take hubs apart in pretty much the same way as you can BB's. See sheldon...

Yes, before I sprayed the lube in it did sound like sanding paper.

Now that is sorta gone and a very regular clicking is left. This happens only when I spin the crank/pedals not when I just coast.