Amt0571

My road bike has been creaking for some months and recently it became worse. I'm having lots of difficulty locating the origin.

It creaks in all the following situations:

- When pedalling hard while seated.
- "Jumping" on the pedals while standing up.
- "Jumping" on the saddle with the feet outside the pedals.
- "Jumping" on the saddle while hands free.
- When I push down hard (hard enough to make the post flex) on the saddle being off the bike.
- When I push down hard on the top tube being off the bike.

So far, I have greased the headset bearing seats, put carbon paste on the seatpost, lubed the saddle rails, put a drop of lube on each spoke nipple and crossing, greased pedals, cranks, BB and chainring bolts, disassembled the frame and fork (frame is alu, fork is carbon) and inspected for cracks, greased both thru axles and even the derailleur hanger.

Everything I check seems to be OK. Am I missing something? Any idea?

Thanks!

Troul 

handlebar tight?

Amt0571

Yes. It creaks when riding hands free. I disassembled and reassembled almost the complete bike except the bottom bracket at this point.

But since it creaks with feet out of the pedals, that should rule out the BB anyway.

Troul 

remove the seat with post, what does it do then?

Amt0571

Just did it. It creaks.

Troul 

leaving the post out along with the seat, remove just the front wheel assembly. Does it still have the noise?

10 Wheels

Mine was in here somewhere?

dsaul

I had similar symptoms on my MTB and it turned out to be the rear thru axle was not tight enough.

veganbikes

Have you used a proper torque wrench and check every bolt and made 100% sure everything is properly installed and tightened. Thru-Axles and QR skewers can be the cause sometimes as well.

Make sure you aren't missing something as well. Sometimes a washer or seal or something is gone and can cause some issues.

I also wouldn't jump on anything but you could Jump Around

Amt0571

I already checked (and greased) that.

Everything is correctly torqued with a torque wrench. I have almost disassembled and reasembled the entire bike while looking for the creak.

The only thing I haven't disassembled so far is the pressfit BB. I'm starting to think it may be creaking even when I'm not touching the pedals. Is that possible?

jgwilliams

Man I hate creaks - they can be so hard to track down. I really feel your pain.

Amt0571

Yeah. I'm in really good luck... my mountain bike is also creaking at the moment, although at least in this case I'm totally sure its the press-**** BB.

jgwilliams

I suppose you know that you can get BBs for press fit that thread together inside?

Amt0571

Yes, I already have one in my shopping cart.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

jgwilliams

I'll be interested to hear how that goes. My road bike has a press-fit BB which, so far, hasn't given any trouble, but if it ever needs a new BB I'll certainly consider one of the Wheels Engineering thread-together BBs.

ClydeClydeson

Possibly the cable housing where in their stops on the frame. If these are creaky they will creak under almost any movement of the bike, no matter how minute.

canklecat

Check the wheel spokes too. A couple of years ago after overhauling everything on one bike I finally traced the creak down to friction between black-coated spokes at the crossings. Smearing a bit of wax between the spoke crossings fixed it. I redo that once a year or so. Some folks use grease or oil but wax seems to work better with less mess. An old candle will do, or a crayon.

Amt0571

Well... this is becoming harder to track. Now it seems it only creaks at "low" temperatures. Inside my home, at 21ºC it doesn't creak.

Outside, at 13ºC it starts to creak after a while (when the bike cools down, I suppose).

Geepig

OK, my penny's worth:

Do you always wear the same footwear, like you are not changing into the same gear to ride it outside?

Have you started to remove major items from your bike, like wheels or forks? I used to have axle stands and large blocks of wood I could stand my bikes on.

However, my bike no longer creaks, because I can blame it all on my knees...

Troul 

If you did this. Lets move to the next area.
With the post out along with the seat, front wheel assembly off, now remove the rear wheel assembly. Rest the fork & chain stay onto a hard surfaced floor. If you must, apply painters tape to the contacting points.

Did the noise return again?

Dirk de Chablis

Pedals? also is the front wheel tight, is the mech hanger tight?

Spaghetti Legs 

I’m not sure of the details on thru axles but I had an elusive creak once that was solved with a drop of oil on the rear dropout.

rydabent

Check the frame for cracks. That is what mine turned out to be.

veganbikes

It wouldn't creak if there is no pressure on it. However if you haven't pulled the BB and re-installed that could be the source. Pressfit stuff can cause issues like that often.

bikemike73 

mmmmmm

The OP stated that when he put the bike inside there is no creak. I wonder how many degrees the difference is ?

Example....30 degrees outside......65 inside.

If the OP has " gone thru" everything, except BB, maybe it is just a " warm " weather bike.

Temperature affects everything, especially steel, which expands and contracts with the temp changes.

I hope the OP, the expert help here, can/will figure it out and share