Looking for a pointer before I go spend my hard earned really, I’ve developed a very annoying creak in my helius cc frame which after about a week of riding I’ve at least partly identified.

Having spent a while doing pedals cranks bb checks I’ve spotted today that my swingan has developed play at the main pivot, moving toward the drive when effort is applied.

I’ve no objections to paying to get the bushings done but can’t really afford to pay someone to tell me my frame is dead.

So my question is this: what’s the chances of me having misshapen the pivots/bushing housings given I’ve been riding the bike (possibly for some time before I noticed located the creaking).

Is it easy enough to remove the rear swing arm to check the pivots at home or do I need to remove some of the bushings – I can’t see how to take the swing arm off the main pivots without pressing out the bushings which I don’t have kit for and I’m not prepared to make do with a rubber Mallet or some such.

Any help gratefully received.

Did you know that Nicolai bushes are adjustable? There’s a decent explanation buried somewhere in the Nicolai UK website:

http://www.nicolai-uk.com/index.php/service-2/

I generally strip, clean inspect, re-grease & rebuild once a year & I’m still on the original 2009 bushes & bearings.

If you’ve ridden it loose for a while you’ve likely worn the main pivot bushings but you won’t have damaged the frame. The only way we’ve seen damaged bearing seats was a few people who allowed the needle bearings to corrode and lock onto the steel axles so that the needle bearings moved in their seats. That was a seriously abused bike and there must have been a *lot* of signs that something was wrong that were ignored.

We sell bearing kits on ‘sale or return’ so you can just replace the parts you need and can rent you a set of tools. You do need the axle drift to remove the rear end.

Thanks for that, if I’m fairly convinced it’s not going to cost me 100 to find out I need a new frame I’ll get it booked in at moonglu.