Hi There,

Creaking bikes can drive one mad. Your problem may be similar to the one I just experienced Since you describe a looseness in the rear wheel, it would be worth checking the hub bearings, if only to eliminate this from the investigation. Check the cones for pitting - these bearings work very hard - nearly as hard as the bottom bracket.
- I thought it was the bottom bracket, so had the LBS replace the sealed unit, but the problem was still there. I'd only just serviced the rear hub bearings, but they were so poorly sealed that water had got in and turned the grease into a rusty, watery mess and the left side cone was damaged. A replacement cone, and careful reassembly of the hub fixed the problem (much to my relief. I have tried to improve the hub sealing since, see my "Shimano Sora Hub Seal Experiment" elsewhere, and was recommended some teflon loaded grease by the bike shop - this should help repel water. Luckily, having had the bottom bracket replaced was not such a waste, the original was so badly seized in the frame that it took the LBS guys 3 days to tease it carefully from the frame (bike is 18 months old!). That was worth sorting out before it got worse...

Good luck,

Ed