[Ganderson]

My Megatrail spec'd Shred Dogg has been creaking for a few weeks. I've gone through the pedals/cranks/BB, replaced the lower headset assembly, used wicking loctite on the CSU/stanchion interfaces and checked/re-torqued all of the pivots.

You can hear it throughout the video below... any ideas?

 

[NoahColorado]

My Megatrail spec'd Shred Dogg has been creaking for a few weeks. I've gone through the pedals/cranks/BB, replaced the lower headset assembly, used wicking loctite on the CSU/stanchion interfaces and checked/re-torqued all of the pivots.

You can hear it throughout the video below... any ideas?

Do you have another stem you could try? I handle a lot of stems to install or remove forks and I feel like I often get pops from CNC'd Race Face stems just from loosening the steerer clamp bolts. It's almost like doing so relieves some kind of tension or something. Looks like you have a RF Atlas stem from the video, but I could be wrong.

Another place I often track down creaks to (not specifically on GGs) is the rear axle. Either it not being tight or there being gunk between the endcaps and dropouts.

FWIW, based on when your bike is making noise it doesn't seem tied to the fork taking hits or pedaling. So I doubt it's CSU, headset, BB, pedals, or chainring interface.

Good luck!

 

[Ganderson]

Thanks Noah..

Interesting you mentioned the stem. I forgot to mention I just replaced the RF Turbine R I had on with the RF Atlas. I was getting the same popping when loosening the steerer clamp bolts on the Turbine which I chalked up to the split wrap around clamp design allowing a slight shift and build up of tension... since the Atlas is a solid wrap around design I went with it. I'll loosen the clamp bolts on the Atlas and see if it pops.

Rear axle is definitely tight but I'll clean the dropout/hub interface surfaces.

 

[J.B. Weld]

It could be any number of things, including the things you already checked. It's mostly a process of elimination and unfortunately impossible to determine from a video but I'd start with suspension pivots, bb/crankset, and maybe dropper post.

Sometimes you can recreate the noise while the bike is stationary, if so this can be helpful to isolate it.

 

[vikb]

The fast way to deal with a creak is to take the bike apart and clean/relube/retorque everything. On the plus side that usually solves the problem and your bike is running great afterwards. On the down side it takes a moment and you won't be sure which thing you did actually solved the problem.

Good luck. I hate a noisy bike!

 

[Ganderson]

The fast way to deal with a creak is to take the bike apart and clean/relube/retorque everything. On the plus side that usually solves the problem and your bike is running great afterwards. On the down side it takes a moment and you won't be sure which thing you did actually solved the problem.

Good luck. I hate a noisy bike!

Yeah.. I tend to troubleshoot 1 area at a time because I like to know the root cause, not the quickest method though.

 

[J.B. Weld]

Yeah.. I tend to troubleshoot 1 area at a time because I like to know the root cause, not the quickest method though.

I disagree about it not being the quickest, that's the way it's done at most shops. Often I'll find the cause/cure on the first try.

 

[Ganderson]

Well you are J.B. Weld so I'd assume you're good at fixing ****.

 

[Nurse Ben]

My Megatrail spec'd Shred Dogg has been creaking for a few weeks. I've gone through the pedals/cranks/BB, replaced the lower headset assembly, used wicking loctite on the CSU/stanchion interfaces and checked/re-torqued all of the pivots.

You can hear it throughout the video below... any ideas?

Does it creak standing and seated?

Does it creak in all gears?

Things that you may have not checked:

Pedals, chainring, cassette, seat post binder, seat clamping mechanism, seat.

Last case scenario, which was the source of my creak:

Off the bike, standing to the side, load the crank arms one at a time. Does it creak when you push on one side more than the other?

Check the rear most pivots next to the axle. The pivot bolt is threaded into the chainstay, it can strip, that would make it creak.

 

[Carl Mega]

OP - you have a sram rear der? If so - put it in a middle-ish gear, push-in, pull-out on the cage (inboard then outboard). Does it make a creak or noise? if so, try regreasing and rebuilding the clutch (how the cage connects to the main der body). It's an annoying creak that is easy enough to remedy but hard to find unless you know to look.

 

[Ganderson]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I think I tracked it down..

I was able to recreate the creak by putting significant downward pressure on each side handlebar individually, pressing both sides (bouncing on the bike) wasn’t doing it.

Swapped out the bar and stem, same creak.

Removed the fork, cleaned and regreased all of the headset components and reseated the crown race on the fork seems to have done the trick.

I’ll ride later to confirm.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[vikb]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I think I tracked it down..

I'll ride later to confirm.

Creak fixed?