Creaky/Notchy cranks?

[ryandood]

I rode to the trailhead today and all was dandy on the way there. Half way through the loop I noticed a weird feeling through my cranks. It makes a sort of creaky sound and I can feel it on the same spots through the crank's rotation. I thought it might be my FD hitting the chain but after inspection my FD is fine.

I know this was a vague description but does anyone have an idea as to what this is? Do I need to give a better description?

Thanks for any input you may have.

[drclark]

Make sure your crank bolts are tight. I have a set of old xtr cranks that will do that when one of the crank bolts works loose. I finally had to put a dab of blue locktite on the offending bolt to prevent it from working loose. Its definitely not good for the cranks as the crank to BB fit will wallow-out if you keep pedaling with loose cranks (especially the old tapered-square spindle style bb's).

If tightening the crank bolts doesn't fix it, try removing the cranks and slowly rotate the bb spindle... any roughness in the spindle means your bearings are going bad. Lastly make sure your bb cups are tight.

You can also get weird feeling when pedaling if the bearings on your pedals are getting bad as well.

drc

[ryandood]

I (unfortunately) have experience with the crank bolts coming loose on a different bike and it definitely felt different than this feels. I don't think that my current cranks are square taper but I guess I'll have to check to see if the bolts or whatever is tight on there.

I don't really feel the same horizontal play that the lose crank bolt had. I'll have to check it out again tonight.

[danophoto]

Had a similiar problem, turned out my cheap flat pedals were coming loose/making noise. Also, check that your seat post/seat is tightened up properly-they might make noise as you pedal. Sometimes it's the simple things that make a lot of noise.

[strobelite]

remove the cranks and tighten the bb cups.

[BigRedHit]

My bottom bracket bb went out and was making sam noises. I thought it was the screws going loose...but i guess wrong

[Rob]

What crankset do you have and what pedals? It sound like the pedals might need to be regreased/lubed. My Shimano PD-M520's dried up and started to do the same thing. I lubed the spindle with a few drops of triflow to see if it would help and the noise went away.

It might also be that the bottom bracket in the frame needs regreasing. First try the pedals and if thats not the problem, take out the crankset and BB and clean and regrease the threads.

[ryandood]

I couldn't figure out what was causing this and I looked over and did the best I could, which is admittedly not much. BUT, I'm pretty sure I 'fixed' my problem. If anything this situation just further emphasizes the importance of keeping a clean drivetrain.

Basically all I did was clean the shit out of my chain. Wow, I am such a noob. Whatever, it's all better now. Thanks for all the recommendations.

[slo65]

not to hijack, but my i-drive creaks like a mofo, i've heard they're notorious for it but would a new bottom bracket solve the problem? sorry for the random ass question

[jeffj]

I had a funny 'notchy' feeling when climbing in my granny gear last summer. Turns out I had worn the small (steel) chainring to the point that the chain was hanging up on it on the bottom of the ring as the chain tried to exit the chainring because the teeth were so long.

I was on vacation in Big Bear and didn't have access to a new chainring, but did have a Dremel with me. I ground down the tops of the teeth a bit and it was OK until I got home and could change it out.