GreekBikeGeek

I commute to work on my bike about 21 miles round trip every day. My commuter's a brand new 2006 Gary Fisher Tass I purchased the start of April to replace my aging Diamondback. Other than the junk front shock it's been a great ride.

I've put on about 1500 miles on it and about a week ago I started to get this annoying clicking noise when I pedaled. Before I get any further I'll mention that if I haven't ridden the bike in a few hours (overnight is best) it usually takes the clicking a few min to start up though this is not always the case).

The seatpost was making some noises when I tried to move it around so I lubed it and the stem handlebars (used teflon lube). No go, so I take the BB out and to my surprise I've got a good deal of moisture (at least an ounce of water) in the shell. I've never ridden in the rain (until recently we had a 2 month drought here). The only thing I can think of is condensation from the humidity and or sweat getting in between the bracket and the shell when it drips down...

Regardless that much fluid seemed like allot considering. I cleaned everything up and taped the threads (they were not taped up from the factory) and used some teflon based grease on the threads. The clicking won't stop! It was nice and quiet for about a mile (longer than usual) but then started up again.

A few notes, the grease in the shell was a bit orange, but so was the grease on the BB splines. Could the bearings have rusted or been damaged?

I upgraded my Shimano 505 pedals to 540's about 2 months ago and I may try to swap those out next to see if it's the pedals, but I doubht it.

Could it be the freewheel (stock Deore). Any ideas?

turtle77

Check your chainring bolts to see if they're tight.

MudPie

Those creaking gremlins are often hard to pinpoint. Sometimes I'd swear it's the bottom bracket but it turns out to be the seatpost. When I'm chasing down a creak, I usually disassemble the joint, clean it, lubricate it (grease on threads), then reassemble.

Basically, check as many of the joints you can:

bar to stem
stem to frame
pedals to crank
crank to bottom bracket
seat to rails
cleats to shoe
seat post to tube
dropout to frame
chainring bolts
bottom bracket cups


If you have the time/patience, do one at a time, so you can isolate the creak.

cny-bikeman

I know you are probably past the free tune-up period, but if you purchased from an LBS take it in and ask if they can help. I know when I worked in a shop we were very willing to help a customer with a problem they were having with a recently purchased bike, almost always at no charge unless customer abuse was involved. It can't hurt to ask.

cascade168

A good thought. I go one step - a big one - further and disassemble the whole crankset and grease every nut, bolt, and any flat surfaces that can rub against each other. It takes 30 minutes to an hour for a triple, but I've fixed several mystery creaks this way.

MikeR

Check your knees - worked for me!

subsistbmx@hotm

I had the same problem - It was quite annoying..After some careful listening I figured it was my seatpost or the seat..I took out the seat post and found some dirt inside..after cleaning the seat-tube and post the problem was fixed.