TickDoc

Definitely not a shill post here.

I have been enjoying the heck out of my Motobeacane Le Champion SL here lately, but the headset has begun to creak a little here lately.

No problem, I thought, til I went on a long ride last weekend over some rough country roads.

Now it creaks at every crank of the pedals, or anytime you lean on the bars, stand up, etc.

I haven't tried to tighten it yet, but there is no loose play...jut a noticeable and annoying creak.

Cause for concern?

I contacted BD and was instructed to have it checked at a LBS and then ship it back if anything is amiss.

operator

Shill!!!!

But seriously, how sure are you that it's the headset? Creaks are mysterious on bikes, they can seem to come from one area when in fact they are coming from a far far away galax er other bike part.

TickDoc

The only other thing it could be would be the fork. I have inspected it, but not taken anything apart yet. It is definitely not the wheels/hubs.

It is also defintely coming from the front end top of the bike.

What else could it be?

pelotonracer

Does it only creak when you turn, or randomly?

Remove the top cap & the star nut bolt, take off your stem & spacers, & then inspect your bearings & races. They could be worn, pitted, or bent.

Enthalpic

It could be the cable housing rubbing against the frame, among other things.

TickDoc

no, the creaking is internal, definitely not from rubbing cables. I played with the cables while riding and the creak still happened.

It creaks when the bike is rolling, louder over bumps, or if there is pressure on the handlebars like when you stand up, lean forward, or pedal hard like up an incline. It also creaks with the pedal stroke, but definitely from the front of the bike in the headset area.

I am going to try to take it down and re-adjust to see if that helsp, and inspect the whole works in the porcess.

I have done two minor adjustments since first putting the bike together, and all went well there.

You know, I would just bite the bullett and take it to the LBS but I don't want to do without the bike, and the wait around here even for simple adj. is 3-4 days long.

TickDoc

helsp, porcess....I need to slow down a bit!

42x16

It could be the stem face plate creaking this is caused by dirt. Take the face plate off, inspect the bar for damage, wipe the bar and stem off with a clean cloth and re-assemble If there is damage on the bar replace it, this can becaused by overtightening the stem bolts. (overtightening)

TickDoc

will try and thanks for the advice.

TickDoc

amazing!

I can't believe it was the bars. I took the face plate off and cleaned/reassembled it just as you said and poof....creaking gone.

I would've never thought it the bars because it still made the noise when I took my hands completely off the bar.

Now that I think about it, I had several large dump trucks blow by me when riding past a developing neighborhood, and the whole bike was caked in a thin layer of dirt when I got home.

I still can't believe it would be anything that simple. By the racket it was making, I just had these visions of the fork cracking up into the tube or something like that.

The bar looked to be in good shape, just a few light scratches.

I guess if the problem reoccurs then the bar may have to be replaced?

Sounds like a good time to upgrade to a carbon bar to me!

Many thanks for the advice.