Bicycle Mechanics - creaking handlebars = chinese water torture

i need some help. i'm riding a trek hybrid here in slushy/salty nyc and my handlebars won't stop creaking when i ride it. when i alternate pressure from handle to handle like a see-saw it creaks so loudly it's almost a snap. i've tried tightening the clamp that holds the handlebar down, as well as adding those rubber/polymer strips used to secure bike lights/computers and such to the inside of the clamp around the handlebar on top and bottom. makes no difference at all.

it's getting to the point now where all i see/hear/feel when i ride is that AWFUL creaking. it's cask of amontillado bad. my rides are bumming me out big time now.

bike was bought in december, i've just gone over 500 miles so it's a relatively new bike. any thoughts?

i will send the solution provider any live show from my collection. my list is here

http://db.etree.org/young

get a new bike/wear earplugs = NOT solutions. i will entertain the thought of getting a new handlebar or clamp or other part if you can convince me that it's the only solution.

to the webmaster and everyone else on the forum, please don't hold my juvenile, crass bribe-grovel against me. i am bummin and don't mind sharing my music (the shows are artist approved circulation friendly)

as adding those rubber/polymer strips used to secure bike lights/computers and such to the inside of the clamp around the handlebar on top and bottom.

DO NOT DO THIS!!!!

If you need to shim a bar, there are metal shims made for just this job. You DO NOT want to use rubber as a bar shim!!!! It won't hold, and it's probably making the noise worse.

Might try a wee bit of PTFE tape, but not too much, just enough to take up any irregularities.

Oh no, not another creaking bike thread :D :beer:

Firstly, please follow D*Alex's advice and remove the rubber shims, they won't help.

Bike noises drive me loopy too. I've had a couple of instances with noise from handlebars - they flex a lot more than many folks realise. One occasion it was loose brake levers and two seperate instances both my bikes had noise generated at the bar-stem clamp.
So, here are a couple of suggestions. Try tightening the brake levers for a start. If the noise really is coming from the bar clamp, dismantle and add a little grease at this point. If the bars are properly tightened, there is no danger in this.

You don't say whether the bike has threadless or threaded headset, though you do say its a new bike, so it's most likely to be threadless. If it is, check the tightness of the stem clamp on the steerer tube. It won't hurt to remove the stem, smear a little grease on the top of the steerer tube and re fit it.

Just in case its threaded, on a threaded fork, there can also be a good amount of movement at the point where the quill stem enters the steerer tube - obviously this can lead to noise. It is always a good idea to ensure the stem assembly and inside of the fork steerer are well greased as it is common for these to seize together, especially if you have an alloy quill and steel fork and ride in wet, salty conditions.

I ride in all weathers and find that the best approach with bike maintainance is to grease any point where something attaches to something else - all things that are threaded, bolted, clamped etc. It saves a lot of trouble with noises and things seizing together through corrosion.

OK this post has got long enough!

Good luck with the problem,

Ed

Originally posted by kindbud
it's cask of amontillado bad.

I hate it when I don't understand a reference. This must be refering to some evil scene from an obscure greek play or something. Please educate me.

I'm assuming you have a quill type stem? Sometimes the model purchased with the bike on lower end bikes are a tad whimpy and not machined to closed tolerance allowing a bit of movement causing noise. Tightening does no good if you're used to really using your arms while mashing.

You may want to upgrade to a heavier duty stem or go with a threadless set up.

I'd hate to see you resort to road rage or drop the bike altogether:D

Good luck.

Since your bike is so new and has low mileage, you should still be able to go back to the bike shop and get them to check it out for you. Most shops want you to bring the bike back in around that time for adjustments such as cable tightening etc. anyway.

The advice to add a little grease is good, I solved my seatpost creaking that way.

it's cask of amontillado bad.

Amontillado is a fine Spanish sherry. He may also be making an allusion to the Edgar Allen Poe story The Cask of Amontillado, but I sure hope he isn't.....

what's more pathetic than a botched literary reference? i meant to say 'tell-tale heart' bad. . . as in all i can hear is my handlebar creaking/snapping/popping, growing louder, Louder, LOUDER. confused my e.a. poe short stories.

is getting all bent out of shape over this more pathetic? hmm.. .

well i'm off to the bike shop now. if the mechanic doesn't fix my problem i just might 'cask of amonitallado' his a$$.

ok. just got back from the bike shop. i started shaking my head silently, incredulously when he took out the filing rod, but a few strokes over the inside of the clamp and the problem is 95% solved. gotta really press to make it creak now. no charge for labor either. nobody came up with the filing solution, so no winner for my little offer, but i'm so overjoyed that i'll give away free cds anyway.

here is my live show list.
http://db.etree.org/young

to all the people who responded, if you'd like a show, email me at ylee55@aol.com and i'll mail it out to you. you'd have to provide a mailing address.
to all others who didn't respond. . . won't leave you out. first 3 others to email me at same address will get a pick of show also.

thanks to all.

Glad to hear it's fixed, free even!:beer:

The music offer is tempting...........What's the best dead show you got?

I'm off to find a copy of Cask of Montadildo.....

greg- if you have no other live grateful dead i would suggest the cornell '77 show. contact through email. i can either FTP upload it to your server or send you discs in the mail. i don't have my server set up right now.

i love the kind!!!

i still remember the driving rain at sam boyd....i was drenched. saw the entire east coast '91. i'd love those msg shows. and that deer creek showwas great. there is nothing better than getting filled up on alpine then driving to deer creek for a couple then columbus...

that jack straw -->they love each other from deer creek is special to me....

i agree that cornell '77 is great... as is the greek 82.
i've never seen a complete 1st and 2nd to legion of mary.

i've got good dick's picks and alpine valley/other ones from last summer.
other 500 are cassettes i haven't transferred yet.

BTW: i thought the creaking was due to overtightening...

Originally posted by Greg
I hate it when I don't understand a reference. This must be refering to some evil scene from an obscure greek play or something. Please educate me.
Racking my remaining brain cells, it's an Edgar Allen Poe story. A guy wanting to get revenge on a man who has wronged him countless times lures him down to his wine cellar (actually large and rambling catacombs) by offering him some of his exquisite amontillado. Once there, he ties his victim up in a small room and builds a brick wall, leaving him there to die.

The story is in the slow, detailed relish that the, apparently mad, perpetrator takes in reeking his revenge and subsequently relating the story.

Kindbud, I wouldn't consider it a botched reference. But rather than bricks and mortar, I'd just e-bay the h-bars. ;)