What bike? Press fit bottom brackets do creak and squeak every now and then. On my old bike, I swapped out the FSA press fit bottom bracket for a Shimano MT800 and had zero noises.

As for the wheel, yep you just need to adjust the spokes. If it's really off or you feel uncomfortable doing it, I'd recommend paying a shop $20 to true the wheel.

 

It could also be a loose pedal. I've had that happen before, where over time a pedal loosens up, and it sounds exactly as you're describing.

Bottom brackets can squeak, but since its only your second ride, I'd check the pedal first before you start ordering any replacement parts.

 

I would also check the pedals, had that happen as well and the seat post even a time or two when I could have sworn each time it was the bb.

 

99% of the time, when my bike squeaks, it's a dirty seatpost. Dust plus too much or too little grease on the post is a major culprit.

Not saying that creaky bottom brackets don't happen, but it's less common than you think. And it's especially rare for a bike so new.

 

99% of the time, when my bike squeaks, it's a dirty seatpost. Dust plus too much or too little grease on the post is a major culprit.

Speaking of seat posts...I've had this happen too but it was the lever style clamp rather than a bolt. A friend of mine taught me that one. I swapped out the lever style for a bolt style and I had zero noises.

 

Hi Oscillator, awsome that you're having fun on your bike!

If it's a new bike, why not ask the shop, or call customer service if it's a direct brand?

There's lots of good feedback here - creaks can come from many places, and press-fit bottom brackets are known for creaking. You're correct in saying that it should NOT be from dirt in the bearings of a new bike, nor should it be from dirt on the chain.

 

It could be the BB, pressfit or not, but it's unlikely. I've owned 4 bikes with pressfit BB's and in all the instances of creaking, it's never been the BB. Doesn't mean it couldn't happen, I'd just look elsewhere first. Sure would help if you'd tell us something about your bike, though.

 

MSU -- You have good luck with PFs!

I swapped my PF bb out with a threaded Wheels MFG just last month, after developing a case of the creaks again and deciding I finally wanted to fix the prob. And yep, it was the bb

 

Oscillator, like already mentioned, get with the shop you bought it from. A creak is one thing, but an out of true wheel on a new bike? :nono:

 

I've even had seat rails creak. I don't think this is what is happening to this gentleman, but just another place to check.

 

Lots of things can creak on a full suspension MTB but I will never own a press fit frame again. Most people don't seem to have any issues with them but I don't seem to be most people. LOL

 

Every time I've taken apart a bottom bracket due to a creak it has turned out to be something else. I was just fighting this yesterday and it turned out to be my cinch mount chainring.

 

I had to get an entire front triangle replacement due to deformed BB shell from Trek. I brought it to the shop due to creaking. They diagnosed the problem, and figured out that it was a BB issue. They got oversized bearings directly from Trek. It didn't solve the problem. Then, the shop had to send Trek my entire frame to get refaced(carbon frame). Got the bike back after an entire summer without a bike. It STILL CREAKED! Finally, I resent them my frame, and they actually replaced the front triangle completely. Great customer service from Trek, but PF BBs suck!!

 

The bike is a Marin Nail Trail 6, officially 1 week old. I took the bike out the next day to look into it but I noticed the noise had gone away and rode it for 2 hrs. All seemed well until the very next day after, where I noticed it was back, it's not annoyingly loud just something that grabbed my attention considering the bike is brand new. One thing I did notice was during a very steep a strenuous climb that I was putting a lot of effort into pedaling and into the bike, I did noticed a few louder creaks/pings to that of the similar tune of my initial noise. Going to look into it further this weekend.

Something else I just noticed today is that my bike came with mismatched tires, they're both Schwallbe's but the front is a Nobby Nic and the rear is a Racing Ralph and are 2.25", bike is advertised to come with ' Vee Tire, Crown Gem 2.3" ', go figure, hasn't seemed to affect my riding. The bike has presta valves with nuts at the base so I'm uncertain if these tires are already tubeless as well

 

Usually with a creaking part, you notice it more when you're putting the power down. Most bikes flex a bit under the load created by standing and powering on the pedals/handlebars, and that is what causes the creaks (if they are even slightly loose).

