When you’re pedaling all day with few distractions, a simple click… click… click… can drive you bonkers. What IS that? And more importantly, what’s going to happen to my bike if I don’t fix it?
Strange bike noises can be stressful under any circumstances, but especially while bikepacking. It’s natural to wonder if a new squeak, click, rattle, or clank is going to leave us stranded in the middle of nowhere, covered in grease and shaking our fists in frustration at an indifferent sky.
One of the most important bike repair skills a bikepacker can have is the ability to intuit the source of a noise on the fly. You don’t even have to stop riding! In this post I’ll explain how to zero in on what part of your bike the noise might be coming from and how serious it might (or might not) be.
Are you sure it’s your bike?
While riding across Missouri I once spent several hours trying to diagnose a rhythmic clicking sound. It clicked in time with my pedal strokes as I climbed the steep roller coaster hills, and seemed to be coming from – oh the dread and horror – my bottom bracket.
It turned out to be… wait for it… It was my jacket’s zipper pull, tapping against the zipper as my body moved with my pedal strokes.
My point is: could your mysterious bike noise be anything besides your bike?
Once you’ve established that it’s not your zipper pull, shoe laces, backpack, Achilles tendon, or any other item attached to your body, it’s time to think about what part of your bike the sound might be related to.
Pedaling-Related Sounds
If you stop pedaling and coast, does the sound stop? Your mystery noise is probably related to your drive train or your pedals themselves. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; some of easiest sounds to fix fall into this category.
Pedals
If you pedal with only one foot (this works best with clipless shoes), does the sound go away? How about the other foot? If you can isolate the sound to one pedal, try spinning that pedal by hand. Squeaky or gritty feeling? Use some chain lube at the point where the pedal rotates, and service your pedals when you get a chance.
If the noise only happens when you pedal with your feet (not spinning the pedal with your hand), it could be related to your:
- cleats
- crank arm grazing your frame bag
- shoe rubbing on the crank or pedal surface
Drive Train
Is the sound somewhat constant whenever you’re pedaling? It could just be that your chain needs a good cleaning and lubing. Once you learn to recognize that sad dry chain sound, this is an easy fix.
Does the sound only happen in certain gear combinations? Perhaps a derailleur is out of alignment and the chain is rubbing on a neighboring cog (in the rear) or the front derailleur itself (front). You might need to align your gears (more likely if the shifting is off in the same direction for every gear) or, a bit more challenging without a bike shop, straighten a bent rear derailleur hanger (more likely if shifting is off in only a couple gears, or off in different directions at different ends of the range).
If the sound happens not with every pedal stroke, but with every time the chain passes the same point (so the frequency will change depending on what gear you’re in but is usually multiple pedal strokes), you may have a stuck or damaged chain link. Lube it if needed, or remove/repair the offending link(s), or replace your entire chain.
Less likely, it’s possible something is wrong with your bottom bracket (the spinny part between the pedals). One test is to hold the cranks and try to wiggle them from side to side (without any spinning), testing for bearing play. A worn bottom bracket will need replacing eventually, but you can usually get away with quite a bit of riding before total failure.
Only Under Heavy Load
Some creaks and squeaks happen in time with pedal stroke but only under heavy load, usually uphill. These can be harder to diagnose, and often sound as if they’re coming from your bottom bracket when they’re not. Possible causes:
- Crank bolts are loose or need grease
- Chainring bolt is loose, or chainring is cracked. (Rare but I’ve seen it happen! The creaking finally stopped when the chainring broke into three pieces…)
- Saddle clamp is loose (does it stop when you stand up on the pedals?)
- Other load-bearing interface, like QR skewer or derailleur attachment point, needs to be cleaned and/or greased.
Wheel-Related Sounds
If you stop pedaling and coast and the sound continues, you probably have an issue related to your wheels or tires.
Gear, Straps, and Bags
First check for any loose straps or bags that could be rubbing your tire or catching in your spokes. Once you learn to recognize these sounds, you’ll spot them right away. A continuous humming signals tire rub, while fast metallic sounds are spoke-related (and potentially dangerous if something gets caught).
Tires and Spokes
Another likely cause, especially if you’re riding dirt or gravel, is that something (pebble, nail, mud, tree branch, small mammal…) is stuck to / in your tire, spokes, or frame. Simply find and remove, and fix the puncture if needed. Often these sounds go away on their own when the pebble or whatever works its way free.
Brakes
Brake rub is another likely cause, especially if you’re running disc brakes. A good way to tell: if you apply the brakes a little, or a lot, does the noise change (either better or worse)? If you lift the wheel off the ground and spin it, does it spin freely, or or does it quickly lose momentum because the brakes are rubbing on the rotor even when the levers aren’t being pulled?
If brake-related noise only happens once per wheel revolution, your brake rotor may be warped or bent. Did you take a fall recently, or just start your ride after shipping your bike somewhere? A bike shop is usually necessary to straighten a bent rotor, but you can still ride with it as long as the brakes work and the noise doesn’t drive you nuts. If the bend is minor you can try widening your brake pads to minimize the noise.
If brake-related noise is fairly constant during the wheel revolution, there are a few possibilities:
- Wheel isn’t seated squarely in the dropouts: loosen the axle or skewer, settle the frame evenly on the wheel, and retighten. If the noise is new and you haven’t touched the brakes, but you did recently remove and reinstall your wheel, this one is likely the culprit.
- Calipers may be misaligned: loosen the mounting bolts, squeeze the brake lever, and retighten bolts before releasing.
- Pads are worn through. This can cause a bad metal-on-metal squeal, or a “sproinging” sound if metal spring clips contact the rotor.
- Pads may be too close to the rotor: adjust as appropriate for your brake setup. This doesn’t tend to happen on its own – it’s much more likely that pads wear down and end up too far from the rotor – but if you’ve recently adjusted your brakes it could be a factor.
Wheels and Hubs
If it’s not one of the above common issues, you may have something more exotic going on. Perhaps:
- Your wheel is out of true. Looking head-on, do you notice a wobble when you spin it?
- A spoke is damaged or loose (often related to wheel being out of true).
- One of your hubs needs maintenance. Can you feel a grinding sensation through the pedals? Does the wheel not spin freely when lifted off the ground? Can you feel side-to-side play if you try to wiggle the wheel sideways?
Terrain-Related Sounds
Does the sound only happen when you hit a bump in the road or trail? Check your bags first. Is your seat bag or handlebar bag bouncing into contact with the tire beneath it? Maybe a loose pannier attachment or bottle cage?
Bump-related sounds can also be related to your bike’s suspension, if it has one, or other weight-bearing parts like the saddle, or in the worst case perhaps a damaged frame.
In Conclusion
I hope this post has dispelled some of the mystery behind annoying bike sounds. You often don’t need to be a skilled bike mechanic to figure out what’s causing that click, clank, or squeak. You just need some time, patience, and curiosity – luckily things most bikepackers have in spades! If nothing else, it’ll keep you entertained as you pass the next few miles.