[aka brad]

Yep, you've heard it, tracked it down and if you work at an LBS the next question is, "How much do you want to pay?" because it can be anything. My last 3 searches found it was a mismatched BB cup, a worn chain and a loose pedal. How about you? How long did it take to find and what was the cause?

Brad

 

[dirtdirt223]

chain ring bolts
crank bolts
seat post
seat
stem
loose rear skewer

 

[Godless Communist]

chain ring bolts
crank bolts
seat post
seat
stem
loose rear skewer

Old knees
Fillings
Plate in head

 

[Tone No Balone]

The loose rear skewer

It was killin' me for a couple of weeks till I flipped the bike and re-set it for some reason and that took care of it!

 

[pinoymtb]

i use to find that my square taper crank creak a lot when one crank bolt is loose or not torque properly.:nono:

 

[Solohopper]

On my Road Bike I had a creak that was driving me crazy. But after I got home and I got all cleaned up I would forget to check it. Well I started with the most obvious and checked the seatpost. I lubed it and reinstalled it. That didn't work. SO after I took apart the BB, pedals, and the rear wheel I decided to look again at the damn seatpost. Well I took the clamp off and to my surprise the frame was sleeved and the sleeve was not greased. So once I greased the sleeve and reinstalled the seat post IT WAS GONE!!!!! Now my buddies won't speed up or slow down because of embarasment.

 

[Miker J]

Creak finder dot com...

Wouldn't that be nice. I'll pretty much loose my mind if I can't remedy a creak.

Aside from the usual culprits (BBs, cranks, ring bolts, seat posts...) I've found some not-often-thought of culprits: the stantion-crown interface on my Reba; new 4x Thomson stems (if not retightened occasionally); King headsets when the O-ring gets worn and allows play at the steerer tube-spacer-stem junction; dirty Thomson seat bolts/nuts, dirty metal ferrules moving against cable stops...

 

[madcap]

left crank arm/pedal creak on the down/power stroke


wound up replacing the pedals (needed to anyway). That didn't solve the problem so I pulled the crank arms and it wound up being the left side BB shell being a little loose. I tightened it up and it's all gravy now.

 

[CB2]

I just went through this:
Was a grinding kind of creak most prevalent on the right pedal stroke at first and then went on to both.
In order of items tried to eliminate creak:
repacked my freewheel
replaced bb & crank
tightened headset
cleaned stem bolts, re-lubed, and re-torqued
cleaned and grease seat post
Nothing! Creak still there!:madmax:

It turned out to be a bad bearing in my front wheel.

 

[jeeves]

Ooh! that's the problem I have now! Pedals are new, cranks are tight - I'll check the chainring, and then....to the bike store...b/c I don't know how to work on BBs.

Thanks!

left crank arm/pedal creak on the down/power stroke

wound up replacing the pedals (needed to anyway). That didn't solve the problem so I pulled the crank arms and it wound up being the left side BB shell being a little loose. I tightened it up and it's all gravy now.

 

[Malachite]

Just got done chasing down an intermittent creak that has plagued me for over a month. Turned out to be part of the clipping portion of my pedal. Weird because the sound always came from the bb/crank junction. New pedals and we're good to go again.

Michael

 

[unit]

Here is one...

I had one on my geared road bike (now a SS).

At the time it had gears and would only make the creak when climbing a steep incline in my lowest gear.

I tried everything...I thought.

Turns out it was my Nokon Cables.

When the rear derailleur was in the lowest gear, the tension on the cable was enough that the segmented housing bits would creak as they rubbed together as the bike was thrown back and forth as I climbed steep hills.

There were two solutions...
1. lube the outside of the housing and the creak went away until the lube wore off.
2. Convert the bike to SS and eliminate the problem forever.

I chose #2 (cost was nothing, and I could sell the parts and make money). SS wins again!

 

[hu-man]

another creaky story.....

My commuter had an annoying creak that only happened as my right pedal was at 12 oclock and I was putting preasure on it for the downstroke. Creak, creak creak at each stroke all the way on the commute. Other riders were turning their heads to look. Pulled the cranks, seatpost, pedals and wheels, cleaned, lubed and tightened and adjusted every thing (or so i thought). I checked for small cracks in the frame (older Cannondale aluminum MTB from the "Crack-and-fail" era). Nothing. I had made the decision to strat spending $$$ and begin by replacing the bottom bracket.

I was cleaning the chain and noticed that my pedals( platforms) had a solid body with a cage fastened to the body with screws. Yup... one of the screws was a little loose. No more creaky commute!

So I spent the BB money on a nice rear wheel for the fixie I am building up.

 

[quaffimodo]

A cracked headtube. Fortunately it was on a road bike-I'm guessing that I rode it a couple of hundred miles worth of head scratching before the crack adjacent to the downtube lug became large enough to see with the naked eye. It was a rhythmic click that only occurred while pedaling seated.

 

[OneEyeMan]

My last creak almost drove me crazy.
I took apart all the usual suspects, cleaned all mating surfaces with alcohol, then regreased everything including bolt threads.
Finally, on a whim, I took apart my Thompson stem.
Turned out to be the 2 round clamp halves that clamp onto the steerer tube.
It's amazing how many things on a bike can squeak and creak.
Lenny

 

[1x1_KT]

i have some creaks in my bike that come and go. im thinking it could just be dirt in some of the parts. im going to try some diss-assembly and re-assembly tonite though and see if it helps.

 

[velomatt]

Anyone running a set of Saint cranks ?
They seem to be very creaky if I loc-tite the fixing bolts.
If I grease them, the crank comes loose after about 20 miles !
Man this is pissing me off...

 

[aka brad]

Oh dear..

Anyone running a set of Saint cranks ?
They seem to be very creaky if I loc-tite the fixing bolts.
If I grease them, the crank comes loose after about 20 miles !
Man this is pissing me off...

I'm afraid conventional wisdom says your crank arm is history. Once a crank arm comes loose, the mating surface is usually trashed. Hope I'm wrong.

Brad