Difficult to tell from bb or not.
Gears not slipping or out of line.
Worse the more tension put through pedals.
Any ideas?

What bike what shoe pedal combination has the bike been serviced recently too many variables without more info.

My guess, would be the BB.

New pedals? Any you can swap to try.
How old is the bottom bracket, ready for replacement? BB on tight?
All the chain ring bolts done up tight?
Crank thread all tight?

take the chain off and try to get it to creak! if no creak then pretty safe to say it aint, the bb, the cranks or the pedals.
Try:
grease all round the mech hanger
grease the rear axle and then when you put it back tighten it up good and proper.
make sure all spokes are tight on rear wheel.
make sure all bolts tight on front mech.

Could be
Pedals.
Bottom Bracket.
Chainrings.
Cranks.
Rear hub.
Cassette.
Freehub.
Mech hanger.
Seatpost.
Seat.
Wheel.
Knees.
Bars,stem,headset….pretty much everything.

Process of elimination. Remove, clean re-grease (as applicable), and re-tighten all likely culprits in sequence. Don’t discount anything. I recently had a creaky headset that I was convinced was a BB issue.

+1 for what Suggsey said about pedal/shoe combo – took me a while to figure out that was the source of a creak some time ago.

And don’t forget the weather. My creaky headset only creaked on warm days

In order of checking

Bottom bracket – if it’s regular on the same point of the pedal stroke
Pedal bearings – if you can feel it in your foot
Square taper bb – if you have one and you feel the crank move
Saddle rails – if you’ve been riding in mud
Pivot bolts / bearings if they’ve not been changed in a while
Rear spokes – if you’ve been dropping off stuff
A stuff link in the chain if you’ve not lubed it
Rear qr skewer if you have one and it’s not been greased
Rear hub bearings – if it’s a Hope
Freehub – if it’s a hope and it’s not the bearings
Stem / bar interface if it’s not any of the above
Your chain-stay if it’s a Lapierre
Knees or ankles if you’ve got any discomfort
An old door – if it’s windy outside
For all other creaks you need the chat forum

Flats or SPDs?
If SPDs check shoe cleats are tight.
If flats which pedals? My Spank ones squeak at the bushes.

Might be crisps if you’re behind Gary Lineker

£10 it’s the BB.

Knees, ankles, pedals all ok.
Top tips, thanks.
Shall start eliminating.
(Seems to get worse when not plugged into ipod).

I had a creak that i could have swore blind was the BB,
until I realised it disappeared when I was out of the saddle. Turned out to be the seat post clamp, a tiny smear of grease around the inside of the collar, problem solved.

(Seems to get worse when not plugged into ipod).

Well that’s an easy to solve noise. Plug it in!!!

Knees.

have you got a type 2 Sram mech? try there.

Try tightening up your rear QR a bit…

Its your knees and hips.

From the description there’s a small amount of movement between two components creating a noise when pedalling. Difficult to tell which two though …… Is it when in or out of the saddle?

Do what I did, check, grease and tighten everything, swap your pedals to see if it’s them, check the spokes are tight and your seatpost is greased. Only when you are sure you have checked everything three times over is it time to admit defeat.

Or you could avoid all that faffing and just replace the BB…

😆 😆 😆