[ericspin]

I ride a Procaliber HT and I am a long time HT rider. Stock Bontrager seatpost and saddle. I probably stay in the saddle a little more than I would on the average HT as a result of the isospeed decoupler. The damn thing really works. Anyway, I’m getting more _creak_ from my saddle/seatpost connection than I like. I’ve dissembled everything, cleaned it real well and put a real light application of white grease on the rail before tightening the saddle. also used some dry lube on the end of the seat rails where they are anchored into the saddle fore and aft. Creaking is a little better but still bugs the **** out of me. Curious if any of you guys have found a solution for that kind of problem. Don’t suggest to get rid of the HT and get a FS. Haha. Love my HT.

 

[almazing]

I ride a Procaliber HT and I am a long time HT rider. Stock Bontrager seatpost and saddle. I probably stay in the saddle a little more than I would on the average HT as a result of the isospeed decoupler. The damn thing really works. Anyway, I'm getting more _creak_ from my saddle/seatpost connection than I like. I've dissembled everything, cleaned it real well and put a real light application of white grease on the rail before tightening the saddle. also used some dry lube on the end of the seat rails where they are anchored into the saddle fore and aft. Creaking is a little better but still bugs the **** out of me. Curious if any of you guys have found a solution for that kind of problem. Don't suggest to get rid of the HT and get a FS. Haha. Love my HT.

Creaks can come from the opposite side of where you're hearing them. For instance, I had a seat/seatpost creak. Or I thought it was, anyway. I cleaned the rails, applied lube, etc. Creak was still around. Turns out it was coming from my pedals. The bushings were wearing out inside spindle causing just enough movement to make noises. I replaced the bushings and the creaking is gone. One time, I had incessant creaking and I thought it was coming from the headset area. I cleaned the headset bearings and headtube. Creaking was still there. Turns out that the rear axle was a little loose which caused the rotor to rub inside the caliper and made really annoying noises.

Creaking on a mountain bike may not come from where you think it's coming from.

 

[rockcrusher]

Creaks can come from the opposite side of where you're hearing them. For instance, I had a seat/seatpost creak. Or I thought it was, anyway. I cleaned the rails, applied lube, etc. Creak was still around. Turns out it was coming from my pedals. The bushings were wearing out inside spindle causing just enough movement to make noises. I replaced the bushings and the creaking is gone. One time, I had incessant creaking and I thought it was coming from the headset area. I cleaned the headset bearings and headtube. Creaking was still there. Turns out that the rear axle was a little loose which caused the rotor to rub inside the caliper and made really annoying noises.

Creaking on a mountain bike may not come from where you think it's coming from.

This. I replaced a reasonably new BB because i was sure it was the BB, ended up the sleeve inside the hub that the through axle goes through was loose. Tightened it up and end of creaking. Have had the same thing with headsets, stems, pedals and chainrings. Nondescript creak that I thought was from somewhere and ended up being completely different.

I would just go through the bike quickly, tighten crankbolts, chainring bolts (if you have them), check hubs and axles, check water bottle cages, etc. Just check all the easy things. Once that is done ride the bike and try to get it to creak standing or seated. My hub creaks when I am seated when it is barely loose but will creak when I stand and am seated when it gets very loose ( I finally locktited it).

Then just resign yourself to a lubing of pedals, axles, etc.

Finally look at your frame and make sure there aren't any cracks in the frame.

 

[ericspin]

I have checked a lot of the other suspicious areas. Not discounting that idea. But when I greased the rails and such the noise lessened dramatically temporarily. Also, when I’m out of the saddle it disappears. I’ll check all these usually suspected areas again but I really feel like it’s that seatpost/seat rail connection.

 

[Pisgah]

I chased a "creak" all over a bike once. It turned out to be "squeaks" from loose spokes.

