I am having so much clicking noise on my Wahoo Kickr Core when pedalling my Trek Domane SL5 Gen 4 bike (2023)… its driving me crazy. I have taken it to my LBS and they couldn’t duplicate the noise… its seems to happen after 25 minutes of riding and it didn’t make any noise on the road - so something is not right. I bought the same cassette that my bike has, had the LBS install the cassette onto the trainer, along with the spacers.
I have tried different shoes, different pedals and I just dont know what else to do, i am so frustrated that I was hoping there would be someone on here who had similar issues that can help me.
I am at the point of selling this trainer if I can’t get rid of the noise. maybe its just not compatible with a 2023 Trek Domane.
I did have something similar. After long searches and wrong assumptions finally finally it turned out to be the stupid quick-release that would loosen after some minutes of riding. New quick-release was the (cheap) solution.
Aaah, interesting solution, I’ll have to check this out. I swap several different bikes on my trainers and occasionally I get a “clicking” sound too. I had concerns that it might be coming from the bottom bracket but I could never pinpoint where it was coming from while I was riding. Since it didn’t happen outdoors I didn’t worry too much, but admit it was indeed concerning.
Now I have an option to investigate. Thanks for mentioning this.
At the bike shop I worked at, in the winter you could bring your bike and trainer, set it up in front of a Zwift setup and ride it any time the store was open. If you can do that at your LBS, then they’d be able to troubleshoot it when it started clicking.
Another possibility is ride it at home until it starts clicking, hop off, get someone else to ride it, and see if you can figure out where the sound is coming from; saddle/seatpost, BB area (crank, rings, pedals), RD area, or in the Kickr, or maybe the kicker legs as the bike rocks side-to-side. Does it happen at the same frequency as pedaling, or same as the cassette rotation? Does sitting/standing make a difference? Does it not happen outside or can you just not hear it outside?
Hey there ! thank you for that… I actually went to my LBS as my bike is still under warranty and brought the trainer with me … they weren’t able to duplicate the noise, and asked me to come back and test ride. I rode for 20 min and thought they must have fixed it because they did some minor adjustments… Once I got home, the clicking came back at 25 min of riding. i even used my ZWIFT app in the bike shop to simulate the gear shifting etc.
But to answer your questions:
it happens even when i stand up, so I have ruled out the seatpost, and because it is a 2023 Trek Domane - the seatpost is all snazzy and there is no quick release adaptor, just a tension screw that they told me to never touch… haha
it will happen after approx 25-30 min of riding indoors. I never heard it outside before I put it on the trainer. Where I ride is very quiet, and I could hear my seatpost grinding, and that got fixed - so i would def hear this noise.
it will happen in any gear… sometimes as the course changes on ZWIFT, and I havent even changed gears, it just starts clicking… then i will have to change gears back and forth to get the clicking to go away.
4)my husband clipped in with his shoes (and brand new cleats) as soon as i encountered the clicking to see if it would make a difference… nope.
i have Shimano spd sl pedals - not even 700 km on them yet.
hahah… I am so sorry ! I hope you find your solution quickly.
its been so frustrating that I honestly don’t know what else to do. I don’t think its the trainer… based on my conversations with Wahoo here is their response " This appears to be drive train noise as the noise stops once you have stopped pedaling. Likely front derailleur being knocked when pedalling. "
I am done messing around with my bike so i am taking it to my LBS to look at this specifically.
good luck!
Watching the video, it clicks every time the right crank up comes to the top. Could the crank arm be hitting the FD or FD cable end? Since it is synchronous with the crank, that rules out the RD, Cassette, and trainer flywheel, etc.
I had a ticking noise on Core that turned out to be frayed strand of belt edge that was tapping against the plastic cover. Easily fixed by trimming off or super glue.
It’s hard to tell from the video but it does SEEM to be front derailleur area. Slowing down that video would be helpful if you have the capability to do slow playback with sound. It would isolate the exact point of noise even better.
I’m wondering about something on the BACK side of the front derailleur and chainwheel hitting something behind? (Also wondered if it was something, including your foot or just the top of the crankarm hitting the tip of the cable end, as Saddlesaur mentioned. Is that cable secured well and stays out of the way? And you said it happens in every gear, but just to be sure, does that mean every gear FRONT and REAR, not just all the rear cogs, but also the FD on both rings? Changing that FD WILL move the cable to a slightly different place, of course, which might cause a problem only on one setting or the other.)
Hopefully you get it sorted.
I’m on a 2020 Domane SLR and creaking noises can drive me CRAZY on that frame at times, but it’s a SWEET ride!
Does it continue with lower rpm once it has started? When I had a noise it was the case, less loud and different, but noticeable. So finally I turned the crank by hand and could locate it.
It was the cadence sensor which moved on the crank and hit the rear of the frame.
Has the quick release that attaches the bike to the Kickr been ruled out yet? When the clicking happens could someone (carefully!) touch the QR skewer to see if it’s the source of the clicking ?
Let me check once my bike comes back from the LBS. All the gears and barrell adjuster are not happy right now bc i have been tinkering around and cant untinker what i tinkered:rofl:
Chris
Its interesting because when I moved the pedal crank by hand i dont remember hearing any noise. Either I wasnt moving the crank fast enough,or the sound is caused by the pressure of being clipped in and pedalling.
I even tried putting vaseline around the pedal threads because i had read that could cause a noise with different metals touching etc.
I have Shimano SPd SL pedals…
Have the bike shop check that everything near the bottom bracket is torqued exactly to spec. Some parts work their way loose over time, especially when a bike is new and things are getting seated and experiencing stress for the first time since assembly. Small movement creates heat creates expansion creates bigger movement with a lot of components. I have experienced your symptoms from causes including cable ends sticking out and hitting the pedals, cranks that need to be tightened to the bottom bracket, pedals that lost an O-ring and delubed in the rain, imperceptibly loose chainring bolts, and a carbon tube coming slowly unglued from the metal bottom bracket area.
