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2008 Anthem 1 creak starting to drive me nuts

808 views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Lunge Bob Sweatpants 
#1 ·
Bought this bike new, early summer 2008. I only have one bike so this one does everything, from commuting to part-time racing to goofing off with friends. I don't do nasty stuff with it, just ride.

This is my first FS bike. So my experience with suspensions is limited. No maintainence has been completed on any of the suspension or BB other than a good cleaning.

Just recently it has started making a creaking sound that seems to be getting progressively louder and annoying (very annoying). :madman:

I cannot locate the sound myself by ear nor by feel (ie pedal feedback). At times it seems like it's near the stem, other times near the BB, others at the rear shock area.

It has a consistent sound when pedaling except when doing one of things below, it pretty much stops:
1. Take both or one of my hands off the bars.
2. Push forward or pull back on the bars.
3. Move my seated position way back with my butt hanging half off the saddle.

I'm not sure what to trouble shoot here.

The rear triangle does not seem to have any play in it.

Do I just start overhauling everything?

Do shock mounts/bushings/spacers usually get lubed/greased? If so what do I use?

Same with the suspension/bearing joints?

Please help me before I start taking my frustrations out on my bike.
 
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#2 ·
creaks can be hard to track down

sound travels through the frame.

From what you describe, if it were me i would look first at the head set i.e. is it loose or need new grease.

can't make any guarantees though. I have sometimes had to take it to the 'experts' at the bike shop when the DIY approach became too frustrating, but hate giving up control of my ride.

Good luck
 
#3 ·
stevemtu said:
sound travels through the frame.

From what you describe, if it were me i would look first at the head set i.e. is it loose or need new grease.

can't make any guarantees though. I have sometimes had to take it to the 'experts' at the bike shop when the DIY approach became too frustrating, but hate giving up control of my ride.

Good luck
I wondered about the stem and head set too. Everything seems nice an tight nothing feels loose or sloppy. I took my bars off and cleaned the stem clamp out of sand and such hoping that might be it, but it did not help.

I just got done checking the linkage bearing bolts and had to tighten one up, everything else was snug. Didn't seem to help much either.
 
#5 ·
CRogge said:
You'd be surprised how much a seatpost will creak in the frame. I recently had this on my Anthem X. Do you hear the creak while standing? If it goes away, pull the post, clean, re-grease and replace.
Yeah, I thought about that too. I did swap my post out a couple of weeks ago. I'll give that a try next.

Any particular grease? I have some old white lithium grease.
 
#7 ·
Creaky Giant

Had a similar problem with Trance X1, reversed my seat collar, problem solved. I have a lot of seatpost showing and the tall seatpost while pedaling and hands on bars was enough to torque the frame and make the collar creak. Pretty much rebuilt the entire bike trying to find the problem. I fixed the degrading shifter cable problem as mentioned above at the same time, the tiny wires in the outer were sticking out and rubbing against the metal ferrule.
 
#8 ·
Welp, it ended up being the seatpost and collar. Cleaned, lubed and re-installed. No creaks after 20miles of trail today.

I'm pretty amazed at how such a simple thing was so hard to detect it's location by ear. At times I was sure it was coming from the stem/headset and other times the bottom bracket.

I'm also amazed at how such a little sound can drive you nuts during a quiet hour commute.

Thanks for the tips/commets, my sanity has been saved.
 
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