Cannondale creak

[timmcp]

I treated myself to a brand new hybrid in June, a Cannondale Quick 2 . I originally was going to buy a Trek, but got the Cannondale with a better groupset/spec than the Trek for same price after the LBS gave it great reviews.

Oh how I am regretting it, the bike has now been back to the LBS 3 times because of this damned creaking. The creak only happens when I really am putting alot of pressure on the pedals to get some speed up, up hills, etc but if I put minimal pressure/cruising the noise isnt there.

It is due to go back again in the next few days, so the question is does anybody know what the problem is, or have any thoughts what it could be. To say its embarassing is an understatement and I am not a happy chappy at the moment. The bike sounds like a cheap £99 Tesco runaround that has been looked afte, this bike cost a tad under £800 and sounds like a bag of s***e.

any help/ideas are greatly appreciated

 

[smithy92]

+1 for the saddle. I had an annoying noise that for the life of me could not figure out where it was coming from and had to take a friend out riding to identify it. After previous hours of fiddling all it ended up needing was a 1/4 turn extra on the two saddle clamp bolts!

 

[Furkz]

do you weigh a lot because my friend had this issue with his cannondale and ended up being the chain

 

[gds58]

I had a similar problem on one of my bikes recently. At first I was convinced that it was the chainring bolts that were maybe a bit dry so I undid them all and greased them - no difference.

I then thought that maybe it was the cranks on the bottom bracket axle so I removed them cleaned them replaced them - no difference.

I then took the pedals off (Look type pedals) pumped loads of silicone grease in the bearings and a bit of oil in the release mechanism at the rear of the pedal - job done!! no more creaking

 

[dubhghall]

+1 for the saddle

Another "strange" place for a creak which I didn't believe when the LBS found it is a slightly loose QR Skewer. They tightened the back one up a touch and . . . silence!
I've also had a strange creak when givining it some from slightly loose bars. Tightened the front plate bolts.

 

[Banjo]

Try taking the seatpost out clean it and the inside of the tube grease and put back on.

Or try removing the handlebar and stem clean regrease and assemble. Both those have creaked at various times on my Scott.The handle bar to stem joint creaked when riding hard as you described.

good Luck creaks really pi$$ me off on the bike.