Unexplained Creaking Bicycle
 

My LBS and I have been trying for months to figure out the source of the creaking noise from my bike. The mechanic is known as the best around and is well experienced with my particual brand of bike so I trust his word. He's tried a lot of different things (tightening, oiling, cleaning, spraying, adjusting this and that) but cannot make it go away. It seems to be getting worse. It comes when mashing hard on an uphill and when pulling the rear (disc) brake. He figures its not serious and says that aluminum frames tend to amplify really small noises.

The frame is a 2005 Rocky Mountain Vertex Tsc frame with XT disc brakes, XTR crank and Crossmax SL wheels. I ride it quite a lot on offroad, techincal trails as well as in XC races. Could anybody offer any suggestions as to what might be the cause. I've been worried about frame failure. Thanks so much for any help.

Cheers

Does sitting on the saddle or standing on the paddles make any difference???
Are you a heavy and/or aggressive rider?

Sitting does make somewhat of a difference. Also I weigh about 172 pounds, not too big, and I am a somewhat aggressive rider but I use caution to avoid breaking things. (ie body parts, bike parts)

Sounds like the handlebars to me. Possibly the stem but most likely the bars.

Crack open the stem, remove the handlebars and bind the part that will be held by the stem in electrical tape. Heat the stem head until it's quite warm but not hot. Replace the handlebars and tighten well. Leave to cool and try to tighten further.

Test the bike and if the creaking is still there then it's the stem. Probably one of the ballraces.

Or, instead of the electrical tape he could just smear a little grease onto the bars where they are clamped by the stem. This is fine as long as the components are not carbon fibre composite. The bars will not slip, I have done this on several bikes to fix creaking sounds from the bars/stem. No need for electrical tape or heating.

Cheers,

Ed

I had exactly the same symptoms when my last mountain bike's frame cracked. The reason why it was only when I honked on the pedals or when I braked (it was a rear disc too) is because the effort was asymmetrical on the stays in these cases, i.e. pedalling hard would ram the chainstay against the bottom bracket shell, and braking tended to ram the left stay against the BB shell.

My frame failure was, as might have guessed, about the BB/chainstay weld. The noise came slowly and developped over time, as the crack was progressing along the weld. My advice is, turn the bike upside down and check around the BB. If your bike has an alu frame and something bad is happening to the frame, you should see it immediately, as alu tends to crack rather than stretch. But you might want to look with a magnifier, as it might be early in the failure and the crack could be still just a hairline.

Hopefully it won't be bad. But really, don't let your LBS tell you the noise is harmless. No noise is harmless until it's identified, it's the metal's way to tell you something's not happy somewhere.

Absolutely!

The BB itself might have to be tightened. I had a similar experience a year ago.

I had the same problem, after practically rebuilding the whole bike it turned out the 2 piece XT crank(1997 ish W/ separate arm/ spider set-up) was the culprit, after some grease and a tightening not a sound was heard again. I'm not sure if your XT cranks are 2 piece or not.

'Rasher

The sound is definitely coming from the rear triangle.

Brand new XTR crank

Tightened it, taken it apart, cleaned and greased numerous times.

aluminum is definitly a noisey metal. and if it's creaking and the components have been tightened/greased properly (all threads, even small bolts) i wouldn't doubt it's the frame it's self. as PPC said, check the welds, or any stress point near or around the bottom bracket/rear stays area. if that isn't the culprit though, i'd say give the components a one or even two over to make sure they are structurally sound. alu. cranks ,pedals ,disc calipers could cause these things too. good luck

if it happens when u sit, could be ur saddle rails. easy way to test this: remove the seatpost and ride a bit and see if u get noises...

sd

OK, sorry to lead things off track.

In this case, it could be a number of things. It would be wise to check over the frame for cracks etc. You mention that the noise appears when pedaling hard and during application of the rear brakes. If it occurs during braking without pedaling, this should rule out cranks, pedals, bottom bracket. However, it could be a mal-adjusted or worn rear wheel bearing. Is there any play in the rear wheel, and has it been overhauled by the bike shop?
Also, it is possible to provoke noise from the spokes in the wheel, sometimes where they cross, sometimes from the nipple shifting in the rim. On a disc brake there is also torque applied through the spokes (from rim to hub) when the brake is applied. One can apply a drop of oil at the spoke crossings and, with care, at the nipples. Not too much though, you don't want it everywhere :).

Cheers,

Ed

It's obviously possessed. You should give up on the bike-shop, take it to an exorcist instead...

sez it all........

Spent some time inspecting the frame. Three of us. No dice. However...

3 cheers for "Ed Holland" Good call. Adjusted the rear wheel and Presto!!! no creaking. cheers :) :) :)

Excellent! Glad I could help. :beer:

This happened to me, I was totally, utterly convinced that the bottom bracket was faulty. I had the shop replace it, which took 3 days because they had awful trouble removing the original cartridge which had been fitted "dry" and corroded in. Then I discovered that the rear wheel bearing was in bad condition. At least the BB was removed before it became a permanant fixture...

99% of BB problems are somewhere else ;)


Cheers,

Ed

"My LBS and I have been trying for months to figure out the source of the creaking noise from my bike. The mechanic is known as the best around"

Bikeforums rules!!!

one more place to look where creaking noise is a problem might be a broken axle in the wheel.

Make sure that all metal to metal contact surfaces have a thin layer of lube. This means, handle bar/stem, seatpost, saddle rails, stem/steerer, etc. If your BB is greased and tightened I would check to see if there is any variance in your seat tube on the frame. A fraction off in size could spell lots of noise between the seatpost and saddle. Also, check with Rocky mountain to see if your frame uses a one continuous seat tube or find out if it is sleeved. Trek used a sleeve tube on there aluminum ATB frames a few years back and boy was that a nightmare for them. Sleeved means that the top section of the seat tube is slid into the lower and welded at the top. It is impossible to weld the lower portion as it is inside the frame. The Trek frame developed their play at this lower, unwelded junction and would cause the loudest racket going thru the woods. If all else fails, your bike is within it's warranty. If the shop you got it acknowleges but can't fix the problem, then they should get it replaced for you. Rocky Mountain has a warranty for a reason.

Now Ive been hexed with a creaking bike. 2 weeks with no improvement. Ill look for cracks tonight and swap the BB and maybe rear wheel with a friends to see if I can isolate the problem.

Ok, I never wanted to say this but next time start a new thread instead of a 5 year old one.

Now concerning the creak, a little more detail might help us narrow it down. I know I have on in mine that sounds an awful lot like either a BB or a stem crack but it is in reality only a loose catridge bearing headset.