I mean, I think it is the bottom bracket. I'm familiar with how elusive a creak diagnosis can be. Here is what I know:
- Finally got this sweet Klein ready, I thought, for the local trails.
- Not long into the maiden voyage, a faint creak developed. It got progressively worse as the ride went on until it became a full-blown symphony from hell. I ruled out my aging body as the source.
- The creak was only while pedalling. With the softest pedalling or coasting, the creak disappeared.
- Took apart and thoroughly greased the current Hollowtech II / Deore XT setup and reinstalled the whole thing, including tightening the chainring bolts.
- Creak was entirely unabated. Changed the saddle just in case. No change. Standing out of the saddle and leaning against a wall (to take that out of the equation) and putting weight on the pedals and then crank arms (to rule out the pedals) the creak is unchanged.
- Swapped out the whole shebang for a square taper STX setup with different pedals. Maddeningly, the creak is still there, exactly as it was with a whole different BB and crank and pedal setup.
I don't see any visible cracks, but has time caught up with this 2006-ish aluminum frame and dealt it a fatal blow? I'm worried the frame is the problem, some not-obvious structural damage, which would suck.
Thoughts?
by smgorama
5 Comments
If you’ve tightened everything, then most likely it is a crack in the frame. These kliens are very beefy tho and it probably won’t be a problem except for the noise. Unfortunately aluminum frames have an expiration date.
What sounds like a BB/crank click/creak quite often isn’t that. Grease/fibre grip the seatpost (cant tell if that’s a carbon post or not). Check the QR levers are tight, check the derailleur hanger is also tight.
Update! I swapped in an old rim-brake wheel for the fancy Easton EA90 disk rear and the creak…might be gone. I couldn’t ride it, of course, but standing on it and putting some weight on the cranks was blessedly silent. This post may need to be retitled “troubleshoot my creaky EA90 hub.”
Spokes aren’t the issue. I will try a different quick release.
Hubs are something I understand a lot less than bottom brackets. I may need some help.
Honestly, if you can, maybe throw it in a trainer and have someone else pedal while you try to narrow down the location of the sound by ear and feel.
Someone had recently posted about a similarly annoying break, only to discover it was their shoes that had been creaking. And as another commenter mentioned, it could be your seatpost or seat.
In the olden days of cartridge bottom brackets with square taper bottom spindles in oversized aluminum frames we would use a stripe of Teflon thread tape on the BB threads.
Now get off my lawn!