Creaky Creaks?

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Philip Barrett

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Dec 21, 2021, 12:53:40 PM12/21/21
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Trying to diagnose a problem here, there's a creak when I apply a more powerful stroke on the Platypus. It sounds like it's coming from the bottom bracket area but of course, hard to tell when I'm riding. If I'm just spinning along it doesn't appear. 

So far I've checked the bottom bracket (tight & smooth), tightened up crank arms & chainring bolts and basically gone through the rest of the bike checking for anything loose but the problem persists & maybe even getting a little worse.

Any ideas?

Victor Hanson

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Dec 21, 2021, 1:18:33 PM12/21/21
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First; was the bottom bracket faced and chased prior to BB installation?  That's 98% + the most of the time culprit.  

Secondly, its the old school method of doing, assuming the BB was faced and chased, is the fixed side snugged in with blue loctite?   

Get both of those criteria right, you should have no sound. 

VTW


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VIctor R. Hanson
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Patrick Moore

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Dec 21, 2021, 1:24:47 PM12/21/21
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Victor may well be right in his diagnosis, but just in case, because I've found them myself to cause elusive creaks that occured in time to pedaling rhythm.

1. If the creak occurs while seated, try tightening or greasing the mating interfaces of the seatpost in the frame and the seatpost cradle.

2. Try tightening the handlebar clamp, or grease the bar-to-bar-clamp interface.

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Patrick Moore
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Philip Barrett

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Dec 21, 2021, 1:27:05 PM12/21/21
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BB was installed by Rivendell and looks to be typical of their high quality work.

You know I thought seatpost, then thought...nah...but actually that does make sense. Hex head in hand now.

Patrick Moore

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Dec 21, 2021, 1:36:01 PM12/21/21
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I know, it seems very unlikely, but I've found bars and seatposts to cause this sort of creak after long and anguished searches, and much to my surprise.

Ryan

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Dec 21, 2021, 1:48:30 PM12/21/21
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or pedals if they're MKS ...had this happen to me twice

Patrick Moore

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Dec 21, 2021, 2:19:32 PM12/21/21
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Now that you mention it, yes, I've had pedals cause this sort of
elusive cadence-related creaking or, in my case, more of a clicking.
In this case it was a pair of ancient Dura Ace SPD pedals, and I
solved the problem by regreasing them (simply unscrewed body from
bearing core, filled bearing space in body with grease, shoved
bearing/spindle core back in and tightened down: Robert
Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury's yer uncle!

One more tangential but wholly not-unrelated incident: I acquired a
sudden, rhythmic "click" while pedaling one particular bike, and could
not find the source. After long fretting, I tripped over the reason:
the aiglet on the slightly too-long lace of my left SPD shoe -- which
I had just started wearing in preference to the Velcro shoes I usually
wore -- was hitting the dt water bottle cage.
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Philip Barrett

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Dec 21, 2021, 2:31:29 PM12/21/21
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Pedals are MKS but already checked and running fine. I have had the shoelace issue before though!

I did the seatpost (which was tight) and the saddle clamp (which wasn't particularly) so will try & get out for a test ride before my positive COVID test from this morning kicks in!

Joe Bernard

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Dec 21, 2021, 4:28:18 PM12/21/21
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As was advised and you may want to double-check, make sure there's grease in the seattube. Of course it may just be a new Brooks breaking in (if you have one), those saddles used to drive me crazy until I adopted the same position as minor rattles in my car: "Yep, that happens."

spencer robinson

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Dec 22, 2021, 5:13:41 PM12/22/21
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I was chasing a creak on my Sam last year, it was driving me nuts, the creak was on every cycle of the cranks, I pulled the crank arms, checked the bottom bracket, greased and reinstalled the crank arms, swapped out the pedals, still creaking. Greased the seatpost.
Actually replaced the bottom bracket, creak still there….turned out to be the rear axle moving ever so slightly in the drop-out,. I cleaned and reinstalled the quick release and the noise was gone. 

Philip Barrett

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Dec 22, 2021, 7:01:28 PM12/22/21
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Had a lovely evening ride tonight in blissful silence. It was the seat rails!

Thanks for all the great suggestions, not so obvious solution.

upyou...@yahoo.com

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Dec 28, 2021, 5:01:22 PM12/28/21
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Great info here.....I just notice some creaky creaks on my Platy while riding last weekend.  It's been too wet and chilly for me to get back out and check it and it is waiting for me in my garage for diagnosis.  I will check all of the above.   Thanks for all the advice.
Kate in New Jersey

Philip Barrett

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Dec 28, 2021, 5:03:44 PM12/28/21
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Good luck, I have a Nitto S83 seat post so being a dual-bolt it was able to become quite loose without any noticeable changes to riding position.

Patrick Kohout

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Dec 29, 2021, 12:33:30 PM12/29/21
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Especially if your freehub body is aluminum, check to ensure there is not galling upon it caused by the cassette. 
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