Mad One Repair

For the last month or so there has been a clicking noise in my drive-train when I pedal the Mad One. It only seems to occur in the harder gears or when I am putting forth heavy power (like on hills). It can be pretty loud at times and after trying a host of things on my own, I’ve determined it's not going away and that I will need to take it in to the shop for analysis. On Tuesday (6/19), I took it over to Emery's and Brent was not there so one of the bike mechanics took a look at it for me. He tightened up my pedals and a few bolts on the crank and told me to try that out to see if it clears up my issue. I had a feeling this wouldn’t help because I think over the course of the last couple months I had already tried that (I’ve tightened many things in an effort to fix this issue). Anyway, I figured he was the mechanic and I was willing to give that a try.

Unfortunately the clicking noise was still there on my Tri-Wisconsin ride Tuesday night, so that particular fix did not help. Yesterday (6/21) I brought the bike back in to Emery's, but this time Brent was there and took a look at it. He immediately began fiddling around with the cranks by putting heavy hand pressure on the pedals. He was on his hands and knees pushing and pulling on the cranks and voilà he was able to replicate the clicking noise without ever needing to pedal or physically ride the bike. Probably an old Olympic cyclist trick, so I was impressed. After about 2 minutes without hesitation he said I probably just needed my bearing plates tightened up and they could have it done for me to pick up tomorrow no problem. If they discovered anything else, they would call me and let me know.

Two important lessons here. First, there is no substitute for having a true professional with a ton of experience and knowledge looking at your bike when you have a problem (unfortunately that is not always possible). Second, he may be old & sometimes cranky, but Brent Emery knows his shit and has always left me as a satisfied customer and that is why I take my bike to his shop.

Now the real test will be whether the issue is fixed. I won’t know until I get the Mad One back out on the road in a couple days. We shall see, but I am confident he’ll be running smooth again!

UPDATE: Yup...I was correct.  I picked the bike up the next day and chatted with the mechanic.  It was the bearing plates and they also did a lube of the bearings and reassembled everything.  Pretty much exactly what Brent indicated & after a good hilly 37 mile ride on Monday, June 25th, the Mad One was silent as a mouse and smooth as silk.