[Krabill]

I've had my '04 HP Sport since December and have put a couple hundred miles on it so far and I absolutely love it. Just recently though, I've noticed my cranks have started creaking a little. They usually don't start until I've been riding for a good 10-15 minutes first. I've checked every bolt I can find and nothing seems loose. Where do I go from here??? Pull the crank and re-grease everything? Just keep an eye on it?

My old steel hardtail is going on 14 years old and it has had the crap beat out of it and it still runs as smooth and quiet as it did the day I bought it. I just don't expect a 5 month old bike to start making noises yet

 

[Vecsus]

are you sure its the cranks? a lot of creaks are blamed on cranks but it often turns out to be something else entirely. Clean and regrease the seatpost. Check all the bolts on the pivots. check the seat rails.

I had a similar problem on my old Dakar and it turned out to be the seatpost. with all that tubing, a sound in one area might seem to come from somewhere else. creaks are sneaky that way.

 

[Krabill]

Hmmmm . . . it sure sounds like a crank-creak (lol), but you might be right. I'll try taking off all of the "easy-to-remove" pieces, clean, re-grease, and re-assmble them and see if that does anything to quiet it down. It's not bad yet, but I'd like to stop it as soon as I can.

 

[KevinB]

I've had my '04 HP Sport since December and have put a couple hundred miles on it so far and I absolutely love it. Just recently though, I've noticed my cranks have started creaking a little. They usually don't start until I've been riding for a good 10-15 minutes first. I've checked every bolt I can find and nothing seems loose. Where do I go from here??? Pull the crank and re-grease everything? Just keep an eye on it?

A month or two after purchasing my '04 HP Expert, I had a similar problem with a creaking noise coming from the BB / Crank area. I pulled the cranks and BB, cleaned and regreased, and put it back together making sure that I torqued everything the right amount. That fixed the problem for me.

However, as Vecsus points out, the creak could be coming from somewhere else. More recently, I had been hearing another creaking noise and was uncertain at first where the noise was coming from. After a while I decided that it was most likely either the seat or seatpost. I cleaned and regreased the seatpost first (since that was easier), and the creaking seems to be gone.

 

[OldTeen]

Seatpost, seat rails, handlebar clamp, stem, and pedals are more likely sources of noise than the BB on a relatively new bike. My well-ridden '03 HP has had noises from 3 of those sources over its couple years, but my BB has been trouble-free.
BTW- If you bought from an LBS that offers free adjustments, you might have them look at it.

 

[Erwin]

Creaking noise: BB or dirty seat post

Hi there,

In my case, if the sound persist, try one of these:
- remove the seat post and clean the inside of the seat tube. It could be water inside of it so put the bike over its handelbar to let the water come out.
- if you have the OEM Truvativ BB, it's time to get a new one. In my case I have the FSA Platinum ($30 aprox.) for over 8 months and still looks like new. It use the regular shimano tool. There is better model, the FSA platinum Quad with four bearings in case you need resistance.

Keep'on riding!

Regards,

Erwin
Yauco, PR

 

[Krabill]

Thanks for the info.