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Spent 6 hours chasing a clicking noise that turned out to be my quick release skewer
Had a bike come in last Tuesday with a clicking noise that only showed up under hard pedaling, and I figured it was a bottom bracket or a loose chainring bolt. I pulled the cranks, cleaned and regreased the BB threads, checked the chainring bolts with a torque wrench, and even swapped the pedals just to rule them out. Nothing. Finally put it on the stand one more time at hour 6 and noticed the rear quick release was a hair loose, so the wheel was shifting slightly in the dropouts under load. Snugged it down and the click was gone in 10 seconds. I felt like a total idiot after tearing half the drivetrain apart. What is your go to first check for mystery clicking, or do you also save the easy stuff for last like me?
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faithb7610d ago
Check the quick release first every single time, no joke. Takes ten seconds and costs nothing, so why would you save it for last? Pulling cranks and chasing bottom bracket gremlins before you've even checked the wheel is just backwards, and you burned 6 hours proving it. The wheel is literally the easiest thing on the whole bike to check and loose dropouts cause way more clicks than people want to admit. I get that a BB click feels more likely, but bikes don't care about what feels likely, they care about what's actually loose. Start at the axle and work inward, and you'll never waste another afternoon like that again.
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