So my bike has developed a little creaky noise on the left side down stroke when pedaling uphill. Hope that makes sense. Basically, when pedaling hard with a lot of weight on the left pedal, the left side is creaky. Should I be concerned?

first did you try a search?

second I do not know much but when I have seen this question asked before i believe most say check your crank bolts. How old is the BB/Crankset?

good luck

-doober

What kind of BB do you have? I've had this problem with 2 seperate Shimano bottom brackets, which I ended up ditching for a Zipp setup. To my dismay, the Zipp bottom bracket started having the same issue after about 800 miles. Teflon tape the crap out of anything with threads; did that with the Zipp and had no issues for many thousands of miles.

Some of Shimano's external bb models are notorious for being noisy and you should first check to see that everything is torqued to proper specs and that there is no bearing play anywhere.

I would suggest that even before he does that, the OP checks to see that the rear wheel skewer is tight. It can be difficult to tell exactly where creaks are coming from, and 9 time out of 10 in my experience a loose skewer is the cause of creaking that comes from somewhere down in the drivetrain.

From the Felt website: FSA 68mm w/ Forged Chromoly Square Taper 103mm Spindle

I should have been clearer when I said to make sure EVERYTHING was torqued to spec... finding little creaks can make the best of us insane.

Also check pedal bearing, freehub, wheel hub. Also check to see if it's only when you're sitting down, because it could be a dirty seat post, or seat rails.

How many miles you got on the BB?

About 500-600.

Only happens when I am standing and going up hill.

The pedal may not be screwed on tight enough. I discovered that was the cause of my creak, AFTER changing the BB.

Could also be your cleat. Does it do it in sneakers ? Also, put the crank at 3:00, lock your brakes, and put weight on the crankarm, not the pedal ..

I got a Raleigh C500 hybrid with a little over 18,000 miles and still have the original BB, not sure the specs of it (but I do know it's a sealed bearing assy). I do remember hearing creaking noises, but not sure when it happened, but never seemed to last that long. And sometimes it would happen during certain times, such as climbing. However, and this is a interesting coincident, just yesterday after my ride I noticed a friction-type noise coming (but it doesn't cause resistance) from my BB, I think it's getting close to needing replacement.

I wouldn't go replacing yours unless there's a some friction involved.

Well that eliminates the saddle. Any chance it could be a creaking in the handlebars? It's not uncommon for a noise associated with pedaling to be blamed on the bottom bracket when sometimes it's something else. Pedaling out of the saddle puts more load on the handlebars and could cause them to creak. Other things to consider would be the pedals, the cranks, flex in your wheel, etc.

EDIT: This is why I prefer old bikes. Some creaking is par for the course.

check the crankarm connection make sure the nut is tight.you should als make sure the bb itself is tight. left arms are common for loosening on a newer bike. continued riding on a loose crank arm will ruin it. so check it just to be sure

I agree with the folks telling you to check the crankarm bolts. I have had the exact same issue that you described and one of the guys I ride with told me to check that. One of the bolts was a bit loose and as soon as I tightened it, creaking stopped completely...so far. I'm going to feel a little bad about trashing my FSA crank for the last couple years if the loose crankarm bolt was the problem.