Mechanical products can sometimes make unintended noises.

These noises can precede major malfunctions.

Sound is one of the things that can alert you to these issues in advance.

Therefore, I hope that you won't ignore unintended noises but rather address them at the sound stage to prevent major troubles.

This time, I'll share my experience with a "clicking sound" that bothered me for about 3 months, including some additional details.

▲ICAN 15th Anniversary Big Thanks Sale! The Biggest Sale of 2024!

Symptoms of the Clicking Sound

First, I'll describe the symptoms of the "clicking sound" I'm referring to here.

If you're experiencing a similar issue, please compare it with the symptoms of your own bicycle.

・No sound at all when riding at low speed.

・A "clicking" sound occurs when increasing RPMs.

・A "click" occurs once per pedal rotation.

・The source of the sound is unclear.

・When the clicking occurs at high RPMs, shifting up a gear and reducing the RPMs stops the sound.

How does that sound?

The sound isn't constant; it only occurs when certain conditions are met.

Therefore, the sound doesn't occur when test-riding in a parking lot during maintenance.

Also, the symptom doesn't appear at all when dismounting the bicycle and turning the pedals by hand, so there was no way to address it.

By the way, I researched online, but it's completely different from the sound of the chain rubbing against the sprocket.

It's not a "shhh" sound, but rather a "click, click, click" sound.

■Cause of Clicking Sound: Derailleur

One possible cause of clicking sounds is the derailleur.

If you can't identify the exact location, adding lubricant can sometimes improve the situation.

Looking at the image, lubrication is fine for the movable parts (where components move relative to each other).

Commercially available lubricants are fine. CRC 5-56 (Kure 5-56) is a famous example.

However, applying oil to the parts marked with a red circle in the image is NOT recommended.

For example, bolts. Applying lubricant makes them more likely to loosen.

While effective when you need to loosen a bolt, lubricating bolts that don't need to be loosened can cause malfunctions or accidents, so absolutely avoid it.

Next, regarding lubrication for plastic parts, it's not bad to lubricate them, but it's not necessary.

This is because plastic parts inherently have a low coefficient of friction, so lubrication isn't required.

Also, depending on the material, some plastic parts may not have good oil resistance, and lubrication could accelerate their deterioration.

■Cause of Clicking Sound: Crank Axle

Surprisingly, a blind spot was "noise" from the crank axle.

By the way, this was the cause of the noise on my bicycle that bothered me for several months.

Since it started right after I bought it new, I didn't think it was due to deterioration, but I was at a loss as to the cause.

Tightening the pedal fixing bolts stopped the sound.

I thought there might have been a problem with the crank axle bearing, but tightening it stopped the sound completely. (It wasn't loose, though).

I'll also explain the procedure.

The axle bolt may have a plastic cover.

You can't even start without removing this.

It might depend on the bicycle, but as shown in the image, it has threads, so it should unscrew, but honestly, it's impossible to just turn it. To avoid damaging the pedal, insert a plastic scraper or something not too hard like a fingernail into the gap and pry it off.

After removing the plastic cover, a hexagonal bolt appears.

Since it's a hexagonal head bolt, you would normally turn it with a wrench, but it's in a recessed position, so a wrench won't reach it.

That's when a "ratchet wrench" comes in handy.

Some people call it a "ratchet" or a "jariyari" (grinding sound).

A 14mm bit should fit.

Since the pedal rotates, hold the pedal with one hand as shown in the image, position the ratchet with the other hand, and apply force from both sides to tighten the bolt while preventing the pedal from rotating.

While there are various opinions on torque, an average person won't strip a bolt of this size, so it's probably sufficient to just apply your weight and check if it moves or not.

Once it's tightened properly, be sure to check the other side in the same way.

■Cause of Clicking Sound: Pedals

For good measure, let's also tighten the pedal axles.

Pedal axles also contain bearings, so they may start to make noise as they deteriorate.

However, since the sound wouldn't likely occur once per pedal rotation, it's less likely to be the cause in this specific instance, but it's not entirely impossible.

Pedals are different components for the left and right sides.

There are right and left pedals, and they are often visually distinguishable by stickers or engravings.

The image shows "(R)", indicating a pedal for the right side (in the direction of travel).

You can tighten this with a 15mm wrench.

The trick, as before, is to tighten it while preventing the pedal from rotating.

Hold the bicycle frame with one hand and turn the wrench clockwise with your right hand.

*For the opposite side, please be careful about the direction of rotation as it uses a reverse thread.

In my case, this completely stopped the clicking sound.

I hope you keep this in mind and find it useful if you ever experience similar symptoms.

External Writer: Koichi Okuno