So this creaking started recently.

It only makes it under load up hills.

I have tried to recreate it from a standstill, bouncing on pretty much everything and putting load on all parts but nothing!

Any ideas? Anyone had this kind of noise?

Does it happen when standing or sitting? I’m going for seatpost, rear axle, or chainring bolts!

The joy of silent running – the agony of creaks and clicks!

Hard to diagnose from a video but it could be any one of the following:

loose chain ring bolts
loose suspension bearing bolts (beware torque settings!)
grit on the inside of the seat tube where the seat post is inserted
pedal bearings
bottom bracket is loose or needs replacing due to worn bearings
crack in the frame (hopefully you would have noticed this)

or my particular favourite that confounded me for the longest time….

grit in the retention springs on my SPD pedals (solved only by a clean with an old toothbrush followed by a coating of loctite to effectively insulate the springs from dirt ingest).

It may be something else entirely (that’s my disclaimer in case it’s none of the above)

Pedals. Tighten axle to crank.

Chainring bolts would be my first port of call also. Possibly unevenly tensioned, possibly simply a dry bolt.

Worth checking the BB cups, as they may be out of whack. And as above – have you checked the seatpost, saddle rails etc?

Does it both seated and standing
It’s Eagle GX and cant from what I can there are no chain ring bolts as it’s all one piece?
Pedals are tight – but can try some others to see what happens
Think rear axle is all good but will double check.

Bottom bracket is 18 month old SRAM gxp press fit so could need changing.

Will try one thing at a time!

Is your stem faceplate evenly and correctly torqued? I’ve known that cause hard to trace uphill load creaks too. Otherwise, clean and refit everything to spec before getting the wallet out.

Changed the stem today and all torqued up correct. It only happens on pedal strokes. Time to start cleaning and refitting.

It was happening with old stem too.

On my Camber it was rear suspension bearings. I’d have sworn it was coming from the crank area but I was wrong.

Or it might be Jonathan.

Better not be him!

Will check bearings and grease up!

BB to start. Check pedals too, also check the pivot bolts on suspension are torqued.

Most likey BB if you’ve not touched it, especially press fit crap. Has a nasty habit of creaking on all sorts of bikes. Also cranks need to be torqued right up – normal threaded GXP on my FS, but the cranks have to be stupidly tight compared to my other bikes.

It’s annoying that it’s also not all the time! Some hills yes, some hills no!

I kind of hoped it did it all the time to be able to figure it out quicker!

Spent ages diagnosing a creak which turned out to be the headset. Bit of grease and all is good.

Forks? Check topcap torque. My Pikes were creaking badly. I was thinking I’d have to replace them. Put a spanner to the topcaps and creak gone.

Having seem vid clip and not reading replies.

I would say grease wouldn’t go a miss around crank to bb and chain ring bolts plus pedal inserts.

The chainring to crank direct mount interface. Can get creaky even if the bolts aren’t loose. Remove the chainring, clean everything throughly, loctite the bolts. Good luck!

I think you are going to try all of the above only to realise its a loose dust cap on the front wheel

The chainring to crank direct mount interface. Can get creaky even if the bolts aren’t loose. Remove the chainring, clean everything throughly, loctite the bolts. Good luck!

Definitely check this. Had this twice on my direct mount cranks.

If you´ve tried all the usual suspects. It might be a cracked or broken rear hub drive (mine was Pro2 Evo). It took me months to track that down.

It’s Eagle GX

Check your ‘self-loosening’ crank bolt. If it hasn’t been done up with loctite and a 40 foot bar then it will work loose.

Chased a creak on my old full suss for ages, suspected suspension bearings, replaced no diff. Shock bushing no difference. Seat rails swapped saddle from hardtail no difference. Get so fed up i just ride hardtail. Swapped the full sus pedals onto another bike and creak. Turned out the axle of the 540s was dry as hell, regreased quiet as a mouse..

What saddle is it? Fabric saddles creak like nothing else…could it be that?

When you’ve worked through all those options check the frame very carefully. I’ve had two frames with hairline cracks near welds that creaked randomly on hills. I’ve also had creaks from bottom brackets (usual problem), seatposts, pedals (cleats and threads), chainring bolts, saddle rails, stem/bar interface and fork/qr interface.

Usually on a fuel creaks come from a dry or over tightened main pivot bolt. Loosen and lube and retighten to the correct torque (16nm). We do this to all our new ones as invariably they come back after a few weeks with a creak. I think they get overtightened during assembly at the factory in the far East.

Freehub body bearings…..

I had a trek Fuel (much older model though) which creaked like a mother and it was only diagnosed when I saw a thread on here about the dodgy swing arm which was prone to hairline cracks….. Quick trip out to the garage and all was confirmed. This was a good few years back now mind and I’ve not heard about this issue since.

Remove your saddle.

Lube the saddle rails, clamp and bolts, then re-assemble.

Get a good hold of your frame and back wheel on the rim at 12 o’clock.

Try to move the back wheel, and if you hear creaking, clean and lube the thru axle and make sure it’s clamped up tight enough to the frame.

So many things it could be – try all the free ones first – ie disassembling / cleaning / put back together with grease or loctite (depending on what it is you are putting back on). If none of those then I’d go with the press fit gxp bb as the culprit. That’s about the max length gxp bb’s usually last. Occasionally one lasts longer but quite often 18 months is doing very well.

When you stand evenly on the pedals & it creaks, does it do the same if you swap your forward foot?
ie, sit on the saddle, put left foot forward, then stand up & weight the cranks.
Sit back on saddle, right foot forward, then stand again & weight on the cranks.
If it creaks both ways, then my bet would be remove crank arm & clean & grease crank axle interface.
Thats where mine was…

Ok so quick update. BB was changed as was due a new one anyway. Chainring bolts regreased and tightened to torque spec.

Seat post checked, headset checked.

Not taken it for a long ride but I think it might still have a creak!

Going to check all pivot bolts tomorrow and take her for a proper spin.

When sorted you have to post the reason!

Be I whole new bike by then lol

Oh, just to add, I’m pretty sure its only doing it in the lowest 2 gears.

The hardest intermittent creak I ever had to trace turned out to be the rear mech hanger. Removed it, cleaned everything up & replaced it – creak gone.

Have had that creak.
It was the axle in the rear hub. Interface with the bearings mustn’t have been micron tight and it was completely dry. Greased it up and solved it.

After spending weeks chasing every other part of the bike

Ok, I have 2 things as above to try!

Rear Mech Hanger looks easy enough to take off and clean I think even with my lack of skills!

I have QR rear axle – so guess its worth checking that its clean and tight.

If it’s a BB30 the noise is your 30mm axle fretting inside the inner races of the BB bearings. It is not the bearings moving in the alloy frame sleeves as every mechanic will tell you.

Strip the BB and you will see blueing (i.e. black paste) where the axle has been fretting as well as signs of movement and possibly even pitting on the narrow bands inside the bearing race area if it’s gone a long way. Clean it all up and smear bearing fit comopound on the inside of the LH side bearing and on the BB axle at the drive side, so that the compound has the best chance of not being wiped off as you re-insert the axle. Tighten up and ride, marvelling at the silence.

It had a new BB fitted this week and all is good in that area so a knackered BB has been ruled out!

Okaaay…. but has the creak come a very short time after the new BB? If it’s a BB30 they don’t take long to start creaking.