I’ve been trying to track down some creaking from the front end of my bike for a couple of months now whic hhas been progressively getting worse. Changed headset, checked stem, bars, maxle, hubs etc in the hope it would be something trivial that a bit of grease could solve but unfortunately it looks like its coming from where the steerer and crown join.

The fork makes a creaking / cracking noise when you turn left and right. When you stand at the front of the bike with the front wheel between your legs and twist the bars left and right it does the same. Turning the bike upside down, removing the front wheel, standing on the handlebars for leverage and alternately pulling the lowers towards and away from you does the same.

I take it that this is a warranty job right? Forks are 2013 Rockshox Rebas purchased new from Merlin and have probably only been ridden 200 – 250 miles max.

Crown race seated correctly?

How about cables? I have had cables that creak a little when turning. More so when rubbing against frame, pulling a little if slightly short, or rubbing against another cable.

Its definitely something to do with the fork. I’ve isolated it from the rest of the bike by clamping it into the workbench and can replicate the same creaking from there.

@devash

Its not uncommon. I’ve had multiple forks from rockshox and fox develop this issue and had new CSU fitted under warranty.its caused by fork manufacturers wanting to offer lighter forks with thinner crowns.

Generally, its not the steerer / crown but actually the stanchions / crown, as the assembly grease leaches out over time or with use of cleaning products like muck off.

SRAM offer 2 years on rshox so you are covered if you bought forks new or as part of a bike. Fox is 1 year but mojo have been quite generous in the past.

Recently my fox 32 evo 29’er fork redeveloped this issue

the CSU had been replaced once foc, this time fork just out of warranty and mojo very helpful but I decided to go with slightly heavier manitou tower pro forks cheap off crc, which in reviews does not develop the same issue due to heavier crown with deeper stanchion engagement.

Cheers for the info. Purchased the forks back in April so still under warranty. Will give Merlin a call on Monday.

Although you’ve checked the forks and found them to creak, another annoying and hard-to-track-down source of creaking when you turn the bars is the gear cable stops on the frame. A spray of WD40 can help. Took me ages to find that one on my Ti bike. But once you know…

@TiRed

Cheers I’ll keep that in mind, but my current frame has a full outer cable run on the underside of the downtube so no cable stops apart from the shifters and derailleurs.

This video is identical to the problem I’ve got;

[video]http://youtu.be/THTzhWTiNw0[/video]

So I’m 99.9% its a CSU issue that esher shore mentioned and will need warrantying.

Thanks for the help guys.