I’m on my third my first 2 lasting about 1000km. Both came out full of mud. The guy I sit next to at work is basically in the same boat

Does it seem right that i need new cranks due to creaking? I mean i strip them, lube ’em up, three days of hard riding later they creak again. Do cranks ‘wear out’ like that?

Do cranks ‘wear out’ like that?

Not normally no.

They can be damaged of course but not that often. usually in my experience it’s something attached to them.

Just a thought (and I might be barking up the wrong tree here), but Shimano have some issues with higher end road cranks where the hollowtech is in several parts bonded together. Pretty sure I’ve seen pictures of a number of split / failing Ultegra cranks. Are XTR built that same way and something like that could be happening?

Otherwise there’s no real reason I can think of for a ht2 crank to just start creaking over a few years as long as it’s all greased right / bearings are good / it’s all torqued up correctly

Does it seem right that i need new cranks due to creaking? I mean i strip them, lube ’em up, three days of hard riding later they creak again. Do cranks ‘wear out’ like that?

Have you tried a new chainring? They can creak, especially if it’s an older ring with a new chain.