Creak that's driving me insane.

[Ride.Dirt.Wake.]

Farkiners,
I've done some searches, and so far nothing matches my problem.
I have noise OCD.

*Here's my setup:
*2007 Giant Glory 0 FR
*RaceFace Evolve DH cranks, guide + bashguard
*E-13 36t chainring
*Various pedals.

Under decent pedalling, around the time that the cranks level out (once left pedal forward, once right pedal folder; i.e. twice per revolution), there is a "tick tick" noise coming from my cranks. Also, when I concentrate on it riding slowly, i can feel a very faint click in the right pedal - I'll check if I can feel it on the left too.

I've pulled apart the cranks, bottom bracket and chainguide, cleaned and greased all parts that move (except pedal threads as my searches revealed), cleaned and lubed my chain, and degreased the derailleur and cassette. And changed my pedals. Without pedals on the bike, and without the chain, I can feel slight clicks when I rotate the cranks, which leads me to think that its a bearing issue.

Anyone who's had this problem before, or can give me an educated opinion on how to fix this, I'm very appreciative.
Oh, and I'd prefer to do any work myself.
Thanks,
J

 

[Broken Bones89]

i have a hardtail that i use for street riding and downhill. a couple months ago i had the same problem, i did as you did but it didn't go away. i didn't think too much of it so i went riding, first run my drive side BB bearing disintegrated into many many pieces. my advice is to replace the bearing to be safe.

 

[RangaRMX]

Take the cranks off and spin the bearing cup with your fingers and listen closely while feeling for roughness or resistance at any point in the revolution.

This should tell you if it's a) both bearings and b) if it even is your bearings!
My Gravity Lites had the shittiest BB and was dead within weeks of getting my new bike (could have been lacking grease from factory though) but it took me a few months to finally diagnose what it was, by then they were definitely both ragged out.

Just read you have RF's.
I'D PUT MONEY ON THE BEARINGS BEING YOUR PROBLEM.
2 days on a brand new bike and I couldn't even turn my pedals without amazing resistance. My mate at the shop was just like "NOT AGAIN, FUCK!" and didn't even call to see if they'd honor the warranty - he said it was so common they didn't even need to ask anymore - rolled out half hour later with a new set which wasn't a problem. I think RF may have a serious quality control issue somewhere...hmm?

 

[muskimo]

my money is on the BB bearings also. never hurts to swap out bearings or get a new BB

 

[outtacontrol]

Under decent pedalling, around the time that the cranks level out (once left pedal forward, once right pedal folder; i.e. twice per revolution), there is a "tick tick" noise coming from my cranks. Also, when I concentrate on it riding slowly, i can feel a very faint click in the right pedal - I'll check if I can feel it on the left too.

had the same issue once, but I could hear it every revolution.

Turns out the end of rear derailler cable was too long, and was clipping crank arm on the way around.
Probably not your problem, but was pretty funny when I found out what it was.

 

[Ride.Dirt.Wake.]

Outtacontrol - I cant believe how frustrating that would be

Others - I've felt the bearings each, one certainly has more resistance than the other. a little crunchy, but still seems ok. Do you think this is the problem? If so I'll buy new ones tomorrow.. though I guess it wouldnt hurt anyway.

Question: if it is the bearings, is it dangerous to other parts or myself to leave it for a while?

Thanks for the awesome replies guys.

 

[axie]

Sorry to hijack, but I have a similar issue.

Constant creaking on climbs or under any decent load. Thus far, I've replaced the BB, cranks, rear derailleur, chain, and cassette, (all XT) yet the creak remains. My next guess is the rear hub.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

 

[tim_d]

Sorry to hijack, but I have a similar issue.

Constant creaking on climbs or under any decent load. Thus far, I've replaced the BB, cranks, rear derailleur, chain, and cassette, (all XT) yet the creak remains. My next guess is the rear hub.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

Pedals maybe? What bike? Hardtail or dually?

 

[muskimo]

keep in mind that while you check you bearings manually one by one, you may find; like you said, they feel or one feels a little more chunky and resists a little more than others, and that is just under finger load. imagine under full crank load while your riding....that feeling you have in your fingers is amplified X amount through your leg pressure, and through the rotational force delivered through the cranks. change ALL your BB bearings and it should be fine. (BB bearings are one thing you should not skint on, buy the best your budget can afford even if you have to wait an extra week) you will thank your self for it down the track when you would have normally had to change them again, and you dont because you spend the coin on quality.

hope this and the others above have been helpful

 

[axie]

Pedals maybe? What bike? Hardtail or dually?

It could potentially be the pedals; they are XT clips. I'll have a play tomorrow.

The bike is a '08 Trance X.

 

[Ride.Dirt.Wake.]

Thanks heaps everyone, will buy new bearings tomorrow

 

[muskimo]

let us know if that fixes it

 

[Broken Bones89]

Sorry to hijack, but I have a similar issue.

