Right had my Five since Jan. last 2 months started squeaking on pulling bigish torque on teh cranks. Rulled out saddle and seatpost as happens out the saddle. Think I have rulled out front and rear QR. def rulled out pedals and cranks as swapped stuff over from other bikes etc. Also dont think its front end i.e. bars, stem etc. So left with pivots and shock bushings. took it all apart last weekend, cleaned etc. re-copper greased pivot bearings etc. stopped squeaking on a short ride but havent tried after a dirty ride. Interesting was also the pivot bearing inside teh seal were almost dry. I dont use a jet wash and so I presume they come dry – anyone else seen this? Anyone else had squeaky swingarm on their Fives?

ive no idea but i’d be taking it back to the shop – i cant stand squeeking or creaking!

Bottom bracket? Especially if its a raceface one!

Mine sounds like I have a small budgie sat on the swinging arm everytime I push hard with my left leg; I traced it down to a very slight brake caliper contact with the rotor that was amplified by the design of the frame.

Mine came with one pivot bearing dry and one greased. Guess which one was rusted onto the stub axle when I needed to change them? You want to get that sorted, if there’s no grease between the bearing and the swingarm then I’d take them out.

Mine creaked with a knackered HT2 BB. Also when the lower shock bush was worn, but you’d be able to feel the play in that.

well def not the BB – replaced with XTR BB and cranks – I have greased the pivot bearings by taking the seal off and applied synth bearing grease – hope that stops it. otheriwse I’ll do a bearing upgrade with some BETD ones I think. Was just interested if anyone else had the same pivot bearing problems.

An ant wearing tap dancing shoes walking up through the inside of the down tube would cause enough resonated noise…

LOL sharki – seems to be the way !

Fair enough, wasn’t mentioned in the OP and it seemed the most obvious source to me.

No offense Stu – your right mean’t to mention I replaced the BB too as well as the cranks etc

my trance had a creak that seemed to be from the pivots, then the fork – turned out was the gear outer cable ferule(?) rotating in its socket when the fork compressed or extended

maybe I’ll mail orange to ask wether the pivot bearings should be dry inside the seals or greased ball bearing races?

ahh – no email address?

I am sure I am probably wrong as had a few FS in my time and it is nigh on impossible to ID where the creak is comming from but there you go – gotta start somwhere !

Mech hanger?

well def tight I checked it but not taken if off and clean and replaced etc. but my mates mech hanger was the source of his creek! I’ll see if the creak comes back now I have re-assembled teh swingarm pivots etc 😉

Bikes creak, especially full sussers….just ride the bike and you’ll soon forget the creak.

In the past I’ve found that nearly every creak is either the bottom bracket, crank bolts or cable ferrules creaking in the cable stops. Strangely metal ferrules creak way less than the plastic ones.

have you got hope QRs?

nope – didn’t want hope QR’s coz of reviews 😉 If you heard this creak I dont think you could ignore it 😉

mine does it too (12 months old) and I have no idea where it is coming from – have checked all usual suspects – I just ignore it now….

one thing you could try is to copper slip the freehub body

Foxy rider, I meant the interface between the outer race of the bearing and the stub axle should be greased.

QR tends to cause the most creaking on my Sub 5. I have to do it up stupidly tight to remove the noise. You may need the help of a strong fingered individual to undo them when it’s right.

2nd Sandwich on my Five. But it’s been creaking for 4 years and nothings fallen off – well nothing that either affected the creak or to be fair could have caused the creak. Tightening the QR sorts it for a bit but it does come back – Having tried a few QRs, Shimano are pretty good.

Back in the day my sub5’s mostly used to creak from the rear q/r – Hope was awful and salsa not much better. Occasionally my shock pivots used to creak too, but the most persistent and un-identifiable creak was the stub axle weld failing.

cheers guys – have had teh rear QR on my list – we’ll see how it goes – maybe should have gone for a maxle ?

Maxle? I would if I was buying again. Don’t think they did them in 2005 though.

Right – found out what it was – its the rear dropouts – I think there is grit getting in the dropouts and the pegs of the hub (hope pro II) as teh paint and metal is worn on the hubs. cleaned, locktite on teh hanger bolts and shadow mech bolt and copper grease inside the dropots (not on the QR /dropout faces) and hey presto – no creaks – result – glad it wasnt the swingarm pivots/bushings. Cheers guys.

Smart – might try that myself

Aye, mine creaks too, but haven’t sought the source yet. I may well refer to this thread again when it gets too much for me to bear.

However, my P7 has a squeak that is getting on my nerves.

remove the seatpost and (carefully!) test ride it. My meta had a savage creak which I thought was a pivot or something as it creaked even when out of the saddle.

A tiny bit of grease on the post has sorted it.

Else remove the rear shock and cycle the suspension fully through it’s travel and see if you can hear where the creak is coming from.

Retro83 – my addition to my old thread was to ID where my creak was comming from?

Right – found out what it was – its the rear dropouts

My Pitch creaks plenty, I’m not going to worry too much about it.

Not wanting to criticise Spesh bikes but I had a stumpy and it made a racket so not surprised – mine is quiet onteh climbs not but obviously being a Five the plates come crashing down on the descents 😉

Partial solution to the creaky QR is to use the Mavic Ti ones. They have an arrangement that allows high tension without too much effort at the lever.

Right – the squeaking has returned after a few rides and a few washes. Its def the QR’s and teh copper grease works for a while. 2 things – I have wound cut innertube around the swing arm(s) and that has deadend teh noise from teh clattering cables inside as treat. I have also ordered a 10mm conversion kit for the proII hubs with a DT Swiss through axel – Its not really for the slight increase in stiffness but the extra clamping I can get on the clamp. Should stop it shifting as I have 203mm rotors on teh back and I think the braking and bouncing means I think its moves a little – mud gets in and then starts to sweak – if not it will be an expensive upgrade 😉

Bit of a bummer dude, I’ve never had this particular problem. I do get the honking noise after I’ve riding for a while which I’ve been told is the hose rubbing on the rubber bung on the swing arm, blob of grease sorts it but I’ve never been bothered enough to get round to it.