MidTNBrad:

Hi bobbob, Could you kindly give an update on this? I purchased an R3 this past May and I too have had a clicking sound while riding under pressure. I've removed all of the spider bolts, re-greased and re-torqued to specifications and it still persists. Also, I've tightened the pre-load ring on the NDS as I found there was some room to tighten it up. That didn't seem to help either. Has the popping/clicking for you ceased and stayed away with the new cranks? --Brad

 

 

Hi MidTNBrad, I didnt heard a single sound since then.

 

 

I am curious to know how many of these out of tolerance cranksets Cervelo has installed on their bikes. I know that any noise for the bottom bracket automatically led to the press-in BB to be at fault. However, with the proper installation with loctite, this could be fixed. But, if a rider still hears clicking after loctite was applied, they already assume its the BB once again. I don't believe most riders have diagnosed it as the crank. Even the highly popular shop I go to with a really good mechanic couldn't believe it was the crank all along.

I don't know if my bike was built out with loctite in the bottom bracket. I ordered my R3 stock so I'm not sure if it was built out at Cervelo or my bike shop. They are a Cervelo dealer, so I'm planning on taking it to them to figure this out for me. I really don't want to lay out more money for a new crank set. --Brad

MidTNBrad:

Hi bobbob, Could you kindly give an update on this? I purchased an R3 this past May and I too have had a clicking sound while riding under pressure. I've removed all of the spider bolts, re-greased and re-torqued to specifications and it still persists. Also, I've tightened the pre-load ring on the NDS as I found there was some room to tighten it up. That didn't seem to help either. Has the popping/clicking for you ceased and stayed away with the new cranks? --Brad

This is like meeting other patients with the same rare disease. My 2014 R3 effectively came with a built-in metronome. Showed up after about 600 miles. Left crankarm passes over top and I get a tick noise when under load. Tick... Tick... Tick... I've done most of these suggested fix attempts, but held off on dropping $200 for Wheels Mfg bearings and BB replacements (px includes necessary tools). Seeing that a few folks have put in aftermarket BB elements without solving the problem has given me further reason to pause. I've replaced the spider bolts, no help. I've had the LBS service the BB, no help. Not pedals, not wheels/skewers, not headset, not other drivechain elements. Definitely in the Rotor crank or the bearings or the bearing holder-cups. When I did my own service and greased-up heavily, BB was silent for about 50 miles. Then ticks came right back. Discussions with LBS mechanics point to going in there with the right Loctite in the right places, but I don't want to get that muck all over until there's a very high probability that that will fix. I'd rather not buy a new crank, but if that's the answer... ok... So, folks, please keep this thread alive till we get some kind of high-confidence result on a fix. Thanks very much to all the posters.

Thanks Monk. Let's ask the question a different way: Has anyone figure out a long-term solution to the creaking problem described in this thread without having to swap out the cranks? If so, what worked? For the record I have the stock Rotor 3D30 BBRight 52/36 on my R3. --Brad

I don't think there is a long term solution without swapping out the cranks, specifically, the Cervelo/Rotor OEM cranks. With it being out of spec, I can see it causing the clicking noises if it is loose against one of the bearings. This was brought up many moons ago on this forum on another thread where the user noticed that he was continually getting clicking noises after he has replaced his bottom brackets. When he examined his crank spindle, there were heavy score marks and when he replaced his crankset, the clicking went away. I checked my own crankset and sure enough, when I removed them, mine had some abnormal scoring also. It wasn't as heavy as his but it was definitely pronounced. However, at the time of his posting, the popular fix for any creaking/clicking was to get an aftermarket BB. This probably was because this was all these manufacturers were releasing Press Fit and BBright aftermarket bottom brackets. Replacing the bottom bracket with an aftermarket one did make a lot of the creaking issues go away. However, the aftermarket BBs fixed the issues where the symptoms were creaking and not the staccato clicking noise that come from the crankset issue. I think people and even mechanics get it confused as to which sound is which. I've heard both noises and they are very different sounding. The BB creaking noise sounds more like walking on badly installed laminate floors, or riding on a wooden ship. The clicking noises that I heard from the crankset was more of tiny pebbles or sand hitting the windshield. It was a creak vs click. For me, what definitely worked was swapping it out the cranks. I was fortunate to have a friend with the same crankset who never experienced issues and we did a straight swap. Once swapped, my bike stayed silent while his developed the click. On a side note, my bottom bracket was still plastic press-fits at the time, but was correctly installed with primer and loctite, and my friend had BBInfinite. After this revelation, I went ahead and just installed wheels mfg 24mm BB and installed shimano cranks instead since I wanted to go full shimano groupset.

