Turbo Vado SL 4.0 Tick-Tock Noise

M

mfd14534

New Member
Region
USA
I have a Turbo Vado SL 4 with about 1700 miles on it. When I pedal between 40 rpm - 50 rpm at a higher power level (like accelerating or climbing) I hear and feel a Tick-Tock noise once per crank revolution. It goes away when I get up to 80 rpm. The noise happens in all gears seated or standing. It also happens with the power on or off, but it seems easier to recreate with the power on. I can't recreate this noise on the work stand.

I've changed the chain and the bike shifts well. I've cleaned and lubed the seat post and rails, jockey wheels and chain ring. The noise seemed to go away for a while when I changed the chain but it came back within 100 miles.

One thing that seems suspicious is that rear derailleur has a fair amount of play and If I wiggle it around it makes a sound similar to what I'm hearing while riding .When I push in the pin that hold the derailleur so the chain is slack, there is about 1/4" of play at the bottom of the jockey wheel cage. The mounting bolt is tight but you can see there is some slop in the mounting mechanism. Is this typical for an NX-11?

Other ideas?
 
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Probably a totally useless piece of info but I had a similar problem on my old Specialized Pitch 650B. Took me forever to find it but it turned out to be the pedal bearings.
 
I have a R1U with the same brand motor that started doing that at about 1500 miles. It near drove me to drinking.
It turns out it was the motor cover must move a bit a bit against the mating surface to the motor because it went away when I squirted some WD-40 on the area where the cover meets the motor.
Yes the cover screws were tight.
 
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Can be anything. I can still remember squeaking of my Vado SL that was heard from the fork area for months. It was the suspension seat-post :)
 
Mine had a twig/stick like a short pencil that had gotten behind the motor cover that I found while attempting to remove the motor to send it off for repair, being convinced I had bad sprag clutch causing the click. For me it was occuring on every crank rev when my right leg began its power stroke, over 80 rpm and over 240 watts I could recreate the tick with perfect reliability. Twig would have cost me $500 rebuild if I hadn't noticed it and decided to retest it, having no confidence a twig could cause such a malady.
 
Jeremy McCreary said:
Amen to that! Last time I thought for sure it was my motor. It was my freehub.

Interesting how hard it is to localize bicycle noises. Reflections, transmission through frame members could all contribute, I suppose.
Click to expand...

So true. I recently had an intermittent clicking noise and was convinced it was coming from my headset or the spacer rings—but it turned out to be the seatpost. Nothing more frustrating. I’ve spent entire rides just trying to track down noises, even using a big empty stadium parking lot with smooth pavement so I can really focus on diagnosing it.

Honestly, I’d love to see some kind of diagnostic kit—this is getting ridiculous—like four small sound sensors you could place around the bike to triangulate exactly where the noise is coming from. I can’t stand clicks and squeaks. And with a Sprague clutch, silence is the whole point of the ride for me.
 
So here is where we are today with the clicking. I'll get two clicks per revolution only at certain torque and cadences. More torque and the noise will go away, less torque and the noise goes away. It happens in all gears, seated or standing. The sound is louder with pedal assist on any level but also occurs with pedal assist off.
  • Changed the chain
  • Cleaned cassette and chain ring
  • Cleaned and greased free hub.
  • Wedged some rubber where motor cover might be creaking against the frame
  • Wedged rubber in derailleur hinge points to remove any slop
  • Changed pedals
  • Checked spokes
  • Torqued axle
  • Tried different B-Gaps
  • Adjusted derailleur to see if it made any difference
None of this made any difference. Actually I thought the B Gap fixed the issue but the clicking returned about 5 miles into a ride.

What's left???
 
Is there any way you can get the bike on a workstand?

Reason I ask - it's quite difficult to localize noises while you're riding. Can't exactly put an ear to the crank to find out what's going on.

I recently swapped wheels to a nonmotorized bike I was selling. Got a click on every revolution of the rear wheel no matter what I did.

