Bicycle Mechanics - Creaking Noise During Climbs

I went on a 30 mile ride today. About halfway through I started getting a creaking noise from the crank or front derailuer when climbing. It occurs in pretty much every gear combination I tried (during the climbs I was using largest and medium up front). This is on a Specialzed Sequoia Elite with 105 components. Its only making the sound when under stress so I couldn't duplicate it back in the garage to try and better locate the source. I've had this bike about six weeks and had it in to the LBS for its 30 day go over a week ago. I've got about 250 miles on it and this is the first I've heard this noise from the bike. Any advice on what to try?

My son's Specialized started squeaking and the LBS discovered a crack in the frame. It's being replaced by Specialized.

Jim

It can be many things (saddle mount, seat post, seatpost shim, stem, bar mount, loose crank, dry BB) Take it to your shop and have them look at it. I have had a few new bikes in, with alluminum frames, that needed to have the BB tefloned taped to quiet it down, and I think this is the most likely culprit, altho the other things are easier to check first.

When it started my first thought was the seat post. I'll try to listen a little better tomorrow and see if I can find the source. I have a feeling its headed back to the LBS though. Thanks for the tips.

If you think it is the seat post, just move it up and down a little and see if it quits. If it does grease it up and go. :)

I went on a 30 mile ride today. About halfway through I started getting a creaking noise from the crank or front derailuer when climbing. It occurs in pretty much every gear combination I tried (during the climbs I was using largest and medium up front). This is on a Specialzed Sequoia Elite with 105 components. Its only making the sound when under stress so I couldn't duplicate it back in the garage to try and better locate the source. I've had this bike about six weeks and had it in to the LBS for its 30 day go over a week ago. I've got about 250 miles on it and this is the first I've heard this noise from the bike. Any advice on what to try?

Based on the many creaks I've worked on when I owned my own shop, from your description, if you don't have the tools to tighten sealed bottom bracket cups, I'd take it to the shop where you bought it and ask them to pull the crank arms and tighten the cups. The creak results from a very slightly loose cup making metal to metal contact with the sealed axle/bearing piece of the bottom bracket. I am very sure there is a very high probability this is your problem. They should not charge you since the bike has few miles. There will be no damage caused by this creak.

Thanks Tom. I'm just going to take it back in to the LBS and let them handle it.

One quick, obvious test to include/exclude the seat/post: pedal hard while standing.

It might also be the wheels. If you've got a spare set of wheels, you could try swapping them out, one at a time, to see if the creaking noise goes way. This just happened to a friend of mine.

One quick, obvious test to include/exclude the seat/post: pedal hard while standing.

This was what I was gonna ask.... check this first. If it quits squeaking while standing it's probably the seat clamps.

I didn't get it to the LBS yet and rode it again today. The noise is definitely from the BB or cranks. Its happening whenever I pedal hard now, not just during climbs but pretty much anytime I'm accelerating. Once I get to speed and am just pedaling to maintain it, the noise goes away. I'm going to take it in to them tomorrow morning. Thanks for all the suggestions.

I didn't get it to the LBS yet and rode it again today. The noise is definitely from the BB or cranks. Its happening whenever I pedal hard now, not just during climbs but pretty much anytime I'm accelerating. Once I get to speed and am just pedaling to maintain it, the noise goes away. I'm going to take it in to them tomorrow morning. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Let me know things turn out!

I just resolved a similar noise problem (standing or sitting) by tightening the chainring bolts. Each bolt turned about 20 degrees clockwise, making a "ting" sound, when I leaned on them (unknown torque).

I didn't get it to the LBS yet and rode it again today. The noise is definitely from the BB or cranks. Its happening whenever I pedal hard now, not just during climbs but pretty much anytime I'm accelerating. Once I get to speed and am just pedaling to maintain it, the noise goes away. I'm going to take it in to them tomorrow morning. Thanks for all the suggestions.


I had the same problem, only it was more of a 'pinging' noise. I loosened my headset just a smidge, and the noise went away (or at least got better). (I could hear the noise by just putting the brakes on, and then pushing hard on the pedals, as well as climing / starting / sprinting). Perhaps I had overtightened my headset earlier? (it was loose before, so I had recently tightened it up).

Well I went over it this morning before taking it for a ride. Couldn't find anything loose. Road a brisk 15 miles with sounds coming from the BB. About a mile from home a new noise developed, this time it was from the rear. Got off and found the plastic spoke protector had broken off and was just sitting in between the spokes and cassette. Got it home cleaned it up and took it to the LBS. The guy dropped what he was doing to take it for a ride. He tried tightenening the cranks and chainring bolts and road it again. Noise is still there. I left it so he can remove the bottom bracket and make sure everythings OK and reinstall/grease it. On the new problem, the broken spoke protector he told me they normally just cut them off and don't replace them. How critical is this thing? I'm guessing it was put there for a reason, to keep my chain from damaging my spokes. What would you guys do, go without or replace it?

Disregard the question about the spoke protector - I just did a search and learned all I need to about the "dork disc".

I swear all noises no matter where they come from, seem to come from the bottom bracket, I once even removed and replaced the bottom bracket 3 times, I jiged up a bearing puller to hold the BB tool so I could use a torque wrench... It's not like I really had other things to do, I just am happy I had that quality time with my bike... oh and it seems that the rear quick release was a little loose.. heh heh

My friends Specialized started that. Then got to be all the time. It was the BB.

I was going nuts with the creaking during climbs that last two weeks. After tightening the pedals, cranks and chainring bolts (hearing a "ping" sound when tightened properly, and I did find a couple of semi-loose ones) the sound has gone away, and I climb like a silent assassin. Just kidding, I got dropped like I was standing still.

