KICKR BIKE PRO clicking: crank bolt changes the noise, but support says it's "external to the bike"?

Equipment
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I have a KICKR BIKE PRO that developed a progressive clicking noise while pedaling. Same thing happened on my first unit, which Wahoo replaced under warranty without determining root cause. The replacement was silent for 1,000+ km, then the exact same noise started with the exact same progression.

I’ve tested three completely different pedal sets (Shimano XTR SPD, Favero Assioma MX-2, flat non-clipless pedals), multiple shoes and cleats, spacers on and off. No change across any combination. No other possible causes of “external noise”.

Then I removed the left crank arm, re-greased it, and re-torqued the pinch bolt. The clicking disappeared for the pedaling while seated (this used to be the constant issue). It came back, but the character changed: previously clicking when seated, now clicking when standing. Something in the crank area is clearly involved. This is way better now and I’m happy for the progress.

But when I shared all of this with Wahoo support. Their response: “the noise is coming from a variable outside the KICKR BIKE.” They didn’t acknowledge the crank bolt finding at all.

Support has said they’re open to reviewing one more video from me. I will send it, but I want to finish troubleshooting the crank area first so the video is actually conclusive. Though I have to say, a support team limiting how many diagnostic videos they’ll look at feels unusual.

At this point, since this is the second unit with the same issue, I’m starting to think this is more of a “feature” of the bike than a defect that needs replacing. Which is confusing, because Wahoo themselves deemed the first unit faulty and replaced it. But either way, my primary goal is to find a fix, not to argue with support. So here I am.

Has anyone else run into this? What was the fix? And has anyone else had the experience where support keeps pointing to external variables after you’ve already eliminated them?

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I think I had the same issue. I ended up finding that removing the legs and greasing where the legs attach to the bike fixed the issue (I found the source by using the old screw driver to ear test while someone else was pedaling)

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Thanks TJ! I appreciate the time you took to respond. That area can definitely be a source for creaks.

This sound comes almost definitely from the crank/bottom bracket, though. I too have been able to get to the source with microphones :joy: Also when I adjust the crank arm pinch bolt and fixing bolt torque values, the noise changes form, but I haven’t been fully able to remove it.

It seems that support’s only troubleshooting tip in this area is to torque the crank bolts per the usual troubleshooting guide before raising hands and calling external sources :man_shrugging:

Hence me asking if there are any additional things that can be tried in this area?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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I have a KICKR BIKE V1 so this may not help you at all, but I had a knock sound develop within 10 days of receiving the bike. I was sure it was the crankarms or BB, and I could actually SEE movement of the left crankarm as a put torque on the pedal.

I loosened the pinch bolts, which seemed pretty snug, and the fixing bolt (which I’d call the preload bolt, for better clarity) and was pretty shocked that it was as loose as it seemed to be.

I reset the fixing (preload) bolt to spec and then did the same to the pinch bolts, and there was a definite change, and I could no longer see any movement by applying torque to the pedals. I rode it, and the knock sound was gone.

My problems didn’t end there, however, because in the next 3 months, with only a little over 300 miles of indoor rides, I had to tighten those bolts 2 more times due to the knock returning a bit to notify me.

At that 2nd time having to tighten them, I decided to pull them all the way out and inspect the crankarm and bolts. The bolts themselves were actually curved along the length of the threads! Enough that when I set them on the floor, they rolled with a notable wobble, which alerted me to the problem. I took pics, tried to determine which caused the problem, the bolts being bent already OR the crankarm itself having been improperly made, with a curved cylinder hole that the threads were cut into? I suspected the latter, but wasn’t sure.

In any case, WAHOO tech looked at the pics and saw what I saw, and they sent me out a new left arm and bolts right away. Torqued all to spec, and have had no more issues, either with a knock sound or with the bolts working loose. I check it but they have not loosened yet in nearly another 5000 miles.

This has to be a rare event for the bolts/crankarm threads holes to be curved but it obviously happened. The only thing I would recommend that seemed to be the case when I did these things on my KICKR Bike is to fully remove and fully reset all bits with the crankarms. I found that the fixing (preload) bolt was NOT secured properly (OR had in fact loosened significantly?) and on my subsequent servicing of the parts when a knock returned, the fixing bolt seemed to pull the crankarm a little bit tighter than the 1st time, even though I did torque to specs. It has NOT seemed to come loose ever since I got it “where it seems happiest.”

From my own experience with maintaining my own road and MTB bikes, it seems that sometimes you have to go a bit tighter than “spec” to find that happy place for a certain part. I know that’s not a comfortable feeling to do it, and you have to exercise caution and use moderation in the process, but it just MIGHT solve a problem.

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Thanks for sharing! These are actually really good insights into a similar issue. Or at least something that might be very close to what I have. I’ll consider these on my next troubleshooting sweep and report back. Figuring these things out takes surprisingly a lot of time :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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At this point, you aren’t a customer, you’re an unpaid quality assurance engineer documenting a design flaw they’d rather ignore than fix.

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That’s certainly a perspective :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

I mean I don’t mind trying to fix it myself. Can’t really expect them to come and look, and since this is a second unit, another replacement feels awful too.

The only thing that made this a bit stressful was that the burden of proof feels like it’s on me. Prove it’s not “external sources” rather than just finding the fix together.

But oh well, getting closer… only if I had unlimited time to troubleshoot. I think that I’ve almost eliminated it already. Still it comes up sometimes when standing.

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