adamrice 

I recently got this bike (bought new despite being a 2018 model). It has an FSA crankset and 386 EVO bottom bracket. It creaks. I've tried ruling out all the other likely sources of creaking, and I'm pretty sure that's it. It bugs me. A lot.

First: am I correct that the cure is to replace the BB? I've been looking at Wheels Manufacturing, but I'm open to other ideas.
Second: If replacement is the route to go, I'm trying to figure out whether it makes more sense to do it at home or let my friendly neighborhood LBS do it. I'm happy to support them, but they're not cheap. I'm also happy to do it at home, but I don't have any of the tools I would need. I'm not sure which way I come out ahead.

Jon T

Believe it or not, it COULD be the wheel qr's. I have a friend who rides a Cervelo. He had the bb replaced 3 times. Creak was still there. I told him to take the wheel skewers out, saturate them with oil--especially where the levers actuate--wipe off the excess oil, and reinstall and make sure they're TIGHT!. Gee, the bb no longer made any noise.
Jon

Marcus_Ti

Creaks attributed to BBs....are often not the BB. Lots of interfaces can creak and only when pedaling, from loose saddle clamps to pedal cleats.

delbiker1 

On a recently new bike your BB should not, and probably is not, where the creaking is coming from. Often that problem is coming from the shoe/cleat/pedal area.

dsbrantjr

Try lubing all of the axle-frame-QR touch points as well. Also try swapping your pedals, and lubing the crank and pedal threads and mating faces.

Mad Honk 

Adam,
With all due respect to the answers given here, the lubrication of points of contact on your bike is for me another way of identifying what needs attention.
If you oil a squeak, it will come back when the oil dries up. And most often creaks and squeaks are just some loose part that needs tightening. Oil the areas in a sequence to find the culprit. Oil them all at once and you will be doing it all over again in a few weeks.
On old school bikes the pedal cages were bolted onto the pedal body, and the cage bolts were prone to loosening and creating a creak when pressure was applied. A loose chain ring bolt will do the same thing. But to find the culprit, again do the lube thing only to find out what needs to be tightened and then do the repair. Smiles, MH

smashndash

While I personally agree that a brand new pressfit bike shouldn’t creak (it usually takes a few hundred miles to thoroughly crush the nylon cups and wear out the bearings from misalignment etc), in the event that you have decided the BB is the issue, I would recommend that you look at BBInfinite or Hambini bottom brackets.

BBinfinite will be cheaper and probably have a wider variety of models, whereas Hambini BBs will come with better bearings. I can almost guarantee you that if your BB is the actual culprit, not only will the creaking stop, but you will perceive a difference in the performance of your bike. It’s that big of a difference.

Bigbus

I'm not familiar with either of those brands personally, I'm a Shimano UN type of guy, but I have to agree with you 100% that if it's the BB swapping it out will make the bike feel like a new animal under you. Funny how that works...

JW in AK

If you're comfortable wrenching on your new investment you might want to check out GMBN's video on press fit bottom brackets. I'd simply post the direct link but I'm not allowed until I have 10 posts since I'm new here so you'll have to search youtube (copy and paste this in the search box: watch?v=G_ugobn4lw8 ). If you're sketched out about a youtube search from a total stranger, you can also search the GBMN site under the maintenance tab. Might be helpful if that is the source of your creaking.

smashndash

Shimano bearings use very heavy sealing. It’s why CeramicSpeed chose them as the comparison for the demo bearings they place at dealers. Great if you’re riding in the rain or are trying to save money. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if you’re running $80 race tires on your several-thousand-dollar bike, the one-piece BB with contactless seals is an upgrade worth making IMO.

Also Shimano does not make BBs for anyone but their own Hollowtech II cranks.

The big O

Worked like a charm for me! Variation on the theme: i greased the lever, thread and clamping knurls with high pressure bearing grease.

Thanks Jon!

adamrice 

Belatedly closing this loop:

Re QRs: This bike has through axles.

I did wind up replacing the BB at home with a Wheels Mfg thread-together unit, and that fixed the problem.