Unknown click noise - any help?

[GrantCube]

Hi Trusty Cube folks, I have a 2022 Cube Stereo Hybrid 160 which now "grandads axe" I do not think there is a stock part still on it and it now gets use for Enduro racing, XC racing and mid to heavy trail riding. It has done around 11,000km. roughly 6k on each motor....yep, its on its seconf motor. So, to my problem.....after around 1.5 hours of hard riding and I am on my way home on mostly gravel or tarmac, I get a clicking noise, quite loud, when my right pedal hits around 2 o'clock, and I can feel something, but not much and not enough to pinpoint it, thru the crank/pedal. I have had the bike to the local Cube dealer and he keeps adjusting the main pivot bolt and telling me it is not the motor and yet it returns every time I go out. Heres the things I notice along side this noise.......I can get the noise to go away if I push the pedals in towards the frame as I ride or if I point my feet down at the toe as this changes where the tourqe from my legs engages with the crank. I have a feeling it might be chain ring as the cranks and pedals are fine. I do not have the dreaded loose crank arms Anyway, feel free to throw your tuppence in and I'll take any help I can get! Thanks, Grant

 

[RustyMTB]

You can do a process of elimination with these things. Take the chain off & see if it remains when you spin the cranks. If it does, then you can infer it isn't the freehub or chain and so on. Pedaling stood up will tell you if it's the seat post etc. One thing I've worked out about mystery noises is as often as not, they don't come from where you think they do.

 

[GrantCube]

You can do a process of elimination with these things. Take the chain off & see if it remains when you spin the cranks. If it does, then you can infer it isn't the freehub or chain and so on. Pedaling stood up will tell you if it's the seat post etc. One thing I've worked out about mystery noises is as often as not, they don't come from where you think they do.

Thanks Rusty......I have gone down the strip parts rabbit hole many times with this now but I appreciate you caring enough to reply....thanks so much!

 

[RustyMTB]

I have in the past taken the motor out & ridden my bike like a balance bike to rule out motor mount bolts trying to chase down a creak which eventually turned out to be a worn bearing in the freehub. Yours does sound like something around the motor, going by your description, so while it's a pain the arse that might be an avenue to pursue.

 

[Timbo]

Have just had this annoying click problem, and as i had recently taken the motor out, went round every bolt cleaning greasing and re-tightening every bolt and re-torquing the cranks , no difference.
I know you said it wasn't the pedals, but that's what it was on mine. They were both tight on the cranks, but on one of them the body of the pedal had slightly unscrewed off the axle, it was barely noticeable until I took the pedals off to re-grease them.

 

[Mikerb]

2 o clock is probably the position where maximum torque is applied.....which implies something is twisting under that max torque. If the noise goes away if you transfer that force inwards towards the frame I would suspect the chainwheel is twisting and changing the chainline enough for the chain or chainwheel to hit something. That something could be a chainguide, a rear mudguard if you have one fitted, or even the drive side chainstay. You could eliminate each of those options by a) checking to see if there is any chainstay damage ( close in behind the chainwheel),b) lifting the chainguard out of the way, C) removing the rear mudguard if fitted.
a) if there is some damage check the main rear pivot for movement.

 

[bikerider]

I have hunch. Do you run the Industry 9 Hydra 2 hubs. I had some clicking while pedaling and finally identified the problem. I was pulling my hub apart to check the axle bearings. When I removed the free hub body, I found a retainging ring rattling around in the axle hub. This ring is used to retain the pawls in the free hub body. I had never seen this type of set up before. There are six small tabs used to hold the retaining ring in place against the pawl pivot area. I reattached the retaining ring and no more clicking noise.