Creaky Cranks
 

So my truvativ stylo cranks are creaking like mad every time my drive side crank arm reaches the 6 o clock position with any force on it. Ive taken off the cranks, greased everything according to the tech documents, and the problem still persists. Its not my pedals either. Is the the bottom bracket or the actual crank?
And does sram/truvativ have an customer service email? I couldnt find it on their site.

Shoes rubbing the cranks? :innocent:

muffin man, It maybe the BB moving in the BB shell. Using grease, anti seize or teflon tape in the threaded area and the BB properly torqued may help.

Brad

Ill try regreasing all the contact points again. It might just that it is an old gxp gg, and I just need a new one. I dont remember when I got it...
And my shoes were like an inch away whenever i was looking down. I was only commuting, and not offroad, so i wasnt getting any shoe rub...

Pedals, parts of, moving within the pedal.., try a solid pedal.

This would be the first place I'd check, second would be the pedals. Although as far as which is easiest you could reverse that order. ;)

+1; grease or anti seize on BB threads; properly torqued cups = no more creak

I had a tick or click sound that would only happen it seemed when I cranked the pedals.

Same thing, I swore it was either the crank, bottom bracket or pedals and it was driving me crazy trying to figure it out as it would sometimes go away but then return.

While cleaning the bike one day I inspected my spokes and found one to be looser the the others on the casette side of the wheel and taking the spoke between my fingers and moving it side to side I was able to recreate that tick sound.

I temporarily put some electrical tape on the spoke where it intersected the other spoke and rode it like that to see if the sound would return and it did not.

Check all your spokes and move them to see if you get that sound, and if you do, just tighten up your spokes.

i tried different pedals, and the noise was still there, so im pretty sure it wasnt the pedals because those pedals have never creaked before. (spd-sl)
Ill check the spokes.

Also I forgot to mention is to just add a drop of lube right where each spoke attaches to the rim, and make sure the rear wheel quick release is tight also.

I went for a long time and just knew it was my crank bottom bracket, but then found it was the spoke, so the sound can fool you and it can be in an area you would never suspect.

The fact that you say the creak comes at the 6 o'clock position of the crank tells me that it's due to some flexing at the end of your downward peddle stroke, and then as you shift your downward stroke to the opposite side you are getting a flex to the rear wheel which is causing the creak which sounds like what my problem was.

If you have a square taper bottom bracket look to see if it has caused a dent in side of the crank arm. This is an indication or poor machining of the crank. If so use a round file to remove the deformed aluminum in the crank. Don't over do it. Replace the crank ride it a bit and repete the process. The lip of aluminum is preventing the crank from being tightened all the way causing the creaking.

its a gxp bb