There are lots of heckler owners on here so I am hoping someone might have experience with a creaky one..

My mate has a heckler with a creak, only when pedalling, have changed pedals, looked at bb which spins freely, removed front mech (which reportedly flexes under pedalling) and tested an alternative rear wheel. If you bounce on the bike even at angles, then no creak, unless under power.

I’m running out of ideas. I did notice it has half drop outs for the rear wheel, and these look worn.

If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it.

I had a very annoying creak on my Heckler that only happened ‘under power’ that I eventually tracked down to be the rear free hub hearings on a Hope Pro 2 hub.

Edit: oops I see you’ve tried swapping the rear wheel. Only suggestion is remove and clean rear mech hanger and check out main pivot bearings.

drop some chain lube on the shock bushings – one of the creaks I have found

Lube the cable stops as alot of creaks are just cables moving in the stops. Grease the dropout & bolts next. I’ve even had a stem cap creaking.

Depends on the model year but I’d sugest that he removes the replaceable drop out/mech hanger, greases it where it meets the frame and then replaces it with a bit of threadlock on the bolts. That one drove me mad for a couple of weeks on mine. Seems to be a known issue especially on pre 2007 bikes.

could be the DU’s in the shock

Mine only creaked when they cracked (2 off them). Check the welds around the pivot and also around the stoopid underside bottle mounts.

Has he checked the seat post, QR or the seat itself. I had creaky rails which drove me mad.

+1 replaceable dropout, mine did that and a bit of grease sorted it pronto.

Check the pivot Bolts havent snapped in the frame as thats what mine used to do,caused the creaking!

Creaky seat? or Seatpost clamp?

I spent hours looking for suspension and drivetrain problems that turned out to be the seat…

Seat / seatpost – get him to see if it creak under load when out of the saddle – if not, there you go!

I struggle with long sentences but pedalling creaks are usually dry/loose threads on pedals, bb, or chainring bolts, or loose cranks.

Try all these first…then look at saddle/seatpost then the random stuff.

Shock bushings and general strip/clean/regrease interfaces stoppe mine! 🙂

My Heckler was the same. Only creaked under pedalling. Ruled out cranks, pedals and seatpost. Thought it was bottom bracket but turned out to be the suspension bearings. Changing the bearings wasn’t too difficult and creak has now gone.