Help me with my creak

[lune ranger]

Absolutely Dave. Can I still bring the oil though... could be handy out there all alone on the misty Moor...

[GregMay]

My old Crux developed a death creak at one point. It was the weld at the BB failing between it and the downtube.

[jaminb]

Sorry i cant help with your creak but having swapped saddles this weekend and eliminated a 3 year old intermmitent creak on my Arkose the sense of relief and happiness in equal measures is immense.

[HUX]

I've had this a few of times Dave and it drives you nuts. All have resulted in pretty much a full strip down. 1 ended up being a squeaky replaceable mech hanger. Quick smear of grease behind it and job done.
Another turned out to be the pin that stops the chain wedging between the ring and crank arm was touching the crank. Quick tickle with a file, no squeak.
I had a faulty alloy fork that took forever to track down. Stripped the fork out, lay flat and applied pressure and found the creak.
Had it around the stem too if the joints are dry and not tight enough.
Good luck

[Hamish]

I had a stubborn creak on a SRAM chainset. I fiddled with the chainring bolts numerous times to no avail. In the end I removed the spider (it was an X9 and I didn’t know the spider was removable until I looked) and greased the spider to crank splines and the creak disappeared.

You say you don’t have chainrings... have you got a chainring to crank interface that you haven’t checked?

[Charliecres]

Just to add that I’ve had a seat post creak (and sound like it was the BB) even when not sat down, so don’t discount it for that reason.

[redefined_cycles]

If its a press fit BB into a carbon frame Dave... I had that briefly on the canyon. I just squeezed some lube at the bb interface... then went out and rode and the lube must've worked it's way in and it never came back for over a year

[redefined_cycles]

Apparently the carbon fibres/resin/layup isn't happy with many/certain oils worked for me as it was weldtite (or just carbon paste )...

[ledburner]

don't pedal so hard. instant fix.
Also get into down billing. all the creak will disappear.
is it your shoes /cleat or pedal issues?

it must be your knees!

your sleeveless jacket will be finished tommorrow

[redefined_cycles]

your sleeveless jacket will be finished tommorrow

Didn't know Dave ordered a sleeveless hand-finished jacket too Dan Hope you'll do him a good job...

[Dave Barter]

your sleeveless jacket will be finished tommorrow

Didn't know Dave ordered a sleeveless hand-finished jacket too Dan Hope you'll do him a good job...

I didn’t. I don’t have the arms for sleeveless

[pistonbroke]

I don’t have the arms for sleeveless

Surely a sleeveless jacket is the perfect garment if you don't have arms?

I chased a creak around my Litespeed road bike for about 6 months before taking it into the shop in despair. The mechanic put a blob of grease on the Mavic wheel axle ends and it immediately disappeared. The alloy dropouts were rubbing against the alloy axle stubs and the noise was being amplified by the carbon fork.

[RIP]

I don’t have the arms for sleeveless

Surely a sleeveless jacket is the perfect garment if you don't have arms?

Well the number of suggestions is now reaching into the hundreds. On the edge of my seat (saddle?) wondering what it's finally going to be. On past form my vote is Dave just uses it as a perfectly valid excuse to buy a new bike .

[Kumquat]

Remove, clean and lightly grease headset spacers.
Reassemble.
Yes I know it's your BB.
But sometimes it isn't.

[voodoo_simon]

I don’t have the arms for sleeveless

Surely a sleeveless jacket is the perfect garment if you don't have arms?

Well the number of suggestions is now reaching into the hundreds. On the edge of my seat (saddle?) wondering what it's finally going to be. On past form my vote is Dave just uses it as a perfectly valid excuse to buy a new bike .

Or invest in some headphones and turn them up to 11...

[Dave Barter]

Basically the recommendations are to dismantle bike into component form, grease, cover in linseed then reassemble. Following that but a new bike

[voodoo_simon]

Basically the recommendations are to dismantle bike into component form, grease, cover in linseed then reassemble. Following that but a new bike

Any parts you can borrow before you do that. Swap
Pedals around/wheels etc etc to see if it’s those parts?

[lune ranger]

Basically the recommendations are to dismantle bike into component form, grease, cover in linseed then reassemble. Following that but a new bike

You forgot clothes and body parts there Dave

[fatbikephil]

Basically the recommendations are to dismantle bike into component form, grease, cover in linseed then reassemble. Following that but a new bike

No we are telling you a number of things that will cause creaks, you have to eliminate each one in turn. This means you will take the bike entirely to pieces as the actual cause of the creak will be the last thing you check. This is traditional.

Oh and be thankful your not into old motorbikes

PS. Don't do the linseed oil thing, really.

[lune ranger]

PS. Don't do the linseed oil thing, really.

Why not? I did it last year and all that’s happened is I don’t have a creaky bike.

Disclaimer: It was a steel frame and traditional threaded BB.

[fatbikephil]

Cos it will find its way into the BB bearings, wash out the grease and cause them to wear out (or let water in and fall apart)

[lune ranger]

I’ve not seen a PF BB but that’s not possible in my case because it’s a ‘proper’ Royce BB that’s got it’s own shell.
My worry was that the oil would find its way out of the breather holes and onto my rotor when the bike was hung up in the shed but that didn’t happen thankfully.

[Dave Barter]

Breaking news

I know you have all been in desperate tenterhooks imagining the goings on in the basement of swear. Well I’ve fixed it. Turned out that the shop who supplied me the bike had not torqued the bearing holders on the BB correctly. I removed and replaced them and now have a gorgeously quiet Crux.

[thenorthwind]

Congrats Dave, such a satisfying feeling isn't it!

[lune ranger]

I would definitely still fill the frame with warm linseed oil - you can’t be sure how long the quiet is going to last....