Creaking from front wheel, help
 

Okay this is kind of strange. I have a creak from the front wheel area that goes away if I take the wheel out and reseat it in the fork...then about 30-45 miles later...the creak starts up again.

Is it possible that I should actually grease the drop out area? Tell me no before I do something really stupid.

Also, any idea why I'd have a creak from down there?

Thanks,

Z

Some thoughts: Quick release not tight. Wheel out of true and/or loose spoke(s). Headset in need of maintenance. Front cables rubbing. Anyone else?

The front dropouts can creak as you describe. If it goes away everytime you reseat the front wheel (ie: loosen the QR and re-tighten it) that's probably what it is. I have the same deal with my bike, ever since I put new wheels on. I just put a little grease on the front dropouts (inside, outside, and some in the groove) and it keeps the creaking away for a couple of weeks at a time. I've been meaning to try a different brand of QR lever but I haven't gotten around to it and it's a minor annoyance at worst.

It is minor...and thanks...QR is tight enough...so I'll try that...lol, how come it makes climbing seem more difficult when your wheel creaks?

Hi
Had a few of these in the workshop over the past few years, mainly roadbikes. The creak happens mainly when climbing out of the saddle. In all cases the wheel axles were of the Hope or Dura-Ace type where there are no threads on the end of the axle. This smooth area rubbed slightly against the inside of the alloy dropouts, causing the creak. Smearing a tiny amount of grease on the inner 'U' of the dropout where the axle touches invariable cures the noise. People have changed headsets, bars and even bottom brackets as a result of not identifying the cause of the creak. Hope this helps.

Well, I never new it was because of a lack of threads - but it sounds like a good explanation! Perhaps my old wheels had an older style axle and the new wheels have a newer style - makes sense. This is probably why I discovered that I had to the grease everywhere on the dropouts, including inside the groove where the axle sits...

I hope this works...these are FSA wheels and I haven't looked at the hubs...but if this works, my friend, you are a small god!

Hi
You only need to grease the groove where the wheel sits, not the rest of the dropout. The smooth axle end can move slightly even when the skewer is tight when out of the saddle, a threaded one bites into the top of the groove- hence no creak.

Hi
Had this problem on LeMond, Trek and Scott bikes in the past. The creak can be very loud and cause the customer grief. One triathalon bloke repaced his tri-bars, headset, pedals, cranks and bottom bracket before he came to us. He was well shocked when a bit of grease on the end of a screwdriver solved the problem!! The creak can transmit through the frame and appear to come from another component.
Alloy seatposts in carbon frames do the same thing until you rub a bit of candle on the seatpost.The creak shuts up as if by magic!!!

To everybody who helped on this one, a big thanks! The grease in the dropouts did the trick...I bet there are a lot of LBS guys out there who have rebuilt hubs, BBs and replaced bars for no reason...this is one of those fixes that should be a sticky to save some serious $$$$$