Brompton creaks and squeaks

[fred costa pinto]

I registered only to say a huge THANK YOU! I was going crazy and had reassembled, greased and torqued everything.
Applied a layer of ptfe lub spray on the rear triangle hinge and the creak was gone.
Thanks!

I've been commuting with my Brompton for over a year.

I love the bike but recently I've been driven mad with creaking sounds when I pedal hard :
Just want to share what I did to eventually find the source :

Creaking only happened when pedaling hard.
Creaking happened when I pedalled standing up, so not saddle or saddle post issue.

Greased the internals and other rubbing surfaces of the suspension block : no difference
Lubed chain and got some oil into pedals, no difference.
Check that both crank bolts were tight and there was no play.
Replaced both pedals with some spare ones : no difference.
Replaced chain for new one : No difference.
Tried pedaling without the chain on. Bottom bracket appears perfect, no play or roughness, no creaks either.
Removed suspension block and inserted a wad of paper, pushing down on the frame made the creaking noise !

Squirted some thin lube/water-displacer at the nylon washers of the rear triangle hinge.
At last success , no more creaking !!

Happy cycling.

Regards
Steve

 

[yongshik]

I've been commuting with my Brompton for over a year.

I love the bike but recently I've been driven mad with creaking sounds when I pedal hard :
Just want to share what I did to eventually find the source :

Creaking only happened when pedaling hard.
Creaking happened when I pedalled standing up, so not saddle or saddle post issue.

Greased the internals and other rubbing surfaces of the suspension block : no difference
Lubed chain and got some oil into pedals, no difference.
Check that both crank bolts were tight and there was no play.
Replaced both pedals with some spare ones : no difference.
Replaced chain for new one : No difference.
Tried pedaling without the chain on. Bottom bracket appears perfect, no play or roughness, no creaks either.
Removed suspension block and inserted a wad of paper, pushing down on the frame made the creaking noise !

Squirted some thin lube/water-displacer at the nylon washers of the rear triangle hinge.
At last success , no more creaking !!

Happy cycling.

Regards
Steve

I registered to thank you. I've been riding my two bromptons since 2011. Yes, they are quite old and asking continuous maintenance. I've been struggling with creaking noise during pedaling and went through almost same remedies. Finally I fixed this problem with rubricating rear hinge. Again, many thanks to your help !

 

[tybo]

I've been commuting with my Brompton for over a year.

I love the bike but recently I've been driven mad with creaking sounds when I pedal hard :
Just want to share what I did to eventually find the source :

Creaking only happened when pedaling hard.
Creaking happened when I pedalled standing up, so not saddle or saddle post issue.

Greased the internals and other rubbing surfaces of the suspension block : no difference
Lubed chain and got some oil into pedals, no difference.
Check that both crank bolts were tight and there was no play.
Replaced both pedals with some spare ones : no difference.
Replaced chain for new one : No difference.
Tried pedaling without the chain on. Bottom bracket appears perfect, no play or roughness, no creaks either.
Removed suspension block and inserted a wad of paper, pushing down on the frame made the creaking noise !

Squirted some thin lube/water-displacer at the nylon washers of the rear triangle hinge.
At last success , no more creaking !!

Happy cycling.

Regards
Steve

Hello, I am from the future and this helped me immensely. New 2025 Brompton, only about 100 miles in and developed a creaking sound with some play when pedaling hard.

Investigated bottom bracket, pedals, frame hinges but didn't think about the rear triangle hinge until I saw this. After a bit of lube and tightening the bolt, the problem was solved. Saved me weeks of troubleshooting, thanks!

 

[Kell]

Just this week I had a click-click I couldn't trace. Top of the pedal stroke on the non-drive side.

Felt certain it was loose chain ring bolts. Tightened those. Didn't solve it.

Then wondered if it was the crank arm. Tightened that. Didn't solve it.

Then replaced the chain ring bolts as I was still certain they were the issue. Didn't solve it.

Tried the rear swing arm as that was the issue last time. Didn't need tightening.

Eventually removed the pedal and put some copper slip on the threads and refitted it. Seems to have solved it.