MrBear

Hello everyone, first post for me here, glad to see that this forum is available.

I have a Trek Madone 5.1 and have started hearing creaking noises at the seat post to frame connection. Does anyone have any experience with curing that problem? The creaking goes away when standing, and occurs when sitting in the saddle.

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers.

Myfirsttrek

get it looked at from the lbs you bought it at. I would assume its the frame.

Gest24

Is your seat post clamp tight? Start there.

fosmith

check the tightness of the seat rails on the seat post first. then torque the seat cap to the spec that is listed on the clamp. 5-7 n*m. no more. no less. make sure the clamp is evenly tightened too. this is very important.

MrBear

Thanks for the responses. I just bought the bike a week ago, and witnessed the guy checking the seat post clamp bolts with a torque wrench. I checked the clamp bolts again yesterday, and they were tight. I did not check the seat clamp bolts, though.

I will be taking it to the bike shop, where it was purchased. I wanted to find out if other folks have had issues with the noise, so maybe I may be able to make suggestions to them.

Cheers.

trek1

I have creeking with the stock Bontrager seat on my mountain bike but not on my road bike and haven't figured out why yet. I was riding trail this year and a guy had a brand new Trek Fuel 9.5 and was complaining about the same thing, so I think it is common. I think it is the way the seat is made and meets the rails underneath but please post it if you find out why.

Pookie4G

Funny that you should ask - I had my LBS swap out the stock seatpost on my Madone 4.5 last weekend with the XXX Lite Bontrager one and it makes a creaking sound somewhere near the point where the post connects to the saddle. Everything is fine according to my LBS.

MrBear

Fosmith had it correct. I took it to the Bike shop, they pulled the saddle off lubed the rails, reinstalled it, checked all the bolts and sent me on my way. Got it home and the creaking continued. . . unfortunately, at the bike shop it was very noisy outside, so they could not hear the creaking. Anyway, I ended up pulling off the seat post, greased the bracket and very carefully tightened the bolts . . . problem solved.

The seat post clamp is not the greatest design, IMO, but I am back and running.

Thanks again for the input, as it turned out, the answer to my problem was the most obvious

Cheers.

BikeWise1

Although the 4.5 has a different interface, this may be the same problem, since the saddle rail clamp is the same. My 6.9 creaks, but only when coasting over slightly rough pavement with a pedal at the bottom. I believe the issue is between the rubber part of the saddle rail clamp and the surrounding aluminum. I am going to disassemble it and use a little silicon lube to see if it stops. Of course, the seat needs to not slip, so we'll see what happens....

jgt_madone_newb

My 5.1 developed a creak last Saturday, coincidentally right after I installed a new Terry Fly Ti saddle. After troubleshooting the seat mast cap, and the seat clamp, it turns out it is definitely the titanium rails on the new saddle causing the problem. Terry recommends dripping silicone lube down the rails into the connection to the saddle. If that doesn't work, the saddle is going back. Too bad, its been the most comfortable of the four I've tried so far.

Pookie4G

If the seatpost and the saddle are secure does it matter if it creaks? I am about to swap out my saddle this weekend so I'll have another chance at this but as long as I don't fall off anything, the sound doesn't bother me.