When I’m riding my torker lx 24, and especially when I’m idling with my right foot down, I can feel a clicking on the left side (maybe in the pedal? I’m not exactly sure). I’m pretty sure that it’s not the crank or else it would feel loose when I was idling with my left foot down instead of right (I tightened the cranks anyway, and nothing happened).
Because I though the problem might be in the pedals, I went ahead and switched them out, but the problem still persists. It’s really bugging me that there’s something loose – I could be ruining my unicycle for all I know – can anyone help me figure out what it is?
Also, I’m pretty sure my cranks aren’t just permanently ruined because I always tighten them as soon as I feel them loosen.
Check the bearing holders.
Try this:
Take the crank and wiggle it UP and DOWN. I felt the same problem on my old Schwinn, and when I tried to move the crank up and down, it moved, and I could feel a little click when it finished it’s travel.
Thanks for the suggestions, but neither one of those works. I’ll replace the cranks tomorrow and see if anything happens, but other than that, I’m stumped.
What did you do when you “checked the bearing holders?” It may be that they are too tight, or too loose. When I set my bearing holders I spin the wheel as I tighten them and when there is enough resistance to inhibit the wheels free rotation I back off. That way I know that they are as tight as they can be without deforming the bearing itself.
Weird sounds are usually the crank or the spokes, but in this case I might check the pedal and see if it isn’t adjusted correctly.
Whenever I feel or hear a click, it is generally where the pedal attaches to the crank as it unscrews it gets play. Have you been riding backwards or any hopping?
That’s the same way I set my bearings. In fact, when I went to check them, they were pretty loose, so I tightened them – that made no difference.
Yes, I have been doing a lot of backwards riding/hopping. I’ve also recently learned how to spin, which I’ve been doing a lot lately. However, I’ve checked my pedals, and there are no problems with them (I’ve even changed the pedals.
Now that I think about it more, the problem seems to be coming from the center of the uni. Maybe as it becomes more pronounced, I’ll figure out where it is?
It could just be time for me to buy a new freestyle uni. The only thing is I don’t have the money yet!
Oh, I’ve changed my cranks too, without any difference. Now I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere in the hub area. I can’t believe I can’t figure out what the problem is – a unicycleis a really simple machine!
I think I’ve experienced some slight clicking of the seatpost in the seattube before, I’m not sure of the mechanics behind it though. Perhaps a slight marring of the cheap seat post material caused a less than ideal fit that allowed some side to side shifting under force?
It would happen once when idling on one side and then not again until I switched sides. Really tightening the seat post clamp helped but didn’t seem eliminate it. I can’t remember when it finally stopped but now I have a different seatpost clamp and clamp on a different part of the post and haven’t had the problem again.
you should try to check if the clicking is coming from the pedals. sometimes the clicking noise comes form them. Simply open the screw at the end of the pedal (usually hidden behind a plastic cover you will need to detach first) and tighten it…
The infamous clicking. I think this is the most frustrating part of the unicycle. Sometimes it’s bearing housings, something loose in the seat, crank thing, or who knows. They all feel/sound the same. Usually for me it’s the bearing housing. However, my 36 inch is doing it when I go up hills and put torque on the pedals. I can’t figure it out. I can’t have someone just jump on to check it because so few people ride. It is really bothersome because I like it to feel solid!
No one has mentioned yet the connection between the axle and the hub. To check this, block the wheel firmly - pin it against a wall or something. Then grab one crank and pull up and down. If you feel the click and that crank alone moves, then the crank is loose on the axle. If you feel the click and the opposite crank moves at the same time, then it’s the axle to hub connection. If you don’t feel the click when holding the crank, then the problem likely to be in one of the pedals.
The Torker LX 24 doesn’t have a one-piece hub and axle?
I thought companies only did that to save weight with an aluminum hub.
Or did Torker repurpose a bike hub? Did that used to be the common uni manufacturing process?
I agree with checking the bearings again. I’ve worked on bikes, and once I took the bearings/cage apart, cleaned everything including each ball bearing, and put it all together again with plenty of that blue machine grease stuff, it was fine.
But if that doesn’t work, I don’t know… Sounds annoying.
Ive developed this same problem in the last few days.
Im pretty sure i need to tighten a spoke or two, as the sound for me is more of a ‘tink’, rather than a click. From a bit of searching on here I gather this can be a fairly common cause of strange noises! Maybe you should check your spokes?
This is a long shot but I once found a brand new Twisted PC pedal with ‘stacked bearings’ (my term for it) meaning the bearings were not in a concentric circles in the races, two of them were doubled up one above the other. Took them apart, fixed problem, replaced sticky oil they use with good grease and put them back together.