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Sometimes it's so simple......

kiwisimon

Maximum Pace
Dec 14, 2006
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In June I had to bag my SS bike. After I got it home I decided to give it a good clean and so I stripped the frame, cleaned and greased everything and put it back together. Great I have a nice clean bike and I felt proud to ride it, except there was a creaking noise when I turned the cranks, not all the time but as my bike has no gears I could hear it and as all the other times my bike was silent it annoyed me. Over the next 2 months I removed all the parts I removed when I cleaned it, re-greased all those parts and was very careful to torque the nuts and bolts to tight. My bike has an eccentric BB and they can creak so I assumed it was somewhere in there.

So today I decided to coast down the hills without pedaling (hey it's hot), lo and behold I heard the creak. It was a bolt on my seat post holding the Brooks on. But I never touched that part back in June! I really enjoyed my nice silent ride home tonight. Pure bliss.
Moral of the story if there is it a creak on your bike it's probably in the seat, pedals or stem. Check them first!
 
In June I had to bag my SS bike. After I got it home I decided to give it a good clean and so I stripped the frame, cleaned and greased everything and put it back together. Great I have a nice clean bike and I felt proud to ride it, except there was a creaking noise when I turned the cranks, not all the time but as my bike has no gears I could hear it and as all the other times my bike was silent it annoyed me. Over the next 2 months I removed all the parts I removed when I cleaned it, re-greased all those parts and was very careful to torque the nuts and bolts to tight. My bike has an eccentric BB and they can creak so I assumed it was somewhere in there.

So today I decided to coast down the hills without pedaling (hey it's hot), lo and behold I heard the creak. It was a bolt on my seat post holding the Brooks on. But I never touched that part back in June! I really enjoyed my nice silent ride home tonight. Pure bliss.
Moral of the story if there is it a creak on your bike it's probably in the seat, pedals or stem. Check them first!

Or even your bottle cage...

Or

I had one in my cleats on Tuesday night...only creaked on hard down pedals...had to tighten it up a bit...

Funny thing is the creaks are always in the last place you look!!! :cool:
 
Had a creak that I couldnt find for ages. Turned out to be a broken bottlecage. Didnt find it till I had stripped & remounted the pedals, BB, seatpin & saddle. Then a week later the creak returned as the other bottlecage broke. I suppose thats the disadvantage of buying them at the same time :)
 
It's amazing what an acoustic amplifier the bike is - For about a week my bike sounded like the chain needed oiling, cleaned it, oiled it and still got that creaking sound that sounded exactly like a dry chain.

Did the jockey/pulley wheels - still no joy.

Turned out that one of the butterfly screws on the race number plate holder was slightly loose - tightened it up and everything is ultra silent again.
 
Turned out that one of the butterfly screws on the race number plate holder was slightly loose - tightened it up and everything is ultra silent again.
What? You haven't changed those screws to lightweight titanium?
 
I had to add weight to the team bike as the standard build came in at under 6.8kg. :cool:
 
Similar...

Last week, when in Higashi-Chichibu with Pete, Kimm, Taka (Kawa) and Chikako, I asked everyone to stop because I could hear a rattling sound.
When I got home, and cleaned the bike, I also went over every bolt and checked them for looseness.
In the end, it was the new Lezyne pump I'd put on the bike a few days earlier - I don't know why, but at the time I never considered "checking the last thing I had changed / fiddled with" ... Duh!:confused:
 
I have a tick, when I pedal.

Today I am pulling the crank apart and cleaning and hopefully it will be gone.
 
Yeah, a bike behaves very much like a musical instrument, due to the large hollow body.

Sounds generated in one place will often feel like they are coming from somewhere totally different. The larger the bike frame, the more mystery is added.

Check everything.
 
Check your cleat, shoe and pedal first.

Perfect advise there! I pulled the drive train apart and cleaned everything. Got rid of all the noises except the "tick" which I have now worked out is in the right peddle boot cleat area!
 
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