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?

@YoKaiser greased

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….

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.

my frame was cracked at the BB when i had a bottom bracket creak.

clean and check.