 

[almazing]

I have checked a lot of the other suspicious areas. Not discounting that idea. But when I greased the rails and such the noise lessened dramatically temporarily. Also, when I'm out of the saddle it disappears. I'll check all these usually suspected areas again but I really feel like it's that seatpost/seat rail connection.

Did you apply oil where the rails go in to the actual saddle itself? I've had noises come about because dirt and grime get stuck in the nooks and crannies of the saddle. A drop or 2 of oil or spray lube will quiet that down. People have spent many an hour tracing noises only to find out that it's nowhere near where they think they hear it from.

 

[MOJO K]

If you have a spare saddle to try out in there that might tell you for sure. If it is the saddle itself making the noise it might indicate that it's ready to fail.

You can also clean up the bolts( both saddle clamp and seat post binder) and hit them with a drop of loc-tite instead of grease since you'll have it apart anyway.

 

[J_Westy]

I had a creak with an alloy post "itching" in an alloy frame that I couldn't kill. The only cure was a carbon post.

 

[rockcrusher]

Did you apply oil where the rails go in to the actual saddle itself? I've had noises come about because dirt and grime get stuck in the nooks and crannies of the saddle. A drop or 2 of oil or spray lube will quiet that down. People have spent many an hour tracing noises only to find out that it's nowhere near where they think they hear it from.

I came to say this too. I had a saddle i needed to squirt a little WD-40 into ever few rides to quiet it down.

 

[roughster]

Thread has perfect timing, I am currently chasing down a phantom creak and its killing me!

 

[knutso]

Thread has perfect timing, I am currently chasing down a phantom creak and its killing me!

+1 I honestly thought on my last ride, that I was gonna miss the creak when it is gone. I am pretty sure now though, after going over everything else twice, it is the stupid cheap compression plug I stuck in when I was excitedly assembling the monster.

 

[almazing]

One more thing to add to the list of creaks that can be easily fixed. Pedal spindle threads. I’ve been tracking down this creak for a few weeks now. Decided to spend a little bit of time that turned in to 3 hours looking for it. I took apart the rear suspension, cleaned everything up. Checked out my BB and crank spindle. Even took apart and regreased one side of my BB. Also reassembled my newly serviced pedals. The clicking noise was coming from the pedals. I could FEEL it clicking when I’m pedaling. It was intermittent. One thing I didn’t think to check until I was fed up was the pedal spindle threads. Somehow, dry threads made this strange clicking sound even though it was torqued to spec. I cleaned the threads, added some grease and boom. Clicking noise gone. Something to add to your list to check.

But on the other hand, I found out that my rear triangle bearings are still smooth. And I did a much needed cleaning of a lot of moving and rotating parts.

 

[bingemtbr]

How to quiet a creak: sweat.

Got a new bike this year. She's a beaut! Love it!! Best bike ever!!! However the ride is ruined when it creaks. First creak happened around the 100th mi I put on it, the SRAM DUB BB was trash. Seriously, 6 rides and it yelps louder than fresh fish in prison. Yeah--i rebuilt, cleaned, and reinstalled it twice. It was quiet for about 3mi then started creaking. Ended up replacing the BB with a CK. Bike is dead silent again.

Then last night, the bike starts creaking right from the TH. Its been super dry here and I thought, well time to clean the bike and possibly clean/reinstall the BB. Total mileage for the year is around 1k, so I'm not super disappointed if it the BB which needs a little TLC. During our final ascent, about 17mi into the ride, the creaking stops. Now mind you--trails are super dry and the creek beds are dry. The symptom of the creak: occurs only while pedaling, does not occur while coasting, and when compressing the shocks the creak is muted. Again my initial thoughts are its the BB again. Anyway at mi 17 creak is gone. I look down and notice sweat coming through the tops of my shoes (97F with a 100F+ real feel, and 90% humidity at 6pm). OH! It was my shoes! Combination of dried out leather and ailing soles were the soundtrack to most of last night's ride. 2+ liters of sweat cured that.