For the love of Jesus... STOP CREAKING!

[lejogger]

Midway through a LEJOG a couple of weeks back, and after a day of torrential rain, I suddenly started creaking from what I thought was the bottom bracket. It was only present when under heavy load - I.e. out of the saddle on a drag, or on a steep climb, and it felt to be when the left crank was just tipping over 12 o'clock and lasting till the bottom of the stroke.

The BB (GXP) had done the best part of 5,000 miles so I'd brought along a spare just in case, and spent 30 minutes on the carpeted floor of my Carlisle Travelodge room carefully removing the cranks, the old BB, thoroughly cleaning and regreasing everything before reassembling.

Everything started off fine the next day, and I even made it across the border before it reappeared. I tightened the bolts on the chainrings, I nipped up the spindles on my pedals, I re-torqued the front wheel skewer, and still the bugger remained.

So LEJOG ended and the bike was stripped down. Chain rings, pedal spindles, cranks, BB... etc everything degreased, cleaned, re-greased tightened etc, and then I set off to Bala with the club yesterday. First climb of note arrived and the little b*stard is STILL piping up! I dropped off the back of the group on the Old Bwlch yesterday specifically so they didn't have to listen to the raquet I was making... honestly, that WAS the reason!

I'm desperate now. What else could it possibly be? Headset and seatpost must be the only things I haven't touched, but I ruled out the seatpost because it usually only happens when I'm stood, and the noise just doesn't sound like headset.. I plan to dismantle, clean and slap copious amounts of grease in there this week anyway, just to make absolutely sure, but does anyone have any idea what I've missed or what else I could try?

 

[DCLane]

Seatpost. Grease it!

 

[jack smith]

had the creaking issue last time i was out on the bike thought it was the bb and it was the cleats!

 

[raleighnut]

Knees.

 

[compo]

Stem and handlebar clamps?

 

[Crackle]

Chainring bolts, nip them up.

 

[ColinJ]

Seatpost. Grease it!

It's not that ...

It was only present when under heavy load - I.e. out of the saddle on a drag ...

 

[Crankarm]

How can you strip down a BB as nearly all are sealed cartridges or bearing shells these days?

As said cleats or the bindings could be the culprits.

 

[numbnuts]

Jesus doesn't do creaking

 

[sight-pin]

Heel of shoe rubbing on the pedal arm on the down stroke. mis-adjusted cleat?

 

[50000tears]

I have had the exact same issue and was convinced it was the BB as well. But after changing the SPD pedals at the weekend for flats to eliminate the cleats as the issue, low and behold no more creaking. It WAS the cleats after all. Now just need to work out the best way so stop the annoying noise, WD40 or crayon wax will be my first attempts.

 

[SomethingLikeThat]

It WAS the cleats after all. Now just need to work out the best way so stop the annoying noise, WD40 or crayon wax will be my first attempts.

Spray a bit of WD40 on the front of the cleat where it actually clips in as well as in the pedal bed. I find it's a lot easier to clip in and out too once that is done.

 

[Arjimlad]

Sick of my creaky BB, I stopped at the bike mechanic's house on the way home on Wednesday evening. He is a retired teacher & lives at the end of my road. Having got the right qualifications, he set up his hobby into a small business offering servicing & repairs.
Neil had mentioned the possibility that the BB shell had not been properly fettled when the bike was new, when I discussed my creaky BB with him earlier.
I had stripped it at the weekend, checked that the facings were bare metal & clean, cleaned everything up & regreased it before reassembly. Yet the creaking remained.
Whilst I watched, Neil dismantled the BB & confirmed that the cups still had plenty of life left. He took out a specialist BB alignment tool, inserted the blocks into the threads and gently ground off a very little metal on each side of the BB shell, before reassembling it to the correct torque settings.
After two years of trying by myself to get the BB to stop creaking, and on its second set of BB cups, I am delighted to report that the creak has completely gone, after 20 minutes' work with the right tools, by an expert.
The next day's riding was a revelation and I found I was able to push along harder than ever without having the squeaky creak to worry about.

 

[50000tears]

Spray a bit of WD40 on the front of the cleat where it actually clips in as well as in the pedal bed. I find it's a lot easier to clip in and out too once that is done.

Thanks will do.

 

[lejogger]

Sorry for returning late to my own party... *awkward*

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. I've had the same issue with two different pairs of shoes and have swapped the cleat on the original shoe so unfortunately I don't think it's a shoe/cleat issue.

Another confusing part is that it seems to get worse the longer I'm riding. Started the club ride to Bala without a hint of anything, and didn't hear it until we were about 20 miles in. By the end of the ride it was much louder and longer. This also makes it difficult to replicate riding up and down the road.

Tonight I dropped out the forks and treated the headset to a good old clean and then slapped a whole load of grease on it just to make sure. Took the bike to the bottom of a very short but sharpish climb, stuck it in a massive gear and then did hill repeats to try and get the noise back.
It was very subdued compared to Sunday, but I managed to get what sounded like two very quick clicks from the down stroke of the left foot when the crank arm was parallel to the road. Could this be a BB facing issue like @Arjimlad is talking about? Even though my original BB was fine for 5000 miles and this is a brand new one and seemingly the same noise?