Creaks

[Moodyman]

Something creaks when pedals are between the 11 – 12 o’clock position. Happens all the time, but worse when powering from stationery or slow rolling.

· I’ve put new cleats on, cleaned and lubed the pedal externals.

· Checked bottom bracket – no sound when I’m off the bike and rotate pedal by hand.

· I’ve cleaned and greased pretty much everything else (including saddle, spokes where they overlap & nipples).

· No cracks in frame – thankfully.

· Seat post cleaned and greased.

· Headset cleaned and greased

· Handlebar & Stem joint – cleaned and lubed

· Pedals spin fine by hand so internals okay.

· Pedals threads were cleaned and greased about 2 months ago – might repeat to remove this from equation.

· Kickstand cleaned and oiled

· Mudguards joints lubed

· Checked all bolt and they’re lubed and tight.

· Light fittings tight

· Crankarms tight

I’ve exhausted the Jim Langley list and tried everything suggested in previous ‘Creaky’ questions on CC. Is there anything I’ve missed?

 

[2Loose]

Do you get the noise while pulling on the bars or standing on the pedals (not mutually exclusive)?

Off the bike and turning the bars from side to side? I had a creaky ferrule once, which is nowhere near as painful as it sounds.

 

[Moodyman]

No creaks when off the bike turning moving parts.

Creaks only happens when sitting on it and pedalling between 11-12 o'clock pedal position. Once cadence is up to 80+ creak quitens but never disappears.

 

[palinurus]

Could still be the BB- you might not be able to apply enough oomph by hand to hear the creak.

Have you had the BB out yet?

May be worth taking out, clean threads and shell, grease and replace.

Last time I had such a creak it had got a bit corroded in there, cleaned it up and it was fine after.

 

[Fiona N]

Junction of seat stay and chain stay?

This is the problem with my Ribble Al + C seat stays. The junction creaks at exactly the 11/12 o clock pushing position and dies away as my cadence increases and pedalling gets smoother. So pretty much as you describe. A bit of WD-40 sorts the problem temporarily so I've got into the habit of 'oiling' the frame as well as the chain and other bits and pieces after rain/washing etc.


FWIW I also went through the replacing components and trying alternatives with no effect and thought I was going mad until another Ribble owner mentioned the problem.

 

[gannet]

have you looked in the bottom bracket threads?

I had some grit in there which caused an almighty racket

it was silent when turning by hand..

 

[colly]

How old are the cranks? I had a creak that I found impossible to find. That is until I was climbing a steep little section and BANG my left hand crack snapped clean in two.
Somehow I didn't fall off and neither did I crunch my nuts onto the frame but it did give me a fright.

So much so that for sometime afterwards I found I was reluctant to get out of the sddle when climbing.

 

[rusky]

I had a simlar problem that turned out to be a lack of grease on the pedal threads.

Now I have an annoying tick that happens when I ride over uneven surfaces. Sounds like a cable inner is touching the frame but they are all well away. I just hope it's not a faulty weld or something

 

[phil_hg_uk]

My shoes creak quite often.

 

[Svendo]

Creaks caused by the join between the drop outs and nonmoving bits of wheel hubs have been known. SMALL application of lubricant solved one I had.

 

[gwhite]

If you use a leather saddle these often cause creaks. Usually the leather rubbing at the tensioner housing.

 

[rusty bearing]

Does it stop creaking when you stand up and pedal? if so its the saddle itself. An unusual cause for creaking was the cassette lockring not being tight enough.

 

[asterix]

Was T-boned by a car while on a 531 frame bike. The LBS checked it over later and said apart from a tacoed back wheel it was fine.

They replaced the wheel and I rode the bike for another 18 months till one day I was cycling in hilly country and noticed a creak when I pedalled. After another 20 miles I stopped for a snack and looked the bike over. Sadly there was a crack half way round the down tube just above the band-on gear shifter - very hard to see at first. Being quite a few miles from home I had to ride it back, extremely carefully.

Closer inspection revealed a very slight bend in the down tube and a tiny dent caused by the car's impact. Even after I got home the crack was hard to see and hadn't got any bigger.

 

[peterdowning]

Does it stop creaking when you stand up and pedal? if so its the saddle itself. An unusual cause for creaking was the cassette lockring not being tight enough.

+1 for cassette lockring. Had it for a few weeks and it sounded like the noise was coming from the pedal/BB area. Took everything apart that I could, cleaned and lubed and tightened, still no joy. Today I just happened to notice a very tiny amount of lateral play in cassette when cleaning rear wheel. LBS tightned it up and problem solved. Worth a look if nothing else works?