Jeffrey

do you guys ever get a little creaking noise coming from your bottom bracket when you pound your pedals? It only happens when I ride my aluminum commuter (trek 8000 mtb) and I've definitely isolated the noise and it the BB. I've had my lbs look at it, of course they don't see any problems, but after they clean tighten re-grease it, the problem goes away for awhile, well I guess its not actually a problem just a blemish, which is bad enough. Anyways just curious if any of you big fellas experience similar quirky noises. By the way whats your feelings on cross bikes as commuters/light tour bikes?
-cheers

late

Cross bikes often work well as commuters and tourers; the Surly Crosscheck is
very popular.

You might want to post the question about creaking in the mechanics forum.

Grasschopper

Sounds like the BB either isn't greesed enough or isn't tight enough. I am a pretty big guy at ~220 and on my 3 bikes I have no BB noise...two of those are external bearing designs though...but the other is an AL bike with a Octalink BB...all about greese on the threads and getting it tight enough...probably 2500 miles since I put this BB in and no noise at all.

H1449-6

You may get a better response in the mechanics' forum.

That said, there are at least two kinds of bottom bracket noises. One is from dry bearings and sounds (and feels) like unlubricated bearings rubbing on the spindle and cups. It will be present at all times, though maybe louder sometimes. Fix for this one is to rebuild the BB or replace the cartridge, depending on what you have.

The other kind is from a mis-seating of the retaining rings or cups, depending on whether you have a cartridge BB (most likely) or a loose bearing BB. This typically manifests itself as you hammer on the pedals and shows up at one or two points in the pedal stroke. This kind of creak can also be caused by a loose crankarm, so rule that out first. The fix here can be trickier, as the BB shell may not have been appropriately faced (openings machined so they're parallel) or the BB shell may be a little out of round for whatever reason. Facing/chasing the BB shell is usually a good start here, or have the shop use some non-permanent Loctite to install the rings or cups (I think that's the blue color Loctite but not sure).

Note that the above commentary is on internal BBs and may or may not have anything to do with external bearing BBs. I don't have any experience with those.

Hambone

Are you 100% sure the cranks are tight. Really tight?

Shemp

Intersting, my Cannondale touring bike (aluminum of course) does the same thing. Not sure if it's coming from the pedals, crank or bb. Not often noticable when pedaling leisurely, but under stress, it really creaks. Have had the bb out and regreased, but that didn't seem to do much.

Andrei

I had same problem with my new bike, but after getting BB re-greased and tightened it seemed to go away, but now my seat post and stem are creaking....

kubrickian

Had a creaking in my BB and the mechanic at the LBS not only re-greased the BB but used teflon tape on the threads as well. There's no more creak in my BB when I ride...