Creaky Hope PF41 bottom bracket

I have installed the above into a Cube Reaction carbon frame. All was well, and installed as per instructions. Its done about 1000km, and has developed a creak.

I cant feel any play, and to tighten or remove the cups i will have to remove the nds bearing.

Has anyone any experience of this problem?

I went with what seemed the best solution to non creaking and now i am a little frustrated.

Beener

Contact Hope. Their customer service I have found to be excellent!

I had similar.

For me it was bearings. I think the grease had stiffened up and one of them was just a tiny bit notchy from lack of use.

Drop your cranks out and turn bearings with a finger tip on inner race while still in the BB.

If there’s anything other than butter smooth motion then it’s new bearing time.

The tiniest little notch was generating some bloody awful clicking and creaking.

I drifted the bearings  out with a large flat blade screwdriver and pressed new ones in with the hope tool. It is a 10 minute job to get them out even if you’re being cautious. But as I say above feel for roughness while still installed.

All this on P46 but it’s fundamentally very similar design.

I asked Hope and their advice was bearings first. If you PM me your email I’ll see if I can find their email and send it to you later in the week.

Clean it, regrease it…. wait a couple of months for the noise to return….. repeat!

In my case the bearings are still good. If your’s are not- replace….. then follow the instructions above.

thanks for your help guys.

I will get into it today and see what the bearings are like as a first check.

It may be that i need to remove, clean, regrease, reinstall.

I will post back wuth what i find

Beener

If you’ve been riding the bike in the wet with no mudguards, then it may have contributed to your problem – remove the cranks and see if there’s water inside the BB? Also check the bearings as above.  If they’re OK, also clean the crank spindle and apply waterproof grease. I smear everything with marine grease as it’s far more tenacious than regular bike stuff.

Its a 29 Carbon mtb that is set up rigid. It really hasnt been out in the wet and lots of mud. I have ither bikes for that. This one tends to get used as a sort of gravel bike. I will report back on the bearings etc v shortly.

Im off today, so its an admin day 🙂

I had to Google PF41 to see it and I’m not surprised to see that it’s similar to BB30, which is notorious for creaking, the reason being that the crankset axle actually flexes microscopically inside the bearing inner races, setting up creaking sounds. Bike mechanics and forum warriors always attribute the noise to the bearings moving in the frame but they’re wrong.

Remove the crankset and look carefully for signs of fretting and pitting of the finish of the axle in the areas where it sits inside the bearing inner races. Also any grease you put there will have gone black as metal wears.

The cure is to clean everything up and refit the crankset with some bearing fit compound smeared on the axle at the drive side and inside the bearing inner race at the non-drive side, so that the compound stands a chance of not being wiped off as you insert the axle. Grease works in the short term but gets squashed away in time.

As my previous post, contact Hope –  their email is readily available on the website. They are the experts and very enthusiastic with customer service. Some available advice is not always the best, good luck.

Probably the frame is the problem

reason being that the crankset axle actually flexes microscopically inside the bearing inner races, setting up creaking sounds.

That is why some BBs have plastic inserts in the bearings, eg Shimano, new Trek BB90/95 (old was 24mm ID bearings, new is 25mm ID bearings with a thin plastic flanged sleeve.

Should be easy enough to check if its that by removing, cleaning, greasing and seeing if the noise changes.

However you can still get creaks from bearings moving in cups, cups moving in frame, they can be fitted with a retaining compound to prevent movement.

Same thing happened to me on my specialized stumpjumper.

The shell needed tightening.

Take it out. Clean it in case grit has got in. Re grease it/copper slip/carbon paste depending on preference and Re install. Clean bearings.

Good to go again for another 1000km. Catch it early enough and bearings will be fine

Today is the day i get to look….

Did you damage the bearings taking them out?

Once the shells are unscrewed, did they just drift out easily?

well avid thread followers, it was a gritty NDS bearing.

However it had got gritty as yours truly had left off the nds bearing seal…..

Aargh!!