I'm 51 and have Arthritis in my knees and Anklosing Spondylitis. The whole boring story is
here.
My knees make noise, especially the right one which was immobilized for several months due to a cycling accident in my youth and was never the same afterwords.
My spine is being treated with Enbrel and Methotrexate and for now is mostly under control.
I find that if I don't ride every day, I can expect knee pain. It's not bad otherwise but I'll have problems if I take more than a day off.
It's important to have low enough gearing for your road conditions. You don't want to be stressing your knee joints.
My primary bike is an old
Trek Antelope which is nicely geared for the hills where I live and work. It also has biopace chainrings which I am a true believer in. Others are not but I know the comfort level of my knees and this is both the heaviest and easiest, most comfortable bike to ride, I have.