How much have you spent chasing a creak?

[tjdixon911]

We all want a quite life, don't we?

I had a creak develop in my drive train recently, I thought I had pin pointed it to the front cranks, bottom bracket or pedals, purely because it was always present at the same point in the pedal stroke - sounds plausible right? So firstly I switched out the pedals (DMR V12 £39.99), the old 2nd hand shimano saints had been put on the (otherwise) new bike so were always due an upgrade, problem solved? No! Next up I decided to drop it into a bike shop for a second opinion, result new BB (£22.99) - seemed to fix it for the first few miles but then it was back again! So this only left the cranks, surely I'll nail it with this one, upgraded cranks etc. (£110 approx) ordered and installed today, installation laps of the garden seemed positive, the following ride not so much!

A bit of trail side head scratching today and I found the culprit, a loose nut on the rear drop outs/mech hanger (my bike has the replaceable dropouts for single speed) tightened this up and the clicking has gone, I now only have a creaking seatpost remaining.

So if you have a creak, check your nuts and bolts first, or like me use it as an excuse to do a few upgrades before checking your nuts!

If a creak sounds like it's coming from your BB area, chances are it may not be!

In hindsight, should the bike shop (also being a dealer of this brand) have picked up on this?

So I've spent circa £170 on upgrades, anyone else gone to these lengths before? We all like shiny new bits don't we?

Now I just have a few spares to sell...

[soad]

My seatpost is creaking. Dis-assemble, clean, lubricate, re-assemble? Too much effort!

My pedals make a noise too, I'll put up with it.

[tjdixon911]

soad said:

My seatpost is creaking. Dis-assemble, clean, lubricate, re-assemble? Too much effort!

My pedals make a noise too, I'll put up with it.

Yep that's what I need to do with my seat post, or just buy a new one

[Dannbodge]

Mine developed a creak.

Cost me about £20 for new BB, £5 for a pot of grease and £25 for a torque wrench to sort.

[Daveyraveygravey]

Had a creak, that seemed to be BB related as it happened when I was out of the saddle climbing. Took it to my local guy, stripped lubed and replaced BB, but noise still there. Next, he took rear axle out and found a dodgy bearing, which changed the noise but didn't fix it. He had another look and suggested I take it back to the BIG store I got it from. £35 so far.
In the BIG shop, they initially thought the spokes were rubbing together. They took it into the workshop and then came out and told me the brake track was worn, so new wheels were the thing.£400, thanks Mr.

[troc]

I thought I would ignore my creaking seatpost.

Then the bolt holding the saddle on snapped at speed, resulting in me being flung without warning onto the road and smashing my right index finger as it got stuck in the grass verge whilst the rest of me slid down the cobbles. Said finger is permanently wonky and will never be 100% again.

I check my bolts now!

[Fluffsri]

I had a creak for ages on my old Marin. I stripped it all and lubed it, new BB and some new pedals. Still no joy! Turned out the frame was cracked!!! Marin have a great warranty though

[AyBee]

£0

It's invariably a nut or something that needs greasing and it doesn't cost anything to take it apart and put it all back together again

[Some Gump]

Can you count time?

I've spent about 2 years trying to remove the creak from my GT. It's still there...

[RapidRob]

I did exactly the same as you, but it did eventually fix the problem. Had a creak from bb area, changed bb30 bearings, (£25) which didn't help, then bought a hollowtech tiagra crankset (£60), and a bb30 to 24mm adaptor (£50). Still creaked when I initially installed it, but since I have re-done it, it all sounds good