Constant creaking on climbs or under any decent load. Thus far, I've replaced the BB, cranks, rear derailleur, chain, and cassette, (all XT) yet the creak remains. My next guess is the rear hub.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

have you checked your spokes? i had a creaking coming from the back end of my commuter bike. turns out like 5 of my spokes were just "sitting" there.

 

[RangaRMX]

Outtacontrol - I cant believe how frustrating that would be

Others - I've felt the bearings each, one certainly has more resistance than the other. a little crunchy, but still seems ok. Do you think this is the problem? If so I'll buy new ones tomorrow.. though I guess it wouldnt hurt anyway.

Question: if it is the bearings, is it dangerous to other parts or myself to leave it for a while?

Thanks for the awesome replies guys.

Don't think it will hurt anything, might make your legs stronger..I had mine busted and undiagnosed for months, replaced the bearings and all was well again..

As long as there's no movement I can't see why leaving shagged bearings would cause major mechanical concerns.

But yes, it is your bearings, 99% sure now you said they're gritty and one side is harder than the other to turn.

Sorry to hijack, but I have a similar issue.

Constant creaking on climbs or under any decent load. Thus far, I've replaced the BB, cranks, rear derailleur, chain, and cassette, (all XT) yet the creak remains. My next guess is the rear hub.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

Clean chain regularly?
Shock in good mechanical order and shock hardware aligned correctly and not damaged or worn?
Suspension pivots torqued correctly and have sufficient grease in bearings?

LONG SHOT!: It's definitely not cables rubbing or hitting something and cables are long enough? This one can be really hard to diagnose, especially if you're not having the obvious symptoms of cable rub somewhere or ghost shifting. This (the noise) should have been obvious fairly early on unless you changed cables recently though.

If it's suspension related the reason it could only do it on climbs or under load is because of the suspension compressing when you're standing or mashing the pedals. See if it does it when stationary and off the bike pushing down on the seat violently to make the suspension simulate pedaling or standing up quickly.

 

[Wardrop]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who constantly battles unwanted noise. If there's one thing I've learnt though, it's that noise is almost always a good indicator that something isn't right. The other day for example, I had a creak whenever I applied power to the pedals. I eventually found that my headset bolts were a little loose. If I didn't worry about the noise and continued riding for months, I don't doubt that the handlebars would have either come off, or spun severely off-centre possibly causing a serious accident.

 

[axie]

Don't think it will hurt anything, might make your legs stronger..I had mine busted and undiagnosed for months, replaced the bearings and all was well again..

As long as there's no movement I can't see why leaving shagged bearings would cause major mechanical concerns.

But yes, it is your bearings, 99% sure now you said they're gritty and one side is harder than the other to turn.

Clean chain regularly?
Shock in good mechanical order and shock hardware aligned correctly and not damaged or worn?
Suspension pivots torqued correctly and have sufficient grease in bearings?

LONG SHOT!: It's definitely not cables rubbing or hitting something and cables are long enough? This one can be really hard to diagnose, especially if you're not having the obvious symptoms of cable rub somewhere or ghost shifting. This (the noise) should have been obvious fairly early on unless you changed cables recently though.

If it's suspension related the reason it could only do it on climbs or under load is because of the suspension compressing when you're standing or mashing the pedals. See if it does it when stationary and off the bike pushing down on the seat violently to make the suspension simulate pedaling or standing up quickly.

I clean my chain every weekend, and the chain has been replaced recently, so I've eliminated it as a source. I've had a good look at all the cables and it looks like they have sufficient length, they were also upgraded recently and there has been no change in the noise.

I've played around a bit with the suspension (stationary, under compression etc) and the bike was silent. But I don't think I can rule it out just yet.

Someone above mentioned the tightness of my spokes. I think they may be on to something; I'll have a look and see how they are sitting tonight.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

 

[Nick_M2r]

Another thing you guys may wanna check is the frame bearings and the frame itself. Cracks in frames can start to show themselves by creaking. My kona bass frame creaked exactly like you guys described. Tried and check over all the moving parts in the bb area, as well as the actual pivot bearings. Turns out that i had a nice big crack under the drive side chain stay

 

[flamshmizer]

If a bearing is slightly gritty all the way through at the same rate its probably ok. As someone stated ealier, a bearings real merit is in its ability to work under load. A bearing spinning freely and easily while it has no load on it may not be suited to high pressure applications. Its all about how they perform under load.

However if it has gritty spots, then its stuffed. And from what you said, if one side is grittier than another, then it is probably stuffed.

 

[jacko13]

it could be the pedal inserts in the crank arm itself.
I had a pair of evolves on my old bike, and it was the steel insert that you thread your pedal into that was creaking. was frustrating, i got new BB bearings, regreased pedals etc, then i narrowed it down by putting the cranks onto another bike with no other parts from the bike they came off. So in that case im not sure if you can pull them out, i'd be suprised if it was easy, i had to buy new cranks.

 

[Ride.Dirt.Wake.]

Took the bottom bracket to the bike shop today, the bearings are worn but fine. Came home, cleaned the threads of everything as best I could, and put it back together. Still creaks. Taking to the bike shop tomorrrow.
Any more ideas?