akeelor

Only happens when I am out of the saddle and pedaling vigorously and the bike is moving slightly laterally back and forth? At first it seems like it might be coming from the BB but then my ears think maybe from the stem/handlebar junction.

Gracias in advance

Mr. Beanz

I had a creak that was driving me crazy. Thought it was from the BB, only happened on 7% climbs. Not a peep on the flat terrain. Readjusted the crank connections, removed lubed pedals, all CR bolts, chain and still.

Turns out it was the rear cassette not cranked downtight enough. Took me while to find that one!:mad.....Didn't make noise till I repaird a rear flat tire. Now I check it whenever I take the rear off for any reason.

It really threw me off because it only creaked when my left pedal was just over the top ready to travel down, about 11 o'clock position. Even my ride partner pointed out it was only in that position.

I once had a creak from Gatorade getting into the cable guide. After a long climb, I didn't clean my bike after the ride knowing g-ade had dripped from my bottles. Next ride, BB area was ticking. Turns the cables were making noise on the sticky stuff. Cleaned it off, noise went away.

BarryJo

Can you hammer on the pedals without a lot of pressure on the handlebars? If so and it's making the creaking noise it could be the BB.
If you're putting a lot of pressure on the bars when it's making the noise then it might be coming from the headtube.

I'm not committing either way, because I thought I had it figured out before only to be proven wrong by the LBS.

Wanderer

Are you sure it's not your shoes???

akeelor

I can hammer hard with no creaking only if I don't move left/right, as soon as I do that, which is almost always, creaking commences. Can't stand it.

akeelor

Positive its not the shoes. Only happens on this bike. Thanks.

akeelor

LBS locally is at a week for "repairs". Oh how I would love to have an LBS that would take a look at my ride right then and there.

rob!

Do you have carbon headset spacers? Those are sometimes prone to creak. After numerous adjustments and regreasing, I replaced mine with aluminum ones and the creaking went away.

mercator

The only thing you can confidently eliminate is the saddle/seatpost, and even then .... I once rode with a guy who had a similar complaint - turned out his seatbag was flopping back and forth when he hammered.

recon455

The specific cleat/pedal combination can cause creaking. Only rule out this option if you got the same pair of pedals for both bikes at the same time, and they both have similar wear.

Try to find out the pattern/frequency of the creaking. Is it once every pedal revolution, etc.

foresthill

+1 on this. I had a creak that I just could not find. LBS found it right away. just needed to tighten down the cassette lockring.

akeelor

No, but thanks for the input.

akeelor

This may be the culprit as this was my first cassette installation. Thanks, I will let you know if resolved.

akeelor

Re-greased due to creaking?

akeelor

This bike has a Ritchey 4-axis stem which I also had previously and was noisy. Anyone else experience the same?

longbeachgary

my mind numbing creak was from the left crank arm. Took it off, slapped on some grease and creak was gone.

ultraman6970

Front Quick Release. That's from where the noise is coming from. I assume your bike is carbon or at least the fork is carbon. Put some oil on every space and joint and both quick releases aka skewers, now a days are made of plastic and they go bad pretty easily.

ccrrar

+1 on the cassette or free hub...mine took a full summer and many "experts" providing advice before I found that the pauls in the freehub had actually started to deform the freehub body.

Rob

SebastionMerckx

It actually sounds like to me that it's your wheels. See if they're have been properly stress relieved and have equal tension.

Mr. Beanz

Riders don't pay attention to this thinking that it's handlebars. I thougth so too, seemed to do it when I applied pressure to the hb's. The sound transmits through the frame.

x136 

I've had noise from the bottom clasp of a Brooks Swallow coming into contact with the top of the clamp on a Thomson seatpost. Every pedal rotation. Click... click... click... That one was annoying.

...For that reason. Bikes are freaking echo chambers.

Cat4Lifer

Same thing happened to me a few months ago...
I just readjusted the rear wheel--loosened retightened the skewer.

akeelor

Thanks for all the input. I tightened the cassette, while how much I can't tell as it seemed very snug already.

I took off the back wheel, cleaned up around skewer hole and re-mounted tire.

D@#$ thing creaked like crazy today. Now I am thinking it must be in the headtube/headset area.

Headwind was killer today. Doesn't help carrying my winter dead weight.

akeelor

Yep I think I can handle this one

sschilli

+1 Front or Rear wheel. Also make certain that the QR is getting enough bite. Could be any number of other things too. Best of luck finding it before the next one starts!