Got an annoying creaking kind of noise on my 29 hardtail. At first thought it was the BB. So stripped, repacked, reinstalled. Still there. Replaced bb. Still there. Stripped and rebuilt pedals. Still there. Greased everything around the crank area - still there.
Can't work out what else to try. Could it be the narrow/wide ring? If def sounds like it's coming from that area.
Seatpost? If it's coming from directly under you it's a possibility.
Mine creaks if it's come loose, try tightening the clamp on the frame and seat.
is it a pressfit or bb30?
QRs? Especially if they're non-Shimano. Replaced a BB once to find out it was my QRs all along!
Creaking when sitting and standing? Pedalling each side individually? Pedalling with no hands? Sometimes very hard to pinpoint the noise.
Not the seatpost as I just replaced that and it was there before and after. It's a bb30. Will check the qrs.
Could be anything tbh. Creaks can be difficult to track and frustratingly only a gradual elimination of possibilities will cure them
Noise seems to be from driveside when pedalling. Hence me thinking it might be the narrow wide.
Chainring bolts?
if its a bb30 its coming from your bottom bracket. new or not they still creak no matter what you do.
Actually my bad. It's a hollowtech bb.
You can get that creak from the rear axle, or cassette bearings. Pretty quick to check as well. I have had the same issue and it turned out that a bit of grease on the rear axle before tightening sorted it.
check your cleats are done up tight.
I've had a freehub body crack that made a strange creaking noise, worth a check.
Mine does the same. Think it's the internal cable routing.
Two of my 'favourite' difficult to identify creaks... Stem/bar interface, sounds like BB and a new one this week, fixed sprockets on SRAM cassette creaking away like mad even after regreasing etc...
When I've had a creak like this and it isn't the BB it's always been the rear dropouts. Taking the wheel out, cleaning the dropout and the end if the axle and reassembly with a dab of grease sorts it out. Another cheap and easy thing to check if nothing else.
Don't rule out headset .. remove bearings and clean up re-fit etc
Derailleur hanger/frame interface is a common one. Smear of anti sieze sorts it
It's always seat rails for me.
as above , seat rails, seat post or seat rail bolts remove all, and clean then grease re fit, thats what i did last week creak gone
This happened to me twice- I.e. all non obvious causes ruled out.
Once was the on-one swap outs not tightening properly.
Once was a cracked rear hub.
Pedal(s)?
My Scalpel has developed this same creak just recently.
Rear mech hanger is worth checking.
Obv pedals or the crank inserts
Clean out the threads on the pedal and crank then re-grease. Sounds like the problem I've just had.
Thanks all. Saddle rails / seat post have already been done. As have the pedals, which have been fully stripped, repacked and greased. So it's def not those.
I'm going to check headset and QR's next.
For me it wasn't the internals of the pedals it was the axel threading into the crank.
So what we're really recommending is do a full strip down, clean and regrease everything, use copper slip on threads.
Do you really need an excuse to spend more time tinkering with the bike(s)?
My historical noises have come from the BB, cracked frame, and a slightly loose dropout. Hope you track it down (and it's not the frame).
a creak like that is almost always rear quick release for me, undoing it and redoing it usually solves it
also recently I lost a chainring bolt and until they were all done back up to 16nm I had a very similar creak
It's always seat rails for me.
Wut Andy said
so reading the above, I think the best advice would be to dip your bike in a vat of grease.
Remove your grips though, you don't want grease on them, obvs. Just remember to apply some grease under them when you re-fit them though, in case they creak.
@thetallpaul - I think you're right... full strip and rebuild 😀
Hi,
Last time for me was loose spokes, they creaked under pedaling.
For me, the mystery creakery has ended up being;
Saddle rails Common, easy to track down
Crank arm Less common, more trouble to trace
Shoe cleats Rare, frustratingly difficult to find
As above... Usually saddle rails. But in my case (sadly) I traced the once per rev creak/click to this....
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My creak (which everyone agreed was **definitely** the cranks / BB) turned out to be a cracked stem.
I found this out when the bars suddenly parted company with the steerer tube, thankfully 2m after the end of the rock garden that I'd just descended. Still hurt, but could have been an awful lot worse.
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my frame was cracked at the BB when i had a bottom bracket creak.
clean and check.
If it still creaks when standing out the saddle its unlikely be the seat post/saddle.
Worth checking wheel bearing play and spoke tension.
And it's gone!
Spent some time last night and regreased headset, bars/stem, QR's, cranks and chainrings... not sure which one it was but thanks for all the suggestions.
Now I have a squeak from somewhere 🙄
pads.
Grease them?? 😆
Just got my Superfly back from the shop. I took it in to have the rear brake mounts faced as I was getting some weird vibration and honking from the back brake.
They said the post mounts didn't need faced (they'd 'looked at them' and concluded everything was square) but helpfully regreased the seat clamp as they thought it was making a noise.
On the way home the bike seemed to have developed an entirely new noise, sounded exactly like a chain rubbing off a front mech, so naturally I spent the whole ride home tweaking the barrel adjuster in and out trying to figure out what was rubbing.
Once home I dropped the rear wheel out to take a closer look. Turns out the mechanic when replacing the rear wheel had dunted the disc against the pad, nicking the corner of the pad which was now sticking out. Any pressure on the pedals was enough to flex the frame just a tiny bit and cause the spokes of the disc rotor to hit the sticky out bit of pad 🙄
Had to laugh as I was 100% sure it was the chain hitting the mech. Would have gone as far as removing the mech to prove it had I not seen the damaged pad... Naturally my next step would have been the grease vat 8)