My bike did the same thing. It was the right pedal that was ever so slightly loose. As others have said though,it could be a myriad of other things. Just start looking over the bike for anything that isn't torqued down correctly. I've had the same creak before from a loose bolt on a stem, and loose squaretaper crank.

I'm sure you'll find it. Just will take some time.

And presta valves are frequently used for tubes too. So just that doesn't mean its tubeless.

 

Bikes commonly come with different front and rear tires. It's actually beneficial, and the schwalbe combo you got is definitely an upgrade!

Noises can be a hassle, even new bikes often creak.

 

Current Status = Creak Is still there

Thanks for the responses everyone,

I've been spending time with this noise trying to figure it out, to reiterate, the issue primarily happens under power/torque, the more strain the more noticeable, although I've heard the noise here and there when hitting bumps not pedaling on and off the saddle.

Additionally, I found that the noise is there when pedaling off the saddle, I found when loading the headset at a standstill the noise cannot be duplicated, the same goes when I place my weight on the pedals at a standstill and rock my weight around. I've been checking things one at a time that way I can see if what I did remedied the issue, I'll list what I've done so far and try to keep it short,

1)Removed cleaned and lubed seat post and clamp = No change

2) Removed pedals, found left pedal squeaky, lubed pedals = No change

3) Removed crankshaft, found a fair amount of dirt and grit, unbolted crank sprocket cleaned and lubed components and retighten all related bolts = No change

4) Thoroughly cleaned and lubed chain = No change

5) Unbolt, clean and lube axle bolts = No change

6) Adjust rear wheel spokes = No change

The creak is still there, I've had the feeling from the start that the issue is with the bottom bracket fitment, although I found that there is grit in the left BB bearing which you can feel and hear coarseness.

I went out and purchased the socket for my BB and will continue by dismantling, lubricating and torquing it. I've already spoken with a LBS and will take it to them if I can't source this darn noise.

 

Funny timing that I am swapping out my Trek Emonda BB90 bottom bracket this weekend. I picked up BBInfinite ceramic BB bearings to get rid of my annoying squeak noises.

They crack me up in their videos. Notice the crank spinning throughout the sales pitch:

 

ceramic bearings don't get rid of creaks, though.

Most bb creaks aren't the bearing balls themselves, anyway. What frustrates people about pressfit bottom brackets is largely the fact that when the tolerances aren't tight enough, movement can happen. This is mostly the frame manufacturer's fault. Some BB companies use the thread-together bb's to deal with that.

When the balls themselves start to wear out, they start feeling rough because the balls aren't perfectly round anymore, or because there are little bits of metal inside (or both). Sometimes this causes creaks, but not always.

Besides, the reason to get ceramic bearings isn't even durability/long life. The primary reason is for smoother rolling/less resistance. For the increase in cost, IMO, ceramic bearings aren't worth it. But plenty of companies are willing to sell them to riders for their bb's, hubs, and derailleur pulleys.

Meh. Reasonably good quality steel bearings are fine by me.

 

Makes sense. However, I've had this issue with an FSA bottom bracket on a Giant Fathom. It started squeaking really bad after 10 miles. I swapped it for a Shimano MT800 press fit and it solved the problem permanently. I can't really say why it was so noisy but it was fixed!

My road bike has 1,000 miles on her and I've been dealing with the constant squeak for the last 300+ miles. I've checked all the usual suspects and no luck! Time to mess with my BB instead! Trek BB90 bottom brackets have been reported to have random issues with noise and failure so I'd figure I should just swap it out with ceramic bearings. I don't want to replace it with another Trek BB90

 

After all of this talk, I developed a BB creak (or so I thought) - like the day after my post. Removed, cleaned, applied generous amount of Park Tool Green Press Fit Retaining Compound, reinstalled. Still creaked. It was the cassette or end caps. Removed the cassette, cleaned it up, cleaned up the end caps where they connect to the drop outs, cleaned the drop outs. It's been quiet for several rides now. The carbon frame really transfers sound.

