Bicycle Mechanics - FSA Energy Crank Creaking/Clicking Sound?

I have a 34/50T FSA Energy crankset. It has about 1800 miles on it. It makes a creaking/clicking noise, especially when I am using the 34T chainwheel.

When it first developed this problem, a mechanic friend of mine removed the left-side crank and greased the splines on the spindle. The crank was re-installed and torqued to specs. The clicking noise disappeared for a time, but has now re-appeared.

I checked the chainwheel bolts-- they are Torx T-30s-- and they seem to be perfectly tight, but I do not have a torque wrench.

I'm now hearing the noise when using the 50T chainwheel as well.

I'd appreciate any advice any of you care to offer. Thanks in advance.

Was the BB cups tightened when the fresh grease was applied to the axle? Was the BB cups removed and BB threads lubed? Was the pedal axle lubed? How do the BB bearings feel -- butter smooth or not? Was FSA blue or wavy washer installed on the non-drive side when the left arm was re-installed?

Was the BB cups tightened when the fresh grease was applied to the axle?

No.


Was the BB cups removed and BB threads lubed?

No. We didn't have any Ti-Prep at the time.


Was the pedal axle lubed?

The pedals are Speedplay Zeros, freshly greased.


How do the BB bearings feel -- butter smooth or not?

Smooth, as far as I can tell.


Was FSA blue or wavy washer installed on the non-drive side when the left arm was re-installed?

I don't recall seeing any such washer; are they universally required by all FSA cranksets? It may have been there, and I forgot/never noticed it. I wasn't doing the work.

It's probably bad form to reply to my own thread, but for anyone searching for this, here's an update:

Bike is a Motobecane Le Champion with a titanium frame from BD (http://www.bikesdirect.com/).

I took it to my mechanic's place and we removed the BB. The threads look to have been greased with a miniscule amount of Mao-era surplus army grease when the bike was assembled, so we greased them with a generous amount of Ti-Prep and reassembled everything. It was not easy to remove the aluminum bearing cups after only 1800 miles; after another year or so, they may well have been stuck or cold-welded. Let other owners of titanium Motobecanes beware: I like the bike very much, and I'm not bashing BD in any respect, but this part of the assembly could have been better on my bike. Too, there was no wavy spring washer installed on either side of the spindle; if the assemblers had the washers, they did not install one on this bike.

The drive-train now operates as it should, more or less quietly.

Does this crankset come with a Mexa Exo bottom bracket? I had a Mega Exo BB with gossamer crankset and it developed a clicking creaking sound and a few mm of side play after about 3000miles. I replaced it with an Ultegra BB and have not had any trouble since. I am not sure if the Energy Crankset will work with the Ultegra BB. Someone else on here might know the answer to that.

Yes, that is the BB that I have installed: Mega Exo.

By "side play," do you mean that the cranks and the spindle could be pushed a few mm to the left or the right when everything was properly installed?

We did notice that on the LHS crank arm there was uneven wear, which looked to have come from the crank arm rubbing on the bearing cover. The paint or anodizing or whatever it is had worn off of the inside of the crank arm around where it joins to the spindle, where the wavy washer would go if it was installed.

Yeah that's right. By pushing and pulling from the left crank arm the bearing seal and bearing would move back and forward. There was also movement when pushing and pulling from either pedal. Everything was torqued to spec. My wavy washer had small parts of rubber missing from it.

I can tell you that GXP BB setups with self extracting left side splined crank arms need to be fully seated against the BB seals to prevent end play. The torque specs are too low to accomplish this. Most bike torqued to spec will develop noise problems. I have FOUR GXP BB equipped bikes and 22 yrs of wrenching. Trust me on this one. lol