I bought a new Giant Defy a few months ago, had the frame replaced under warranty and in the middle of my second ride it starting creaking. Since Im a shite mechanic, I have no idea where to start trouble shooting. FWIW, I suspect the bike shop just slapped my old parts on the new frame and didnt prep/lube anything.
And no, I cant bring it back to the shop--there's a three week wait. Three weeks!!!
Start diagnosing where the creak is coming from and sort it out yourself? Most likely candidates are bottom bracket, cranks and bearings so start there. Good luck.
Not many moving parts on a road bike.....
Try any of the following:
Clean the seat post /collar and reapply carbon grease
Wheel axles (though these would click rather than creak): remove axles, re-grease and refit
pedal axles: clean, reapply grease or replace
Bottom bracket: remove, re-grease and fit again
Anything else that forum members suggest......
Tracing creaks can be a real hassle, even on a supposedly simple road bike (and, TBH, I've had more creaks from them over the years than I ever have from MTBs!):
To add to what is said above, most common in my experience is unquestionably push-fit BBs, seatposts/saddles and stems / bars, but there can be loads of other things that can sound almost exactly the same, including creaks from drivetrains and wheels that echo around the bike. Sadly, I've often resorted to simply swapping bits around until it goes away which isn't very scientific, but at least it will eventually work! Lube everything properly, and use carbon paste where appropriate. Proper torque settings throughout.
For push-fit BBs, install them properly with bearing-fitting compounds following whatever specific instructions your frame has, but even then sometimes you may need to resort to an aftermarket BB solution to sort it properly. Annoyingly, my most recent creak was finally traced to a relatively low-mileage, Ultegra crankset which, in the end, I've had to retire as I can't stop it creaking and can only assume that it's heading towards premature failure (which it ain't doing with me in the driver's seat!) - sadly, it'll cost me £150 for a new 'un when I get around to it, but at least with the spare crankset on, I'm riding in blissful silence at the moment.
Good luck. Try to maintain your sanity, which will be well tested before you are through...
Biggest one i find is the saddle/seatpost, stand up and pedal in a high gear and see if it still creaks, always amazes me how some saddles are poorly manufactured and have movement or lack of tolerance to fit properly on the rails.
Earplugs.
Derailleur hanger another one to add to the above.
Can sometimes be stuff you'd never expect but usually pedals / cranks / bb is the place to start.
Chainring bolts if it has any? A friend found this out the expensive way a few years ago, pedals, chain, mech and hanger and saddle all replaced before he worked it out
Ive just stopped a creak that was from my stem spacers, bit of coppaslip on them and its gone silent. Already had the stem off and regreased the bolts to no effect so it definitely was the spacers rubbing each other/ stem/ steerer.
I had an Orange 5 years ago that developed a creak, turned out it was the rear quick release, I spent ages taking apart and greasing the headset, bottom bracket etc. I had totally forgotten about my mystery creak on my 5 until I my road bike developed a creak recently. I took the chainset, and headset apart and greased them before checking my quick releases. 🤦
My singlespeed Stooge is incredibly creaky but I'm pretty sure it's that my chainring is worn and the noise is chain being forced into the recess between each tooth. I'm too tight to buy a new chainring so I'll just put up with it until it finally gives up the ghost, might go with a bang! 😬
If it's a Shimano road chainset, be gentle when you tighten the chain ring bolts when putting it back together, the aluminum threads in the chainring are quite soft. Not that I over tightened mine of course 🙄
I had annoying creaks on new gravel bike. Was the bar/stem interface. Sorted with a bit of grease.
Also had an annoying rattle from the rear brake lever (SRAM Rival 1) - there’s a metal rod in there which seemed to spin and rattle. Fixed by stuffing a bit of blutac in there.
Old 105 levers used to rattle. Bloody annoying. Before breaking.
Tighten the QRs tight enough that they leave an imprint in the palm of your hand. Still creaking? Does the creak go in time with pedal strokes? Pound to a penny it's your BB axle fretting inside the bearing inner races, which is a typical BB30 problem. The answer is to get some bearing fit compound and smear it on the area of the BB axle where you can see signs of wear and fretting in two narrow bands inside the bearings. Smear it on the RH end of the axle and inside the bearing inner race on the LH side, so that it stands the best chance of not being wiped off as you reinsert the axle. Most shop mechanics don't know this and will blame it on the bearings fretting in the frame cups and try to fix it with grease.
Don’t discount headset bearings creaking in frame. Can be dry with wet riding. And the sound sounds exactly like a bb creak !!