Hi all
I’m getting strange creaking noise from my crank area on my road bike.
My friend told me ” it’ll be your pedals”
So I got some brand new Look pedals today……..it didn’t work
I’ve tightened the crank…..still didn’t work

The frame is carbon and the crank is SRAM red 2011 …..and the noise is a sort of creaking clicking sound that more noticeable up hills

Any help would be great
Thanks

Snap on a Dale with BB30 bb and Red cranks. Loosened the tension adjuster, tightened the tension adjuster…bugger all stops it.

Watching replies with interest.

Clicky creaks from cranks are normally chainring bolts in my experience.

Make a list of all the components on your bike. Adjust, lubricate or replace each of them in turn until the clicking stops. The clicking is caused by the last component on your list. (This remains true if you change the order of the list.)

I hope this helps. 😉

Wot benpinnick said ^

New bottom bracket

I took out, greased and reinserted all chainring bolts…no joy. My bike is new and I must have only done 200 miles. Really frustrating under load!

I’ve just checked my chainring bolts…..a few were loose.
I’m going to sack off work today ( coz I can being self employed…lol) and go for a blast up Boxhill .

I’ll be back with the progress

3 times I went up Boxhill……and the noise just got worse….and I can feel it slightly in the crank!!

How do you know if the BB bearings are gone??

Probably not that area, clicks and creaks do resonate through the frame.

How about bars/stem? Unlikely to be saddle/post if it still does it when standing.

That’s not a strange noise, if they were Barking or sounding like a cow that would be strange.

As for bb whip cranks out and see how they feel.

I’ve solved this sort of odd creak by greasing the seatpost in the past – it can be deceptive where the noise is coming from. (oh but not if you are standing up – maybe worth a go anyway).
For clicks, is the front mech cable catching on the crank?

Headphones sort it everytime

How do you know if the BB bearings are gone??

When you go up Box Hill 3 times and the noise gets worse

If it’s a BB30 the noise is caused by the crank axle fretting inside the bearing inner races. Take it apart and look for areas of unexplained erosion where the axle fits in the bearings as in mine, pictured below.

The simple cure is to smear bearing fit compound on the areas where the axle fits inside the bearings. Put it on the axle on the drive side and on the bearing on the non-drive side so as not to “wipe” it all off as you drive the crankset back in. This will stop the noise.

If you have replaceable dropouts check those are clean and tight too.
Took me ages to find this particular noise. Only under higher power too.

On my road bike, it was a seat post collar that was causing the creaks and cracks that sounded like they were coming from the BB. On my mtb, all the components around the BB were changed but nothing stopped the noises. Until they went away over time (winter) and have now come back in spring. It’s witchcraft.

Try to:
1. Remove the rear wheel.
2. Put a drop of chainlube on each drop out, spread around with your finger.
3. Put the wheel back on and try uphill…

It sorted out my “cracked frame” problem! 🙄

All sorted…..it was…….blinking cheap ceramic BB from eBay ….that’ll teach me…
I managed to get a GXP BB …..ahhhh….silence can be sweet……!!!

Thanks for all the replies