Went over all the usual suspects - loose pedals, wheel out of true and hitting brake pads, loose crankarms, loose bottom bracket, RD out of alignment etc. All negative.

With the bike on a stand, I was carefully able to localize the sound to the freehub.

Took the wheel off the bike and pulled the cassette. Turned out one spacer was in the wrong position.

Got it in the correct position and no click. But not without going through a lot of "not-this" first.
 
zbikeman said:
Is there any way you can get the bike on a workstand?

Reason I ask - it's quite difficult to localize noises while you're riding. Can't exactly put an ear to the crank to find out what's going on.

I recently swapped wheels to a nonmotorized bike I was selling. Got a click on every revolution of the rear wheel no matter what I did.

Went over all the usual suspects - loose pedals, wheel out of true and hitting brake pads, loose crankarms, loose bottom bracket, RD out of alignment etc. All negative.

With the bike on a stand, I was carefully able to localize the sound to the freehub.

Took the wheel off the bike and pulled the cassette. Turned out one spacer was in the wrong position.

Got it in the correct position and no click. But not without going through a lot of "not-this" first.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah. I forgot to add.... I can't get it to click on a bike stand. Even if I hold the brake and pedal, no click!
 
Sticking chain link or improperly installed master link? If both ends of the master link aren't fully seated, it can be noisy. I'd remove it and reinstall it.
 
If it were the chain sticking or not installed correctly, the click wouldn't go away on a stand.

Found this on the interwebs (emtbforums). How's the mount pivot?

SX and NX mechs all develop play at the mount pivot.
Chain tension generally stops the mech wobbling so much when in use so they tend to still index albeit not quite as well.
Cheap sram components are pretty poor quality. Go GX or above or just ditch it altogether for a shimano drivetrain where you get higher quality components at a lower price point.
 
mfd14534 said:
So here is where we are today with the clicking. I'll get two clicks per revolution only at certain torque and cadences. More torque and the noise will go away, less torque and the noise goes away. It happens in all gears, seated or standing. The sound is louder with pedal assist on any level but also occurs with pedal assist off.
  • Changed the chain
  • Cleaned cassette and chain ring
  • Cleaned and greased free hub.
  • Wedged some rubber where motor cover might be creaking against the frame
  • Wedged rubber in derailleur hinge points to remove any slop
  • Changed pedals
  • Checked spokes
  • Torqued axle
  • Tried different B-Gaps
  • Adjusted derailleur to see if it made any difference
None of this made any difference. Actually I thought the B Gap fixed the issue but the clicking returned about 5 miles into a ride.

What's left???
Click to expand...

Wow, how frustrating! Lots of diagnostic work here, but you haven't really addressed the drive unit or cranks yet.

The fact that your tick-tock syncs with pedal rotation makes me wonder about both. After all, the drive unit still functions as your bottom bracket, even when the motor's off. This synchrony also points away from the chain.

The fact that the sound can't be reproduced on the stand suggests that it needs a certain pedal load to appear. Another reason to wonder about the drive unit or cranks.

The fact that you still get the noise standing up points away from the saddle and seat post, both of which are also stressed in sync with pedaling — at least when seated. I recently had a mystery noise synced in just that way. My mechanic traced it to the join between the plastic saddle body and the metal rails. Gone with a little lube there. Not uncommon, he said.

Haven't read the whole thread, but getting another set of ears on the problem might help. Have you given your LBS a crack at it?

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
I thought about the pivot bolt and tension so I did a test with a bungie cord to add a bit more tension and there was no change.

There is no play in the crank or crank arms that can detect and I'd like to think it's not the motor because the noise happens with the motor off. By the way, the tick happens on the down stroke of the right pedal and the tock happens on the downstroke of the left pedal.

Probably not my shoes rubbing. I greased them up pretty well!:)

I have an appointment at the local bike shop on May 5. We will see what happens.
 
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