needed help...the creak is driving me insane

[moutainkiller]

okay so I keep hearing the annoying creaking while riding my bike. I hear is most often when I am seated. I attempted to locate it and thought that I did. I thought it was in my seat post so I tightened it up. It wasn't really lose but I tighten it anyways because I couldn't handle the creak no more ...

...I still have the creak though!!!! anyone have any ideas on where it is coming from?

If anyone has an idea to stop it please do tell!!!

Thanks

[Futon River Crossing]

I had one of those - tracked it down to the pedals.

[esXso]

I had an annoying squeak recently that turned out to come from the insoles of my shoes. There was dust between the bottom of the shoe and insole and for some reason it made this strange noise.

I always spray silicone between where the plastic parts of my saddle join with the two rails otherwise they start to squeak eventually.

[Blazerwolf]

If you have aluminum handlebars tighten them at the stem. Mine does that all the time. The aluminum will get hot and expand and then when you take the bike inside they will contract. This allows some creaking and it is hard to find it but it is coming from up front not behind you. Took me over a month to figure where it came from.

[scyule]

2 things to try.
1)You may have been right about the seat post, likely the most common creak.
assuming you DON'T have a carbon post, pull the post out of the frame, clean the post
( rubbing alcohol works well and won't hurt paint ect)
and the inside of the frame ( as best you can) and apply GREASE to the post and reinstall.

2)Further to BLAZERWOLF'S idea, handlebar creaks can be fixed 75% of the time by removing the bar from the stem cleaning the bar and inside faces of the stem, (again with rubbing alcohol) and reinstalling and use a TORQUE WRENCH, even if you have to go to your LBS to borrow theirs.

[rockcrusher]

A thorough disassembly of the cranks, pedals, bottom bracket, seat post, stem, headset, and handlebar clamp then cleaning, lubing and reassembling should eliminate any creaks.

How to narrow the location:

1. get your bike rolling. Coasting with your weight over the pedals and sitting. Is it creaking? Yes: check Seatpost, seat. No:
2. Move your weight forward. Did it creak? Yes: Check your seatpost, seat, handlebars, stem, headset. No:
3. Stand and bounce a bit on the pedals. Did it creak? yes: check your BB pedals and Cranks, Handlebar, stem and headset. No:
4. Sit and crank with some loaded revolutions (eg. up a hill). Did it creak? Yes: Check your cranks, chainring bolts, BB, pedals, Headset, stem and headset.
5. Ride no hands with some loaded revolutions. Did it creak? Yes check your cranks chainring bolts BB and pedals
6. Stand and crank. Did it creak? Yes: check BB, cranks, chainring bolts, Pedals, Headset, stem and headset.

Finally do not forget to lube your chain and check your pulley wheels, check for dry suspension seals and hub seals, make sure your rotors aren't bent and touching.

if the creak is constant with your speed it is best to check rotating pieces. If the creak varies with your cadence it is best to check drivetrain components attached. If the creak is random it is best to check static components such as fixed points of contact.

[pimpbot]

2 things to try.
1)You may have been right about the seat post, likely the most common creak.
assuming you DON'T have a carbon post, pull the post out of the frame, clean the post
( rubbing alcohol works well and won't hurt paint ect)
and the inside of the frame ( as best you can) and apply GREASE to the post and reinstall.

2)Further to BLAZERWOLF'S idea, handlebar creaks can be fixed 75% of the time by removing the bar from the stem cleaning the bar and inside faces of the stem, (again with rubbing alcohol) and reinstalling and use a TORQUE WRENCH, even if you have to go to your LBS to borrow theirs.

I had a nasty creak once. Turns out I had a Cane Creak headset (get it? ha HAA!), and those goofy interlocking spacers between the top headset cap and the stem were the source of the creak. I replaced them with regular alu ones, and it went away. I had issues with carbon spacers, too.

[indigosky]

if you have a Thomson seatpost that is overtightened and has bent the lower piece it will creak and never stop. might help...

[hsakkire]

It may be the seat rail/clamp interface. My does that when it gets dirty - drives me crazy

If it only does so while seated and your legs aren't bumping it, then it's probably the seat or post.

It's a frustrating process of elimination.

Good luck

[wrenchmonkey]

Process of elimination is sometimes the only way to find creaks. Start pulling apart and reassembing (clean and grease etc if suitable) until it stops. If that doesn't work, the next step is to try replacing (even with temporary "test" parts) all the usual suspects. Creaks can be tricky though.

