bottom bracket clicking sound, FSA BB30, ***Pedalforce QS3**

[bikefla]

I received my Pedalforce QS3 bike about three weeks ago by way of US Mail and I decided to procure the FSA BB30 crank setup on my own since Pedalforce was unable to supply said item due to back order issues, Anyway, the bike has been assembled by an actual bona fide bike mechanic and everything looks and feels right except for this annoying loud tick that emanates from the bottom bracket area when you're out of the saddle, and it makes this sound when the pedals--especially the left non drive train pedal--are a little bit below the three o clock position, so on the down stroke towards six o clock.

So far we've been able to eliminate the cassette and rear wheel as the cause, and we also made sure that the chain rings are properly tightened, but the "click/crunch" sound is still audible. I've never owned a set of carbon cranks, or BB30 for that matter, and I'm assuming that since the cranks are hollow there's the possibility that any structural anomaly might result in the crank making noise due to the acoustic properties of hollow carbon; it's like a microphone or speaker!

Anyway, I'm curious to find out if anybody has experienced similar problems with the FSA BB30 cranks and any suggestions regarding the culprit behind this annoying and loud click would be highly appreciated, especially with this prevailing consensus that "bottom bracket noises" usually do not always originate in the bottom bracket.......but I have a gut feeling that this one does.

Thanks!

[ms6073]

Did the bonafide mechanic apply retaining fluid (Loctite 609 or Loctite 641) into the bearing race in the bottom bracket shell before pressing in the bearings?

[bikefla]

Is that in the instruction manual? If it is, I'm sure that he did apply loctite, but if it is some kind of after market fix then I doubt that he applied loctite.......I'll ask him.

[dolophonic]

Could be your pedals? Thats where my creak comes from!

[bikefla]

Could be your pedals? Thats where my creak comes from!

No...these pedals were used on my other bike and didn't make any noise.

[ElDuderino]

Did the bonafide mechanic apply retaining fluid (Loctite 609 or Loctite 641) into the bearing race in the bottom bracket shell before pressing in the bearings?

Locktite on the BB shell where the bearing sits? I've used bb30 for a while now and never heard of doing that? Manual specifies that the crank bolts require it...bearings though??

[ms6073]

Is that in the instruction manual?

While I have cranks with the BB86 standard, I just took a look at the FSA BB30 installation instructions and there is no mention of using retaining fluid when installing the bearings. On the other hand, when I installed the BB86 ceramic press-fit bearing adapters on our bikes, FSA did not make mention of using Loctite 641 Bearing Retaining fluid for that application either.

Locktite on the BB shell where the bearing sits? I've used bb30 for a while now and never heard of doing that? Manual specifies that the crank bolts require it...bearings though??

Don't get caught up on the name - threadlock compounds are not the only thing Loctite makes. After 250-miles of enduring clicking/creaking noise when I got new TCR Advanced SL framesets with a brand new wireless SRM FSA cranks, a bit of research indicated that the Loctite solution was used by Cannodale for BB30 installations and since I applied Loctite 641 to our bottom brackets, no more clicking/creaking.

[Phill P]

I had a similar issue with my BB30 cranks. The click didn't happen on the first ride, but came about after a climbing ride, on the way home. Was really strange, some rides it would do it ever crank rotation as long as there was some load, others not at all, most days it would do it when there was some good torque. It even started doing it when the cranks were at different points. Some days it was quiet, some days it annoyed even the people I was riding with.
Bearings still ran perfectly. Everything was tightened and loosened. The second time the cranks were pulled out there was some very slight sign of movement between the crank axle and one of the races. Bike Mech applied some lock tight there (don't know what grade)

Never had the problem since.
Must have been a slight size mismatch between the races and the crank, the very slight movement then happened under load and resonanted in the large tubes of the frame

[elementsix]

The problem may be the length of the screw that attaches the cable guide to the frame - the screw that the factory ships with the cable guide is too short and can easily unthread itself enough to cause the screw to tap against the recessed threads of the bb shell every time the frame flexes. We experienced this with the Element Six frames that come from the same factory. Try getting a longer metric screw to attach the cable guide and use a little loctite on the screw. That may solve the problem.

Hope that helps.

[aerozy]

I had a similar problem with a clicking sound every two rotations mainly on the left side and under load. I changed my bottom bracket and it still remained. I changed the chain and its gone... i think it must have been some faulty "missinglink".

Are you sure its not the chain too?

[topflightpro]

I too would guess that your bearings are loose and you need to apply Loctite.

I had a similar problem in my System 6, a clicking/creaking noise whenever I would pedal hard or out of the saddle. My mechanic took one look at it, said the bearings were loose, pulled off the crank and reinstalled the bearings with Loctite - problem solved.

[Omega]

curious - what type of loctite are you using? Loctight makes several different strengths

[ElDuderino]

weird. can we get a Starnut confirmation of this?

[ms6073]

what type of loctite are you using?

When I researched this problem for our TCR Advanced SL framesets, what I came up with was that Cannondale spec'd Loctite 609 (Green in color) in this SI Bottom Bracket Adapter installation document - http://www.cannondale.com/asset/iu_files/techcenter/2006_si_bottom_bracket_adapter_instructions_en.pdf

Checking Loctites site for the spec's on 609, it offers medium bonding strength but is also Mil Spec'd and from what I am told by someone familiar with its military application, the stuff would be darn near permanent on a BB86 application. For that reason I instead opted to use Loctite 641 (Yellow in color) but regardless of what your decide, both 609 and 641 are industrial grade retaining fluids which means they are not something you will find at your local auto parts or home repair stores.

[Omega]

Thanks!!
so where do you get it if you cant find it?