duane_pipe

After my rear axle snapped I cleaned and regreased EVERYTHING, and recently I have replaced parts as well. When I test ride it (2-3 miles) it sounds perfect, no sounds whatsoever. Yesterday did a 40 mile ride and up to 20 it was silent, after 20 it was creaking like mad again, mostly when pedalling up serious hills.

The daft thing is on any test ride I do nearby, there are hills from my doorstep, and I don't hear the sounds.

I have replaced:

1. Replaced gear and brake cable, housings and cable stops. These were creaking before and are now completely silent when moved.
2. Headset cleaned and greased. Again completely silent and zero play.
3. Bottom bracket: Replaced, done <200 miles, it is Hollowtech II, regreased threads etc..
4. Cassette and Chainset: Replaced
5. Chain: Cleaned and lubed, completely silent on test rides. I do have a brand new chain ready to go but this one has done <200mi.
6. Rear axle: Replaced and greased.
7. Front axle: Regreased, spins 10x better than it did previously.

Greased the skewers, they are tightly fastened, the sounds mostly sound like bottom bracket/headset.

There was a light high pitched squeek that I solved: my shoe was rubbing against the crank!

This creaking though after 20+ miles, no idea.

Andrew R Stewart 

Service your bars/stem, your post/saddle and retorque your crank arm/pedals. Then report back. Andy

dsbrantjr

A dab of grease on the axle dropouts will sometimes quiet a squeak. Also clean and grease the pedal and crank threads and torque properly. Try swapping pedals with a known-quiet pair, preferably platform types to rule out shoe and cleat noises. Check your chainring fasteners. Check the seat rails and seatpost fasteners; grease the post.

HillRider

Were the bottom bracket cups tightened adequately? The recommended torque is far higher than you expect if you don't have a torque wrench.

Did you tighten the hub's locknuts adequately against their cones? The cones can come loose if they aren't locked down well enough.

duane_pipe

The pedal and crank threads have been cleaned and greased. One of my initial squeaks I heard was simply my shoe rubbing against the crank arm, but there is still a creaking in addition to this.

I did put a tiny dab of grease around the axle dropouts as suggested on another forum.

My bottom bracket cubs are in VERY tight, I don't have a torque wrench but can assure they are very tight. Lock-nuts on the hubs are again very tight - another lad who works on bikes said he struggled to get them off. The hubs spin freely with zero play.

The bars/stem all came off when I cleaned and regreased the headset.

The post/saddle was my initial thought for the creaking but I have regreased it several times and can assure it's not that causing the creak as it's still creaky when pedalling out of the saddle.

The crank arm and pedals are all greased.

- Again there is ZERO noise on any test ride but once I get to 20mi+ it begins to creak. I rode up a hill which was 850ft of ascent in 2.3 miles. That's when it started - I rode the bike this morning for a few minutes up and down the hill outside my house and guess what - no creak!

HillRider

One more guess. What shoes and pedals are you using? I've got Shimano XT pedals on two of my road bikes and a couple of pair of Shimano Touring and MTB shoes. The soles of the shoes squeak against the pedals on every stroke. I've tried grease, wax and silicone spray on both the pedals and the shoes but it always comes back. It does take a couple of miles to start and, as the shoes get older and with more miles on them it does get better.

duane_pipe

I use Shimano PD M515 and they are multiple years old. My shoes are Diadora (no idea what model #) cheap ones.

* I have just regreased and cleaned the contact surfaces and rear mech hanger and axle dropouts. Again a test ride I know it will be fine.

duane_pipe

Chain Ring bolts?

I've just taken the crankset (chainset for us here in the UK) apart and redone all bolts there. Just done a quick couple of hill climbs, again the bike is absolutely silent. I'll do 25mi (40km) tomorrow hopefully and see how things are sounding.

Still

GuyWood

Are you sure it's not you that's squeaking?

rodsorensen

Did you ever figure out the source of your creak?
I have exactly this same problem and I have done most of the same things you had without success. :-(

Wilfred Laurier

This was happening to me on my road bike - quiet and smooth for the first while and started creaking later on. I later found that the frame was cracked, and smooth circular pedalling didn't affect it, but when I got tired and pedalled in squares it was causing the two halves of the frame to work against eachother.

rodsorensen

I do not notice any frame issue and certainly hope that is not the issue on my Bianchi Infinito CV with only about 6000 miles on it.

Wilfred Laurier

I also hope for you that it is not the issue.

The crack on my (aluminum) frame started at the welded junction between the DS chainstay and the chainstay bridge, and was mostly hidden behind the chainrings and under the layer of grime that builds up in that area. I suspect the crack had formed months before I finally found it, and was growing slowly during every ride. I started looking more closely after feeling a weird wiggle in the rear end upon landing from hopping over a speed bump. The crack never did propagate through the whole tube and I cut the frame into bits - the broken piece given to a friend to practice NDE techniques, and another piece kept for a pencil holder on my desk.

I got an identical replacement frame and it has ~10000 km on it now with no sign of failure.