Technical > Transmission
Thorn Nomad chain replacement + sprocket & hub question
KvBCycles:
Good morning all,
My nomad and I are on tour and the bike has just passed the 10k km mark.
At about 5000km I had the original chain shortened and the EBB bracket set back to 0 (3 o clock) and from there adjusted as required.
I cleaned and lubed the chain regularly along with general cleaning of the chainring and sprocket. It's been running beautifully, quietly.
Until a few days ago my transmission started to develop a creak and click sound. I removed the chain, cleaned everything and reversed it but the noise persists.
I then replaced the chain (it needed to be replaced) with a shimano 9 speed chain, flipped the chainring but still the clicking and creaking persist on powerstroke, particularly the left crank. I haven't yet removed and greased the pedals, I'll do that next.
In the event its not a simple greasing of the pedals what further maintenance can I undertake to get back to a silent drivetrain.
I'm currently in Croatia, I don't have a spare rear sprocket or the removal tool. There aren't any rohloff vendors here that I'm aware of and the one bike shop I visited hadn't seen a rohloff before :) so I opted to not do anything in the event they made it worse.
I'll be in Barcelona in a few weeks (but have about 1000km to ride) and I've contacted them and they confirmed they can help with any issues I have.
In the meantime, have I so far done the correct things in replacing the chain and flipping the chainring? I've done about 150km since doing that.
Looking at the teeth of both they both appear to be in good condition, the teeth don't appear to be worn very much at all.
I've got the BCD 104MM 44T chainring and the 19T sprocket.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thank you,
Karl @kvbcycles
julk:
Karl,
Check and tighten everything around the drive train.
Pedal bearings, pedals into cranks, cranks onto bottom bracket axle, bottom bracket into eccentric, chainring bolts, eccentric fixing bolts.
Any slight movement in this area will likely give a creak which is very difficult to pinpoint.
My chainring can be moved ever so slightly when being fixed in place - is yours truly centered after being reversed?
The only time I had a noise like this it was a loose chainring bolt…
Enjoy the tour.
Julian.
Matt2matt2002:
My click turned out to be the pedals bearings.
New pedals, no clicks.
I had already tried the chain reverse and chain ring bolt tricks.
So annoying after having such a silent ride.
So satisfying when solution found.
Good luck with your own solution.
geocycle:
I was about to write the same as Julk. This doesn't sound like anything to do with the rohloff to me. Be systematic starting with the easy things. Clicks tend to be cranks, EBB, chain ring bolts, pedal threads, gravelly noises chains and bottom brackets. If you can borrow a pair of cheap pedals that would help eliminate one source.
mickeg:
A year ago I had a clicking noise that I diagnosed as in a pedal (Shimano A530), changed pedal with another bike I was not currently using. This year the other pedal started clicking. Greased both but the bearings appeared to be tight so I did not touch the bearing adjustment, ridden about 100 km since with silent pedals.
I have had a clicking noise that I thought was drive train in bottom bracket area, finally found it was a rack bolt that was tight but not tight enough.
And a clicking noise that was a non-drive side bottom bracket bushing (UN55) that was tight but not tight enough.
And a creaking noise that was a crank arm (square taper) that needed tightening. This type of creak is time critical, if you ride too much with this too loose you need a new one.
I have heard of other people having seatpost clicks that they thought was from bottom bracket or pedals or crank, etc. There are many potential sources of clicks and creaks.
I wear shoes with SPD cleats, the shoe soles often squeak a bit on the pedal as I pedal, but I consider that to be normal.
I agree with the others, likely not a Rohloff problem.
Greasing pedals can be tricky, some pedals have bearings that once loosened up can be very hard to keep tight. Also, some pedals like Shimano M324 use an odd expensive tool to tighten the bearings. I mentioned I greased my Shimano A530 pedals above, for that a very inexpensive tool is used,
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools/shimano-tlpd40-spd-clipless-pedal-axle-removal-tool/
To diagnose pedal or crank clicks and creaks, I often stand on one side of the bike, hold the handlebar with one hand while applying the brake lever and the saddle with another hand. Then stand on one foot while using the other foot to push down on the pedal. Sometimes that will cause the click or creaking noise.
For example, I thought my clicking noise was in a pedal but standing on the side of teh bike, it is easier to hear exactly where the clicking or creaking sound is from and in one case I noticed the click was from the back of the bike and I eventually figured out that I had a rack bolt that was not tight enough, pedaling caused frame flex and that frame flex caused the rack to shift the position slightly on the bolt which caused the clicking sound.
You might have to repeat this on each side of the bike a few times to find the location of a click or creak.
If that fails to find the problem, just start tightening and lubing everything in sight.
If you try to remove and re-grease something like pedals, watch about 3 you tube videos first, that usually tells you what you need to know.
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