Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Creaking is making me crazy!

I am riding fixed on a surly steamroller, when I change direction of force which i am pedaling (as in slowing down, then speeding up), i get a annoying creaking, seemingly from my left side crank. I took everything apart tonight and re greased and tightened my bb cups ( i have an octalink 6600 (ultegra) bb and a dura ace crank), and re-torqued my crank bolts, and the creaking cointinues!

I dont want to buy another BB as this one probably has only several hundred miles on it (maybe 2 years old). I cant think of anything else though, I tightened down my chainring bolts too!

maybe a worn chain? I have a sram superlight something (kinda fancy and about 1 year old).

any other ideas?

My bike was creaking once, so I lowered the chain tension and lubed the chain up a lot. Then there was no more creaking.

check your seat

Check your left side pedal as well.

check your seat


Yup. I agree here. Had the same issue with my Steamroller. I kept thinking it was the pedals or BB because the sounds was coming from directly beneath me. I'd removed and greased the pedals. No dice. Lubed the post put it back and it the noise was gone!

check your ears too. That is most often the place where you hear creaking.

Assuming you made sure to grease the interface between the bottom bracket and the crank arm as well as the pedal threads, check the rear hubs for anything that may be loose/dry.

seatpost?ok, I will try that, i will grease the hell out of everything before my commute this morning, ill let you guys know what happens. Thanks for the advise!

"this one probably has only several hundred miles on it (maybe 2 years old)."

Only rode several hundred miles in 2 years? Ride more, worry less!

kubrick has a point for once...

several hundred miles should be your monthly mileage, not bi-annualar!

Assuming you made sure to grease the interface between the bottom bracket and the crank arm.

Only do this if the manufacture recommends it.

Creaks can be deceiving. Check saddle, seatpost, stem-handlebar interface, pedal and any other area where two or more parts connect. You can eliminate some of these possibilities while riding. For example, does the creak continue when pedaling off the saddle because that would eliminate your saddle and post from being the problem.

Try swapping-out your rear wheel, if possible. After tightening the cranks, seat and seat post, and swapping out the chain, cog and chainring on my bike, I eventually traced the source of a persistent creaking to worn-out cartridge bearings on my rear hub.

Muscle, I see you went with the steamroller after your Pista cracked. How is it in comparison? aside from the creaking of course.

i dont think anyone else mentioned yet to check your chain ring bolts. I just solved my creaks there. I went all the way down to my BB looking for it.