Bike recently developed an annoying creaking/clicking noise. Yesterday I finally narrowed it down to my Hope bottom bracket by swapping it out with a old Shimano one I had knocking around. The odd thing is the bearings in the Hope were running smooth with zero play. So I decide to remove and repack with fresh grease. Cleaned it all up – put on new outer seals, then reinstalled it with a small amount of anti seize grease on the threads. Tightened it all up correctly etc. and the creak was still there. Once again removed, and replaced with the Shimano, and the noise disappeared.
What’s going on? Should I replace the bearings? Seems odd as they were running so smoothly.