Why is my rear wheel creaking?

I have had hub bearings replaced, freehub bearings replaced, greased the outside of the freehub body, tightened the rotor.

It’s definitely the wheel as I have tried another which doesn’t make a peep

How old is the wheel? May be time for a spoke retensioning.

How old is the wheel? May be time for a spoke retensioning.

This +100. Put my (creaky) wheels in for a true, turns out my tweaking to keep things straight had messed with the spoke tension

2 years old

Possibly the freehub body was cracked during the pressing in of the freehub bearing.

I’ve just spent the last year trying to solve a creak – not BB, refitted lots of times. New crank etc. Driving me crazy.

Sometimes it can be the seat but you can figure that out by standing up.

In my case it looks like it’s the rear axs gx derailleur.  The pins that hold it together seem to have gone really dry or something related to that. I can replicate it by pull it away from the bike.

When I pedal hard it pulls the mech body and it sounding exactly like a wheel issue.

Can you switch the cassette to the quiet wheel? Some cassettes are trouble like the sram pinned versions of 11 speed etc.

The spokes may be unequal in tension.

Squeeze each pair of adjacent spokes on one side of the wheel, compare how stiff they feel compared to another rear wheel that’s in good condition.

The squeaking is from the spokes rubbing together where they cross over each other. However the sound is quite different to a usual creak like a loose bolt or dry or worn bearing.

Spokes rubbing where the pattern crosses over? Dab of chain oil on that point if so.

This will sound very random, but I had a creak that happened mainly going uphill, slightly re tensioned the rear mech and it was sorted.

Cassette lock ring not tight? Or depending on cassette, little plastic anti squeak spacer fell off when refitting?

My latest mystery creak turned out to be the B – tension screw on its stop!

One of my spokes nipples creaked once. Try rolling the bike forwards / back you should isolate the noise if it is. A little bit of chain lube on the nipple sorted it.

To check creaky spokes you can literally just sit on the wheel (without it in the bike) and roll it back and forward like you’re riding a space hopper (as we all do).

Check rear suspension bearings (if fitted) near the axel.

For me it was the (bladed) spokes rubbing on each other – the wheel was still tight as a drum, just managed to get some dust in there and there was just enough flex when cranking hard in bottom gear to make it creak a bit. A flossing between the spoke sorted it.