My bike makes a creaking sound when I push hard on the pedals...

I ride an Alu Tirreno Razza 2.0 (2006) with carbon seatstays...
I thought the creaking sound was coming from:
(1) The handle bars and or the stem -- got them changed and replaced at Performance (free of charge ). But still some creaking after that --though less.
(2) the seat post or the saddle. Got that checked out. Seatpost tightned. Still some creaking, though less.
(3) May be the pedals... got that thightned
......Still creaking when I push hard on the pedals (to go up a hill for example)

It's pretty annoying....any idea what it could be? The alu frame? A crack in the frame? Is it dangerous potentially?

Did you check your bottom bracket?

Put some grease on your skewers and see if that helps any. I tried for weeks, if not months to find a squeek once. Come to find out it was my front skewer.

How do you mean? (I guess that means "no" , but what should I -- or the mechs at performance -- be looking at?)

Mine creaks and groans every time I go up a big hill (but I'm 205#). Hasn't broken yet in the 3 years I've owned it.

Ok, thanks I see what that is, so I just whip out the wheel and then pull out the skewer -- is it easy? Is WD 40 ok? Or should I bring the whole thing to the store?

No, WD-40 is a cleaner, not a grease. You need to put some grease on the skewer and on the threads of the skewer.

I'm 175, going down (hopefully!), but I don't know, creaks don't sound right to me. No one else bikes creaks when we are going up the hills. Heck, there's a hippo of a guy who rides a serrota up big hills and its dead quiet....

What kind of grease. I have a chain lubricant of some sort, is that ok?

I had this one.

<creak, creak>

Grease and tighten crank bolts.

<creak, creak>

Check pedals (they're fine)

<creak, creak>

Tighten seat post collar.

<creak, creak>

Grease and tighten seat clamp (at the rails)

<creak, creak>

Grease and tighten bar clamp and stem.

<creak, creak>

Remove back wheel, clean dropouts and skewer faces.

<crickets>

That might not be it for the OP, but that's a good list.

Well I had the exact same problem as you recently, a creaking when I went hard on the pedals. After going through everything like the saddle, seat post, bars etc, someone suggested greasing the cable guides underneath the bottom bracket. When I had the bike flipped over I noticed what looked like a spot of rust on the bottom of one of the bearing cups (I've one of those external, FSA Megaexo bottom brackets). I pulled it off and and found the siver ring inside to be brown like it had rusted. Replaced the BB and voila, creaking was gone. I was a bit ticked off since it was only a few months old, but it only cost €30 to replace.

Cool, will check these. But whaddya mean exactly by grease. I know this is a dumb question, but... I know I shouldn't use WD 40 -- what about what I use to lubricate my chain (a non name product I got from Perf.) Would that do the trick?

That is an oil / lube, you need to use grease. I prefer phil wood grease but pretty much any type will work. Even if that isn't your problem you should have a tube laying around the house for next time.

For what it's worth, after six years I'm just now on my second tube. It goes a long way.

NO. You need to buy a tube of grease at your LBS, or if you're more industrious, go buy a bucket of marine grease somewhere. It's typically blue, it's thick, and it never ever goes on your chain.

Didn't mean to yell NO. The shift key stuck. Sorry!

Ok. So I guess I can't use vaseline, uh?
I just didn't want to have to go to Performance 6 times this week! I am beggining to be a ficture there.....
Not that I mind, they are pretty cool guys and nice to chat with.
THanks for the info, list etc... I appreciatte it.

+1 on the front quick release skewer. Particularly if the noise is associated with pedaling out of the saddle. Couple of years ago I put a new crankset on, and I kept taking it back to get it tightened, complaining of the creaking in the BB. After a couple of months of weekly tightening of the crankset, one of the mechanics greased the front skewer, and that was the end of the creaking.

you can get grease at any auto parts store. i've been using a tub of mobil 1 synthetic grease for over a year (its almost gone finally) with great results.
chances are it's your bottom bracket being dry- not the internals, but the threads that hold it in the frame. to remedy, you need to remove the cranks, remove the bottom bracket, clean it and the bottom backet shell (frame) and grease up the threads on the bb and the shell and reinstall everything.
of course it can be many other things. try a bit of grease on the skewers, as well as the drop out faces on your forks and rear end of the frame.
pedals can be a culprit too. so can the cleats on your shoes.
i would suggest you get a good repair book, like park tools big blue book, or zinns art of maintenance. even if the lbs does stuff for you, you'll know what they're talking about.

Thanks. I waiting for one of those two books to show up at the used book store. As soon as they do -- I'll get one.
I'm gonna grease the skewers myself. If that doesn't do it. I'll ask the mechs to remove the crankset, etc...