CREAK DETECTIVE! How to Resolve Your Noisy, Squeaky, Creaky, Bike!

Ha, Phil… the joke’s on you. I had a noise, replaced my BB and the noise went away… until I rode it again 2 days later and the noise was back. Darn you! Haha (was the seat post)

As a bike shop employee, I can say checking chainring bolts is always on the short list.

I’m 50. It was my knee. Well both of them. And my hips and ankles. Bike is working great. It was not the BB.

I had a squeaky bottom bracket the last few days. So the bike shop had to fix it by tightening the bolts of the chainring. Classic bottom bracket fix.

I never thought I'd see Jim Carrey play a bike mechanic playing Sherlock Holmes

For how many Cannondale’s Phil has rode, it’s amazing how it’s never been the Bottom Bracket.

#1. Stand up and pedal. If the noise goes away, it’s the seat/seat post. This is number one because it’s the easiest. Do the easy stuff first👍😀

Still pretty sure it's the BB

I love this. Last year I was on a group ride here in San Diego and found myself riding next to Olympic Track Medalist, Nelson Vails. Another rider had a creak we could all hear and swore it was the bottom bracket. Nelson said, “It’s never the bottom bracket.” The other cyclist loudly disagreed. Nelson sat up and emoted “WTF would I know? I only have a silver medal in bike riding.” I remembered that and always problem solve creaks starting at other points—and it’s usually my pedals (speedplay needs to be periodically regreased) or a worn chain. FFW to this month where I’ve tried all other points that I can think of and finally took it to my LBS where I described what I’d looked at already and when I experienced the creak. I got a call the next day. It WAS the bottom bracket bearings that were worn out. 😂 So, it’s ALMOST never the bottom bracket.

Guy brought in his bike after being to 3 different bike shops, one replaced the Bottom bracket and the others re greased and re torqued everything etc. Still creaked. Dude was pulling his hair out. After looking the bike over on the stand could see nothing obvious. Take it for a ride and sure enough creaks all around. back in the stand silence. Put the bike on the ground and had one of the sales guys sit on the bike while holding the stand for balance. Got him to lean to the right, silence. Leaned to the left, creak. Finally diagnosed as a the pedal threads due to the owner accidentally cross threading the pedal at one point when swapping pedals and had been slowly tearing the threads of the crank arm out. Replaced the arm and silence again. Needless to say it was not the bottom bracket.

My bottom bracket creak was my rear quick release not being tight enough. Yes, I ride a bike with rim brakes. I even have the lawyer tabs filed off.

Never rule out the seatpost, particularly an alloy one. I had a nerve-racking creak once (2015 Giant Defy alloy frame) only when in the saddle and pedaling, and very pronounced when climbing. The LBS couldn't figure it out. I ended up removing the seatpost and what I discovered was horrific. After a good cleaning and some anti-seize lube, I haven't had the issue since. Keep this in mind if you ride in inclement weather. Be safe everyone!

The two hardest creaks to track down for me were from a bad saddle (creaking against its rails), and slightly dirty cleats creaking in my pedals, both of which I diagnosed after replacing the bottom bracket…..

The little rings on the valve stems.... drove me NUTS trying to figure out what was rattling. Also, sometimes the brake cables inside your frame, depending on how they were installed, can knock against your frame if you are out of saddle giving your bike the business..

Check where your spokes cross each other (if your wheel is laced that way) - cleaning those cross points and potentially a dab of lube has fixed creaks under heavy pedaling that sure sounded like a bottom bracket creak! Oh and external cabled bikes - ferrule contacts/zip tie points/etc! And if you're convinced it's the BB - brakes on hard and step on each pedal without allowing the bike to move - great check for pedal spindle issues too.

I'm dealing with this right now! First time it was new pedals. Now, idk. Bike shop has it right now. They said it's never the bottom bracket. 😂 You're the best Phil!

It’s most-certainly the front-derailleur cable slapping against your right crank arm while pedaling. It will drive you insane for almost a month as you are repeatedly trying (and failing) to locate the origin of that obnoxious clicking sound. Have fun screwing around with your limit screws as you wrongfully believe it’s your chain slamming against the front derailleur, you absolute legend.

Mitch killed it on the editing on this one! Not that your videos aren't normally great, but this was a step up!

Most often, it’s the saddle or the seatpost. Once, I had a squeaky noise from the bottom bracket area, but it was not the BB - it was a slightly loose spindle. I hadn’t applied enough torque when installing the chainset, and it got looser and squeakier with time.

Traveling to Mareira next month so had to get some different gearing for my trusty old FUSO. Had an 11-32 cassette from an old MTB in the drawer so cleaned that up nice and shiny and all worked fine for a few weeks then developed the dreaded creak. Checked everything (yes BB as well) and even rebuilt the free hub. Then I finally dismantled the whole cassette and cleaned each cog and spacer. That fixed it.