There are somewhere around 13,987 differant causes for a clicking noise from the drivetrain area, but you are on the right track with swapping pedals out first to rule that out.
is there play in the bottom bracket or pedals? how many miles? Octilink,outboard,square taper?

 

There are somewhere around 13,987 differant causes for a clicking noise ...?

Yeah that number sounds about right +/- 2,000. The quick and easy looks are loose/cracked chainring bolts, suspension bolts, quick release, and cracks (frame, pedal, crank). After checking all bearings comes the greasing (bolts, derailleur hanger). Then comes the "i'll just live with it" . After a while rinse and repeat.

 

Mine is the goddamed EBB

 

I cleaned the bike up from this weekend's ride, checked everything out, and swapped out the pedals. Performed the same tests riding on the road and using the brakes to apply resistance/load as well as climbing the one little grass hill here at my apartments and it seems as though the sound is not present now. I will leave these pedals on for the next real ride to know for sure. In the meantime, I guess I need to see about the XT pedals that appear to be the issue. Can they be serviced? Upon inspection, nothing seems loose. Checked the clips on my shoes as well and they seem fine. My guess is bearings in the pedals?

 

Maybe time to get a new bb? Clicking sound may come from crushed bearings in the bb.

 

All the sounds and clicking problems I had over the years were all because of the BB or the loose crank bolts or pedals... So if you swap the pedals and it's fine, then you should have found the problem.

Good luck,

David


Sent from my iPhone while bikin'

 

I had a weird problem like that, and it turned out to be play in the rear hub causing the rear sprocket to shift a little bit.

 

Thanks once again for the feedback and suggestions. After taking the bike out on a ride with different pedals, I have pretty much confirm it was the pedals and have a new set on the way.

Curious, can the old pedals be rebuilt/repaired? They are XT clipless.

 

Most higher end pedals can be rebuilt, although I have never tried with Shimanos. I just rebuilt my Time AttacXS pedals and it was relatively easy. But back to your original post (and I know that you determined it to be the pedals) no one had mentioned a very obvious possibility. When you get dust and dirt in the BB shell it will make that noise. It happens mostly when it is really dry and dusty. If you pull the BB and clean off the threads, then grease and install it fixes it. That just happened to me again this weekend. But since it was kind of wet during the race, the noise went away. So if your noise comes back when its drier, check that out too. It might save money vs. buying a new BB or something