My road bike (Carrara Carbon Halfords thing) has been developing a creak over the last few weeks and it’s got to the point where I can only ride with headphones on now. The bike has been great for over a year. It makes a sharp cracking noise on every peddle turn which is so loud I have checked every inch of the frame for cracks. With the bike upside down the cranks make a slight click at a certain point every revolution.

So sounds like bottom bracket which is weird as the cranks feel nice and smooth with no play. Anyway I have had the cranks off and its one of those press fit jobies that most people hate for this exact reason. But the bearings feel nice and smooth and stuck in the frame pretty solid. I can’t see any evidence of the bearings moving about in the housing (but I don’t know if I’m likely to see anything?). I didn’t want to remove it since it looked good so I just greased everything and put it back together. It’s still exactly the same.

If it the BB can I get one of those new ones that thread together in the middle of the BB shell? This is the only bike I have with press fit BB so Iv no idea what standard it is…

Any advice or info greatly appreciated.

It looks like a bb30 maybe, if that is circlip on the far side of the shell. If you put a finger in the shell then it would just be the metal frame, no plastic sleeve or cups. If it is this, then it’s just two bearings straight into the frame with two circlips behind. You knock the bearings out and then press new ones in with a headset press.

This set-up requires finer tolerances than usual for the bb shell, so is prone to creaking if something goes slightly awry with the bearing interface. You could just replace the bearings to see if this solves it, or you can fit a plastic sleeve called a PF30 which the bearings sit in – this removes the fine tolerance issue of the metal-on-metal bb30.

PF30 won’t fit – the bb shell is too small.

Chuck some new bearings in to see if that cures it?

Unfortunately pressfit’s do have a tendency to creak a bit a lot.

You could just replace the bearings to see if this solves it, or you can fit a plastic sleeve called a PF30 which the bearings sit in – this removes the fine tolerance issue of the metal-on-metal bb30.

as above PF30 does not fit in B30, different external dimensions, same 30mm axle.

Just knock the bearings out, grease and refit. Probably installed dry anyway.

My bike has a press fit BB and developed a horrendous creak within a few months of getting it (new in May ’14). Turned out to be loose chainring bolts.

Not a squeak out of it since.

It’s worth systematically checking the rest of the bike for creaks (there are some good video guides on youtube). I spent months defaming a press fit BB when it was actually a faulty rear hub that was creaking like a rusty hinge. I’d probably rather have a bike without pressfit but tbh I have found them to be OK and they’ve lasted as well or better than HTII for me.