Mk 2 Nomad Rohloff: clicking sound from rear hub area and odd clunk from crank

[R Bailey]

Help please.

I have a Mk 2 Nomad, new back in September 21 - love it.

I've ridden about 1500 miles on it so far. Recently, I've noticed both an occasional/intermittent 'click' when pedalling as well as feeling a slight 'clunk' in the crank. It doesn't happen when in the bike stand and rotating the pedals through the gears on the Rohloff. I have had the rear wheel out for both cleaning and to repair a puncture/put in a new inner tube. Today I adjusted the Eccentric Bottom Bracket slightly to take up a small amount of slack in the chain, which still has enough play in it i.e. not too tight. Still the sounds persist.

Any ideas grateful received - I am a tall rider (6 foot 5 inches weighing just over 14 stone - but I'd hope a new BB would not be required so soon!

kind regards in advance

Russell

[mickeg]

I have written about clicks in several prior posts:

http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14257.msg106425#msg106425

http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=13538.msg101032#msg101032

http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=13389.msg100645#msg100645

http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=12688.msg94363#msg94363

If yours is a S&S coupled bike, a few weeks ago I noticed my downtube S&S coupler had come loose a bit.  I did not get a clicking from it, but it had a sound like a headset bearing that was not tight enough.

As a side note, if you had not seen it yet, I recently wrote up a piece on how I adjust my Mk II chain tension.
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14475

If you want to think about taking your Nomad Mk II on the trip it was designed for, this link is on my Iceland trip.
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=11917.0

Where are you located?  You used miles instead of km for distance, are you in USA?

[Moronic]

Russell,

from that simple description it sounds very like the problem that arose on my Mercury at probably an even earlier mileage.

Details and solution here: http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14416.0

In a nutshell, the chain side crank bearing cup had not been tightened enough and had unwound.

Disassembly and retightening cured it.

- Ian

[R Bailey]

I am in the UK - based in York.

Thanks for those thoughts - I will pursue and let you know how I get on - really appreciate the knowledge share - thank you. I normally ride around 6000 miles/10 000 km per year - I'm a member of a local cycling group for rides between once and three times per week plus a few tours/solo day rides

Russell

[R Bailey]

Pleased to say the rear click noise has gone - Eccentric bottom bracket bolts loosened and chain tensioned after around 3500km of riding over 4 months from new.

However, I can feel a 'knock' through the pedal(s) when riding even though EBB bolts tightened to torque as specified in Thorn manual. Have stood on each pedal with the bike stationary with brakes applied and when applying pressure on each pedal on the left hand (non-drive) side I noticed a slight noise when pressing down with one foot though couldn't get it to do so when repeating the action. I've tightened a bit further the bolts on the chainring and pedals and won't know until my ride tomorrow if this has made any difference.

[mickeg]

Pleased to say the rear click noise has gone - Eccentric bottom bracket bolts loosened and chain tensioned after around 3500km of riding over 4 months from new.

However, I can feel a 'knock' through the pedal(s) when riding even though EBB bolts tightened to torque as specified in Thorn manual. Have stood on each pedal with the bike stationary with brakes applied and when applying pressure on each pedal on the left hand (non-drive) side I noticed a slight noise when pressing down with one foot ...

That is likely something related to frame flex and might not be drive train.  I think I mentioned in one of the links I sent you that when I did that I found one of my rear rack bolts was loose enough that the frame shifted position on that bolt and made a slight click or knocking noise as an example.

But a sound like that is probably something that is not a critical issue, I would ride it and see if it gets worse over time or not.

[JohnR]

However, I can feel a 'knock' through the pedal(s) when riding even though EBB bolts tightened to torque as specified in Thorn manual.

However, did you check the bottom bracket is tight within the eccentric. See the post above by @Moronic.

[steve216c]

I had a knock that I was convinced was from my UN-55 bottom bracket that was only 1000km old at the time. I fitted a new one, and still and the knock reappeared after a couple of days again!

Then I wondered if it was from the pedals and not the BB.  And that was exactly what it was! After cleaning and regreasing the pedals, the knock disappeared for a few months. And when it reappeared, I already had new pedals ready to replace them with.

When my teenage son presented his bike with a similar problem, I was convinced his must be the pedals too. But in his case, pedals didn't help. It was really the BB bearings on his that were shot and needed replacing.

Good luck in figuring it out. But don't discount bolts needing tightening, or other moving parts as potential source of the problems. And when you figure it out- post your solution into this knowledgebase.

[mickeg]

Bottom bracket bearings should be the easiest ones to diagnose, you should be able to feel side to side play if you grasp a crank arm and pull it in and out by hand.  You might not see the play but you should be able to feel the looseness.

It is easy enough to add grease to the Shimano pedals that use the PD-40 tool that if my A530 pedals develop a click again, I will just add grease again.  Easy enough to do while listening to some mindless tv show in the background.
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools/shimano-tlpd40-spd-clipless-pedal-axle-removal-tool/

If you are new to that tool, it should be easy enough to find a youtube video on it.  One pedal is left hand thread and one right, I do not recall which is which.

At the low price for that tool, I bought it years before I needed because I assumed one day I would.

But my M324s do not use that tool, they remain ungreased.