[GnarBrahWyo]

I was getting some funky noises from my drivetrain the other day thinking it was my BB. Turned out it wasn't. Shop tightened pivot points to spec and the noise lessened, but still continued. Today I flipped the bike over and pulled the wheel forward and back and realized it was flexy as hell and is what is making the creaks when I ride. Anyone else know of this issue? Really annoying.

 

[11053]

Have you been greasing your pivots and bearings?
Even if things are adjusted properly, you can get some creaking from dry pivots.

SC's VPP suspension needs to be maintained. You can get slop/knock/flex when things aren't tight.
If the shop correctly adjusted things, there should be no flex.
Tech Tuesday: Adjust the Pivot Bearings on Any Santa Cruz VPP Suspension - Pinkbike

The above procedure is easy to do yourself.
Lube the pivots and bearings and adjust things like the video shows and see if that fixes it.

You said pulled wheel "forward and back" and noticed a bunch of flex.
Did you mean side to side?

If you grab a seat stay/chain stay do you get the same flex?
If the flex is only apparent when grabbing the wheel, check your hub bearings.

My experience with Santa Cruz VPP rear triangles is that they are very stiff laterally when the pivots are adjusted correctly.

 

[GnarBrahWyo]

I mean when I grab a rear triangle and pull it forward and backwards (so that it is going from left to right if you were sitting on the bike) . I will look at that link you provided. thanks!

 

[Steezus]

I would check out this thread and purchase the needle bearing kit for the lower shock eyelet. They are a little pricey, but nothing is worse than weird noises from your expensive ass bike. It sounds like without the kit you will permanently damage the eyelet.

 

[dansMTB]

Forgive me, but not all LBS are created equal. Are you sure the shop new to remove the conical washers to actually tighten the axles? Maybe they just tightened the bolts that tension the conical washers. Check out the SC maintenance guide, super easy and worthwhile to learn to do yourself.

Good luck, report back when you find the cause.

 

[El Train]

make sure the rear thru axle is tight, I had a few rides on my new Tallboy and couldn't find a creaking noise when I pedaled hard, but finally figured out my rear axle wasn't tight all the way.

 

[Dant471]

Hi, today is my 1st day posting....,just got my SOLO c last week. I've been trying to find a link to a SC Maintenance guide and haven't yet. Could you point me in that direction?

 

[dansMTB]

Tech Sheets | Santa Cruz Bicycles

Congrats on the bike, happy riding!

 

[Dant471]

Thank You!

 

[regularbob]

Hi gnarbrahwyo, is this the kinda of creaking you're talking about?

Solo C creaking - YouTube

 

[spooney]

It's this simple, the bearings that are supplied may be a good bearing but in reality for their duty they are [email protected] bearings are designed to roll not rock. I personally like to strip them and pop the seals then ply them with grease, this helps keep water out and greases them for a long time. It's a bit of a pain but works. Another option that I fit with an older nomad I had was to drill a 3mm hole in the middle of the pivot collets/axles and another in the end so that grease can be pumped into the upper pivots also. Became very easy to maintain this way, Santa Cruz should offer this type of thing as standard really.

 

[dirtyjack]

Forgive me, but not all LBS are created equal. Are you sure the shop new to remove the conical washers to actually tighten the axles? Maybe they just tightened the bolts that tension the conical washers. Check out the SC maintenance guide, super easy and worthwhile to learn to do yourself.

Good luck, report back when you find the cause.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[GnarBrahWyo]

I had the LBS check axles and torque to spec and it was fine for a while and creaking returned. Got some free bearings in the mail from Santa Cruz and am going to have those replaced too. Pretty annoying but hopefully this fixes it. Will report back next week when it is completed.

 

[Bhamss]

I had an issue that was similar to your Gnar and what it turned out to be was a mess in the end. Because IMO the pivot bolt threads are junk they wear right off and what happened was because the thread wore off the upper linkage was loose as you describe - laterally- and made a awful creak. I thought it was BB but it realized it was a loose pivot bolt that now had gotten so loose that it blew out its bearings leaving only the outer ring.

well let me tell you what a total PITA that is to remove w/o a 150 bearing puller tool. All this on a bike 8 months old serviced and maintained perfectly. I ended up buying a pro pack bc I am sure I will eventually need more pivots and bearings at this rate.

 

[GnarBrahWyo]

I had an issue that was similar to your Gnar and what it turned out to be was a mess in the end. Because IMO the pivot bolt threads are junk they wear right off and what happened was because the thread wore off the upper linkage was loose as you describe - laterally- and made a awful creak. I thought it was BB but it realized it was a loose pivot bolt that now had gotten so loose that it blew out its bearings leaving only the outer ring.

well let me tell you what a total PITA that is to remove w/o a 150 bearing puller tool. All this on a bike 8 months old serviced and maintained perfectly. I ended up buying a pro pack bc I am sure I will eventually need more pivots and bearings at this rate.

Glad you got yours figured out. I think some replacements on my bike are needed soon too..

 

[Steezus]

Because IMO the pivot bolt threads are junk they wear right off and what happened was because the thread wore off the upper linkage was loose as you describe - laterally- and made a awful creak. I thought it was BB but it realized it was a loose pivot bolt that now had gotten so loose that it blew out its bearings leaving only the outer ring.

The internal frame thread on my upper shock mount is wearing off as well. I service them religiously and bought a torque wrench and keep them at the new sane settings that Santa Cruz recommends from day one. I'm really wishing the lifetime warranty was a thing when i made my bike purchase.

 

[Bhamss]

The internal frame thread on my upper shock mount is wearing off as well. I service them religiously and bought a torque wrench and keep them at the new sane settings that Santa Cruz recommends from day one. I'm really wishing the lifetime warranty was a thing when i made my bike purchase.

agree on all counts. I take very very good care of my bike and follow all guidelines but still run into issues and its frustrating. I know its the nature of the beast w mtb but 8 months in w a new bike and the threading on the frame is wearing? come on man. I bought a pro pack and you can see the new pivot bolt is getting stripped right off which leads me to believe its the threading on the frame side more so than skimpy bolt thread (which I still think is an issue)

I assume the only fix for this is a new rear triangle? covered under warranty?