Picked it up this morning. They repacked the BB and the sound is gone. The guy that did the work wasn't there, but another guy I've dealt with before told me its fairly common on the new bikes to have to repack the BB after a month or two. I don't care as long as I don't have to listen to it anymore. It's going to rain today, but as soon as the skies clear I'm going to take it out and do some climbs to be sure it's fixed.

Picked it up this morning. They repacked the BB and the sound is gone. The guy that did the work wasn't there, but another guy I've dealt with before told me its fairly common on the new bikes to have to repack the BB after a month or two. I don't care as long as I don't have to listen to it anymore. It's going to rain today, but as soon as the skies clear I'm going to take it out and do some climbs to be sure it's fixed.

Glad to hear you got it fixed!

First mile went great. After that, back came the noise. I think it's starting to make me crazy. I took it back to the LBS and they are dismantling and re-doing the BB rebuild. They're ordering a new BB and replacing it under warranty.

Have heard , and seen , this coming from the pedals - are the cleats old or new ?

First mile went great. After that, back came the noise. I think it's starting to make me crazy. I took it back to the LBS and they are dismantling and re-doing the BB rebuild. They're ordering a new BB and replacing it under warranty.

Sorry to hear you're having such a time. In my earlier post, I mentioned that the creak was due to a loose bottom bracket with the sound resulting from the metal to metal contact between the spindle and the bottom bracket cups.

In your post you said the local bike shop tightened things up and for a short while, things were O.K. Now it looks like they're going to replace the whole bottom bracket. That's good...but when you get your bike back, if the creak starts again, we should look at the possibility that the threads in your bottom bracket shell have been cut a tad oversize (circumference of the threads in the bottom bracket shell) which means that regardless of what bottom bracket they install, eventually the cups will work loose. If this happens, then it becomes a warranty situation involving the frame.

Let me know how your bike performs once it has the new bottom bracket in it...

Thanks for the tip Tom. I picked it up again today. They have ordered a myriad of things on warranty to replace next week for me including the BB and entire rear wheel. In the meantime they redid the BB again. I just rode it in the lot and could hear the creak. I'm going to go over it closely tomorrow and may dye penetrant the lower part of the frame to see if its cracked somewhere that we're not seeing.

El Ingles - definitely not cleats or pedals. It does it when I wear sneakers and early on I took off the pedals and lubed them just to be sure.

I recently had a similar problem on my KHS. Does the sound happen at the same point in your pedal stroke on each revolution? Always on the same side or both? Turns out on mine after BB inspection, removal and replacement, that the culprit was insuficient greasing of the pedal threads into the crank.
Certainly made me feel silly since I installed them.

Gee, I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who has strange noise coming from the bike. I have a Sun EZ3 trike, it makes a clack, clack, clack noise when I putting the power to the pedals up a hill. It gets really loud the more that I shift up. But then after awhile it goes away and some time stays away for a day or two, sometimes comes back in just a few more shifts. It's driving me nutz. The bike shop mechanics have been all through the bike, replacing bottom bracket, rear hub, bearings in the axle and wheels, and still it is making that noise......I guess I'll just have to live with it.

Hi,

I don't know anything about the shop you're dealing with..but are they putting grease or anti-seize compound (latter is preferable) on the cup threads and the inside of the cups where it contacts the BB spindle before installing the cups?

Also, does the sound occur just when you're standing up? If so, check a couple other places where creaks occur. This would mean putting a thin film of grease between the handlebar and stem and making sure that the stem is greased where it goes into the headset. As another post mentioned, make sure pedal threads are greased and finally the seatpost as well. All of this lube not only stops noises, but it makes maintenance down the road a whole lot easier. I've seen cases where for lack of grease on a H/B stem or seatpost, the part had to be drilled and hacksawed out due to the electrolytic fusion of dissimilar metals (i.e. steel and aluminum).

As for the dye, I have no experience in this area. If a frame is cracked, generally the giveaway is that the paint will be cracked in the area where the frame failed.

Lastly, in my last post, I mentioned the possibility that the threads in the BB have been cut oversize. A way to check this would be to thread in the BB cups. If you can thread them in easily by hand, this might be the problem. Also, with respect to the threads, if they were not cut deep enough (length-wise into the shell) then the cups would "bottom out" before they snugged up against the BB spindle. Something else to check out...

As you can see, from the length of this post, finding these annoying noises and fixing them can time-consuming. But you will prevail!

Double layer of teflon plumbers tape on the BB cups, grease the BB shell and grease the inside of the non drive side cup. Sold a dozen Sequoias this year, had two creakers, this works very well. Ask your shop to do it.

When I take the bike back this week, I'll print this thread down and make sure everything is addressed. We've got grease on pretty much every thread on the bike at this point. I know they haven't tried the teflon tape trick yet so I'll be sure to point it out. I think I may just go ahead and order tools so I can work on this thing myself. I'm to the point I just want the sound to stopand don't really care if I have to take it to another shop to make it happen. I've got the MS150 in about five weeks and there is no way I'm riding for two days listenening to this sound.

Tom - Sound is evident when seated or standing. Most pronounced during climbs and heavy acceleratation, but can be detected almost constantly when pedaling.

JCD - Its occurring on both sides mostly in the bottom quarter of the pedal strokes, where I'm applying the most force on them.

I'm planning on riding the MS150 myself here in seattle. Have a great time and thanks for your support.

Suggestion - pull the rear cassette and lube the spindle. Worked for me.