This post details the diagnostics I performed to be 100% certain the clicking came from the non-driveside fork dropout/flip chip. Feel free to skip it if you aren’t interested, though I’m also writing it to serve as something of a general-purpose creak locater checklist.
The behavior of the clicking serves as the first diagnostic. It is not correlated with any contact point or motion, and occurs when I am/am not pedaling (including when my feet are off the pedals completely), when I am/am not in the saddle, when I am/am not holding the handlebars, when I am/am not turning, etc. However, the clicking is more correlated with road surface: the bumpier the surface, the more clicking, though it’s far from an r^2 = 1 type of deal.
Working back to front, as I wanted to eliminate the least likely suspects first:
- Rear dropout/hub interface: the clicking did not change when this interface was clean or dirty, and I tried 3 different wheelsets to no effect. The rear axle also showed no signs of fretting anywhere and the fit in the dropout is snug.
- Rear hanger: no change in the noise when I was using a regular derailleur hanger with a Shimano setup versus the full mount XPLR derailleur.
- Wheels: again, no change in the noise with 3 different wheelsets (rear+front), and 4 different freehubs, as I had to change from an HG to an XDR freehub on my 700c wheelset.
- Rear derailleur: no play in either derailleur. Jockey wheel bolts are tight and the wheels have no play or noise. No chain interference.
- Cassette/chain: no change in the noise when using a Shimano cassette, a monoblock Goldix cassette, or the Rival XPLR cassette. Also, no correlation between pedaling and the noise, so probably not anything in the rear.
- Bottom bracket/crankset/chainring/pedals/cleats: no change in the noise when this is perfectly clean or very dirty. Chainring bolts are tight, and there was no change in the noise when using 2 different sets of chainring bolts. Again, the noise occurs when my feet aren’t even on the pedals.
- Seatpost: this did creak (see prior post) but that was unrelated. No problems with the saddle mounting interface either. Noise occurs even when not seated.
- Bottle cages: bolts are snug. Noise occurs even when all cages and their bolts are removed from the bike.
- Brakes/rotors/calipers/pads: no change in the noise when swapping between multiple different rotors, Shimano or SRAM calipers, and stock pads vs SwissStop. Also no correlation between speed (i.e. rotor rotation rate) and the noise.
- Stem/handlebar: no change in the noise when swapping the stem’s titanium bolts for steel, both in the steerer clamp and handlebar clamp. The noise occurs even when no hands are on the bar. This also ruled out the shifter clamps/clamp interface being the problem.
- Headset: this is the main other suspect, but the noise didn’t change when I swapped the original bearings for Enduro ones (for corrosion – the original ones got a little rusty), and it also doesn’t change depending on dirtiness, which I’d expect to exacerbate any headset noise, especially if it’s coming from the bottom bearing which is more easily contaminated.
Given all this, and ruling out structural damage (this bike has been babied), and the fact that I could change the click behavior somewhat via different chip shimming methods, that was the only logical conclusion. To pinpoint the exact issue, I put silver Sharpie around both chips and rode for several hours. Only the non-driveside chip showed wear (see pictures). I repeated this after I swapped the chips around, so the threaded chip was on the non-driveside, and it showed the same wear pattern. Thus, the problem had to be caused by the non-driveside dropout/chip interface. I did some very gentle 1200 grit wet sanding of that dropout, in case there were any invisible protrusions, but this neither helped nor hurt. Ultimately, the epoxy fixed the issue for a brief time before it failed, giving final confirmation that chip movement in the dropout is the problem. Considering all this data, and the fact that the driveside dropout, with its chip retained by a grub screw, has never had a problem, I’m almost completely certain the new fork with its dual grub screws will fix the issue.
I’m sorry to hear this was the case. Unfortunately I have a similar situation at hand. But mine does have the grub screws!
Since i first purchased the frame, I had some funny issues with sounds coming from my brakes. Shortly after, I purchased a new wheelset from the shop called Easdon wheels. Set everything up and same issue occurred. I switched to new pads, sound came back.
I paid a shop to just put in some OEM Sram pads and i provided a new pair of aliexpress rotors. I was desperate for them to just solve it. It was fine for a few rides, but unfortunately returned in the form of turkey gobbling sound. Front and rear.The power is there, but the braking sounds awful. Big headache to solve the problem!!
In a last ditch effort, I purchased again NEW floating rotors and this time Bucklos ceramic pads. I saw great feedback on em. I installed them ultra carefully as if I were handling a bomb. I wiped and cleaned my hands and the rotors after every interaction to prevent contamination. After 10 minutes of following the bedding process, and letting the rotor cool down, I now have a new sound. HOWLING. I am about ready to list this and sell it to someone else who would prefer
to figure it out. Has anyone else with this size M frame had this issue?