Good info, thx for staying attached on this. I am definitely a tick noise like the windshield analogy, not a creak. Almost always left crank, but right crank chimes in, too, on a rare basis (like very steep climbs). 3200 mi. on bike. Will pull the crank this weekend and put the calipers on it. Be interested to see. Would like to keep the bike stock, but given rest is Ultegra, certainly nothing wrong with one of those instead. And it's still cheaper than new BB, bearings, puller and presses. Gotta end this noise, it's a buzzkiller on a bike of this caliber and price. More to post as more is learned. Thanks.

I, too, have the tick noise like the pebble on the windshield. It starts as a single click then as more pressure is applied I can hear between two and three distinct clicks as the crank revolves. Usually starts around the 2:00 position on the drive side. Has anyone asked Cervelo for a comment on this issue? I understand that it isn't the frame, but when they sell a complete bike with spec'ed out components and one of those components is know to have an issue (or at least have known several reports on this forum), then I'd like to think they would be willing to pay for a like-for-like swap on something that does work. Monk: Please post what you find when you measure it. I seem to remember seeing some specs in this thread on the exact measurements for the crank. --Brad

I'm a 2014 R3 Ultegra Di2 with Rotor 3DF 52/36. Seems surprising that a tolerance problem would last over this long with two different Rotor models (tho very similar). Maybe just a manufacturing QC problem? I have a very accurate caliper, so I'll do both the shaft OD and the bearing ID. Curiouser and curiouser.

MidTNBrad:

I, too, have the tick noise like the pebble on the windshield. It starts as a single click then as more pressure is applied I can hear between two and three distinct clicks as the crank revolves. Usually starts around the 2:00 position on the drive side. Has anyone asked Cervelo for a comment on this issue? I understand that it isn't the frame, but when they sell a complete bike with spec'ed out components and one of those components is know to have an issue (or at least have known several reports on this forum), then I'd like to think they would be willing to pay for a like-for-like swap on something that does work. Monk: Please post what you find when you measure it. I seem to remember seeing some specs in this thread on the exact measurements for the crank. --Brad

 

 

Hi Brad, have you listened to the video I posted ? Here is the link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6IP7iECDYw&feature=youtu.be

As for Cervélo, they told me that I could go directly to a Cervélo dealer that will contact Rotor directly. I also contacted the local Rotor distributor and they also pointed me to a Cervelo dealer for a claim. My 3df is in their care.

As for the measure for the rotor 3df, it should be 29.99mm +-0.01mm at the bearing seat surface.

 

Hi bobbob, Yes, that's what mine sounds like and it has the same cadence as yours. What I mean by that is that under light load there's one pop/click but as you put more pressure onto the cranks you can hear two pops/click back-to-back quickly. --Brad

MidTNBrad:

Hi bobbob, Yes, that's what mine sounds like and it has the same cadence as yours. What I mean by that is that under light load there's one pop/click but as you put more pressure onto the cranks you can hear two pops/click back-to-back quickly. --Brad

So I think we have found your problem :-)

I e-mailed my LBS/Cervelo dealer explaining the problem, the steps I've taken and pointed out that members here on the forum have had to replace the cranks to get the problem to go away. I got this as my reply: "Bring it in. I will fix it. I pretty sure I have a simple solution." I'm hoping he's got a magic wand! --Brad

Closely watching this now to see what the simple solution is. Please dont tell me its loctite or grease

Now I'm giving this a lot of thought. It seems intuitive that there's a tolerance problem between the shaft of the crank and the bearings - and it could be either part. This fits with a couple of clues: one, it's a tick, not a creak. Two: when I gobbed mine up with grease, it was gone for a while, but just a few hours, then it returned. So, one of my best friends is the plant manager of a local small machining factory that makes precision brass nozzles. He is letting me borrow a badass tool to do some measuring. I am trading him a few Allagash House Farmhouse Ales (unobtainable outside Portland ME). Let's see how well these parts are made. Stay tuned.