[customfab]

number one rule of solving a creak, DO NOT ever just tighten something assuming it is lose. if it was your saddlepost you should have pulled it out, put some grease or carbon paste on it and re-installed it. a torque wrench is often handy in cases like this as over tightened parts ( can anybody say bottom bracket ) can often creak more than under tightened parts

[moutainkiller]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses, I will work on it and see what I can figure out.

as for the grease everyone is mentioning...if it does turn out to be my seat-post can I just use Vaseline on it? I ask because thats the closes thing to grease that I have without having to go out and get something.

Then for the torque wrench mentioning people...I was actually starting to do some research on torque wrenches because I want one at my disposal for moments like this--> any recommendations on a good torque wrench?

Thanks Again!!!

[scyule]

number one rule of solving a creak, DO NOT ever just tighten something assuming it is lose. if it was your saddlepost you should have pulled it out, put some grease or carbon paste on it and re-installed it. a torque wrench is often handy in cases like this as over tightened parts ( can anybody say bottom bracket ) can often creak more than under tightened parts

VERY GOOD ADVICE !!!!!!

Back in '96 I had my first good mountainbike, a Giant ATX and it CREAKED.
I still remember the sick feeling I had as one of the stem bolts BROKE OFF as I tightened it.
The money spent on a torque wrench may be the smartest money you spend on your bike

[crassh]

All great advice here. One more option to investigate would be your frame. I had an older aluminum frame with that developed a small creak. Did this for several years, finally over the course of several months the creak was getting worse (especially when seated). Then one day when going up hill, SNAP - there goes the frame as it is catastrophically cracked on the underside between the headtube and downtube. A post-mortem revealed that it looked like there was a small crack there before the catastrophic failure occurred. In hindsight it makes complete sense why the creak was worse with the seated position.
good luck-

[Singular]

It could be virtually anything. Follow something like Rockcrusher's process of elimination to try to narrow down the source and pay your attention to those bits. Randomly cleaning/greasing/tightening bits and pieces all over your bike is likely to take a long time and cause a lot of frustration along the way.

[bear]

Look closely for frame cracks developing too.

I had a creak that I chased for, literally, months. Slowly eliminating all of the maintenance points above, and finally found the cracked top tube before it separated.

Be persistent, don't give up, bikes in good order don't creak without a reason.

[kardy]

Seems like when I get creaks on my full-sus bike, it usually comes from the steel wound derailleur cable housing ends scraping/creaking within the ferrules and/or cable stops. A dab of grease inside the ferrules when putting on new housing has taken care of this.

[TX29er]

Tighten your rear skewer more than you think is necessary. It has solved my issue.

On my steel and aluminum bikes, my normal skewer tightening force is adequate. On my carbon bike, I have to use my orangutan strength, or I get a creak.

"Right turn, Clyde."

[thasingletrackmastah]

Tighten your rear skewer more than you think is necessary. It has solved my issue.

On my steel and aluminum bikes, my normal skewer tightening force is adequate. On my carbon bike, I have to use my orangutan strength, or I get a creak.

"Right turn, Clyde."

Shimano QR's have a higher clamp force than most other QR's.
Try one of those.
And creacks that won't go away, no mather what, most of the time are the frame, slowly breaking...

[customfab]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses, I will work on it and see what I can figure out.

as for the grease everyone is mentioning...if it does turn out to be my seat-post can I just use Vaseline on it? I ask because thats the closes thing to grease that I have without having to go out and get something.

Then for the torque wrench mentioning people...I was actually starting to do some research on torque wrenches because I want one at my disposal for moments like this--> any recommendations on a good torque wrench?

Thanks Again!!!

vaseline could work, won't be the best thing but it's worth a shot in a pinch.

I have a few torque wrenches and the one I always grab for is the PRO one $100 comes with all common 1/4 drive bits and has enough range to torque anything on a bike except FSA/Sram/race face crank bolts and BB cups

[pguidry]

Just had this problem myself. It was the seat tube. Lubed it and everything was ok.

[xcbarny]

If it doesn't creak when you're out of the saddle, then it must be something in the saddle / seatpost area.

Do you have ti rails on your saddle. I've found that these can creak. I use a small amount of contact adhesive on the rail / seat clamp contact area. Works a treat.

[moutainkiller]

Thanks guys!!! I got it fixed it was my seat post. I cleaned it then but some Vaseline on it, and it solved the creak! but then it came back

I think the Vaseline wore off or something....what kind of grease does anyone suggest the Vaseline didn't cut it? I have some White Lithium Greese that works like a charm on my chain. But that is in a spray can. If I were to spray some of that on my seat post do you think it would work?

Thanks Again

[wrenchmonkey]

I had some good success with carbon prep grease. Lubes but also helps prevent slipping. If you've got good clamping force any decent, long-life grease (in moderation), should work.

Cheers.

[frdfandc]

Go to your LBS and pick up a small tube of the Park Tool grease. Also, don't forget to apply some grease to the saddle rails. They like to creak as well.