Tricked again!

 

I had a Canyon Spectral that had a creaky press fit BB. I had every part of that bike apart multiple times trying to make it be something else that was making noise but to no avail. I knocked the BB cups out to replace it and the galling on the cups made it very obvious that they were moving around a lot in the shell. That was my first and last PF frame which is unfortunate because it leaves some pretty good bikes off the list.

 

I have a trek road bike with many thousand miles on it any the press fit bb has been dead silent during all of them. I prefer threaded bb's too but I wouldn't cross a good bike off the list just because it was pf.

 

Some creaks take forever to find. I was once convinced I had a creaking BB only to find out, after much trial and error and replacement parts, that the derailleur hanger was creaking. Cleaned, lightly greased, and bolted it back on--no more creak.

For OP: since 1) the bike is new and 2) it creaks under pedaling load, and 3) you say the rear wheel is out of true, I'd focus there. Under-tensioned spokes can creak like a mofo, especially when hard pedaling causes them to flex.

You said you "adjusted" the rear spokes, but how exactly? Wheel work can be tricky. Unless you took a spoke tension meter to that wheel yourself, I'd take the bike back to the shop where you bought it and ask them to true and tension the rear wheel. While you're at it, check the rim and hub for cracks (unlikely on a new bike, but you never know). Good luck! :thumbsup:

 

I had what I thought was a BB creak ... just built a carbon bike with BB92 and after the second ride the crankset had came loose and I didn't notice until about to go on the next ride. Tightened it back up and had a creak. I figured the BB got jacked up by the wobbly pedal/crank. Even had my son listen as I made the creak and he said "Yep .. it's the BB".

I checked it out and was about to remove it and re-install when I figured I'd do an overall re-torque of the suspension and axles etc.

Took the rear cassette off (this was a take-off from the donor bike so it wasn't new) cleaned and greased and torqued it all down ... checked axle torque and gave it a test ride .. no more creak!

 

Well I may have found the source of my squeaking. 900 miles and my Trek BB90 looks nasty!

Sent from my snail mail via Tapatalk.

 

Problem Solved

For anyone interested, I finally fixed my issue.

TLDR: Rear axle bolt and rear derailleur hanger

This weekend I tore down my bottom bracket to clean and regrease it. When I had it all apart there was nothing evident, everything was tight and well lubed, one thing I did find was a small amount of metal shards from manufacturing but it didn't look like it was an issue. After cleaning out and reassembling my BB I took it out for a spin. After spending a fair amount of time with this noise I knew exactly how to duplicate it, so I put it through its paces and sure enough it was still there. :madman:

So I continued by removing my rear wheel to check out the cassette and rear derailleur. Upon loosening my rear axle bolt I heard a very similar noise to that of my culprit noise. I loosened the rear derailleur hanger to clean and grease its contact point and I noticed it took no effort to loosen the bolt. To my surprise this point had already been lubricated. I cleaned, relubed and snug down the hanger bolt. When I checked the cassette it had no play and looked good.

I went ahead and cleaned the rear wheel contact points and torqued the rear wheel down to 10nm. I took it for another spin and to my disbelief the noise was gone! :thumbsup:

Sadly, feeling joyous that I finally fixed the issue, I decided to take my bike out. Three miles out from home I ended up getting a pinch flat on my rear wheel cutting my ride to an early end. Time to go tubeless I guess

 

Frankly, I'm not surprised it wasn't the BB. Glad you figured it out!

Wait....you're not tubeless yet?

 

Well at least the creaking issue has been resolved.

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Nice find! I actually checked my axles and rear mech prior to messing with my BB.

I asked BBInfinite about my bottom bracket bearing and he told me the brown stuff was from sweat and sports drinks. Makes sense seeing my bike was on the trainer for about 700 miles over the winter.