Lowered expectations...

Unbelievably said:

...😕
Too bad my first post has me grasping for air.
I have less than 300km on my new Trek 7500.
It is the first real bike that I have ever bought.
My problem is in the head set.
Sqweak is it's favorite word...🙁
I took it to the dealer on two occasions.
The first time was to correct the side to side sqweak.
The shop owner torqued down some bolts and
this calmed it down for about 2km.
Next came the front to back sqweak.
Back to the shop and he replaces the spacers.
This worked! However, now I have new sound...😠

I'm getting impatient with my bike and it's kwerks.

Any advice on what I might be able to do would be great.
Thanks!

Anyone?
Is this something normal I should get used to?
I could if the bike was cheap, however it was not.

Unbelievably said:

...😕
Too bad my first post has me grasping for air.
I have less than 300km on my new Trek 7500.
It is the first real bike that I have ever bought.
My problem is in the head set.
Sqweak is it's favorite word...🙁
I took it to the dealer on two occasions.
The first time was to correct the side to side sqweak.
The shop owner torqued down some bolts and
this calmed it down for about 2km.
Next came the front to back sqweak.
Back to the shop and he replaces the spacers.
This worked! However, now I have new sound...😠

I'm getting impatient with my bike and it's kwerks.

Any advice on what I might be able to do would be great.
Thanks!

Keep taking it back to the shop until they get it right. Either it is adjustment, poor installation, or a defective unit. All should be covered by the shop on a new bike. If they will not help you, contact the Trek manufacturers rep for your area. You can get the contact information from the Trek website. Good luck.

Unbelievably said:

...😕
Too bad my first post has me grasping for air.
I have less than 300km on my new Trek 7500.
It is the first real bike that I have ever bought.
My problem is in the head set.
Sqweak is it's favorite word...🙁
I took it to the dealer on two occasions.
The first time was to correct the side to side sqweak.
The shop owner torqued down some bolts and
this calmed it down for about 2km.
Next came the front to back sqweak.
Back to the shop and he replaces the spacers.
This worked! However, now I have new sound...😠

I'm getting impatient with my bike and it's kwerks.

Any advice on what I might be able to do would be great.
Thanks!

Keep taking it back to the shop until they get it right. Either it is adjustment, poor installation, or a defective unit. All should be covered by the shop on a new bike. If they will not help you, contact the Trek manufacturers rep for your area. You can get the contact information from the Trek website. Good luck.

Thanks John M,
This has been playing with my emotion like teenage love.
When I have gotten the bike worked on,
it comes back a different bike and I'm so happy!
Then all of the sudden, sqweak,squeak,squeak.

Thanks John M,
This has been playing with my emotion like teenage love.
When I have gotten the bike worked on,
it comes back a different bike and I'm so happy!
Then all of the sudden, sqweak,squeak,squeak.

Unbelievably said:

...😕
Too bad my first post has me grasping for air.
I have less than 300km on my new Trek 7500.
It is the first real bike that I have ever bought.
My problem is in the head set.
Sqweak is it's favorite word...🙁
I took it to the dealer on two occasions.
The first time was to correct the side to side sqweak.
The shop owner torqued down some bolts and
this calmed it down for about 2km.
Next came the front to back sqweak.
Back to the shop and he replaces the spacers.
This worked! However, now I have new sound...😠

I'm getting impatient with my bike and it's kwerks.

Any advice on what I might be able to do would be great.
Thanks!

I must say that is quite the poetic post.

Unbelievably said:

...😕
Too bad my first post has me grasping for air.
I have less than 300km on my new Trek 7500.
It is the first real bike that I have ever bought.
My problem is in the head set.
Sqweak is it's favorite word...🙁
I took it to the dealer on two occasions.
The first time was to correct the side to side sqweak.
The shop owner torqued down some bolts and
this calmed it down for about 2km.
Next came the front to back sqweak.
Back to the shop and he replaces the spacers.
This worked! However, now I have new sound...😠

I'm getting impatient with my bike and it's kwerks.

Any advice on what I might be able to do would be great.
Thanks!

I must say that is quite the poetic post.

Unbelievably said:

...😕
Too bad my first post has me grasping for air.
I have less than 300km on my new Trek 7500.
It is the first real bike that I have ever bought.
My problem is in the head set.
Sqweak is it's favorite word...🙁
I took it to the dealer on two occasions.
The first time was to correct the side to side sqweak.
The shop owner torqued down some bolts and
this calmed it down for about 2km.
Next came the front to back sqweak.
Back to the shop and he replaces the spacers.
This worked! However, now I have new sound...😠

I'm getting impatient with my bike and it's kwerks.

Any advice on what I might be able to do would be great.

Thanks!

Drive train squeaks can be brutal to get rid of, so don't be too hard on your LBS.
One thing that can fix a lot of squeaks takes a fair amount of time to do. Anytime I put a new crankset on one of my own bikes I completely dismantle the crankset and grease all of the chainring bolts, the bolt retainers, and all of the mating surfaces in the crankset. Restated, that means I grease everything that can rub against another metal surface. Any two metal pieces that can rub against each other - grease them both. Now, put it all back together. This will take at least a half hour to do. Likely over an hour with a triple. But, this fixes a LOT of mystery squeaks, pops, and clicks.

You can remove the BB and regrease. Or, add teflon tape and regrease.

Still got problems? Replace any clipless pedals with platforms and make sure it's not the pedals or shoes.

I have stated the likely fixes in the reverse order that you should investigate. First, eliminate the pedals and shoes as a source. Then, the BB. Then, the crankset.

Yours is a very common problem and often needs patience to affect a proper fix. Best luck with your fix ;-)

Unbelievably said:

...😕
Too bad my first post has me grasping for air.
I have less than 300km on my new Trek 7500.
It is the first real bike that I have ever bought.
My problem is in the head set.
Sqweak is it's favorite word...🙁
I took it to the dealer on two occasions.
The first time was to correct the side to side sqweak.
The shop owner torqued down some bolts and
this calmed it down for about 2km.
Next came the front to back sqweak.
Back to the shop and he replaces the spacers.
This worked! However, now I have new sound...😠

I'm getting impatient with my bike and it's kwerks.

Any advice on what I might be able to do would be great.

Thanks!

Drive train squeaks can be brutal to get rid of, so don't be too hard on your LBS.
One thing that can fix a lot of squeaks takes a fair amount of time to do. Anytime I put a new crankset on one of my own bikes I completely dismantle the crankset and grease all of the chainring bolts, the bolt retainers, and all of the mating surfaces in the crankset. Restated, that means I grease everything that can rub against another metal surface. Any two metal pieces that can rub against each other - grease them both. Now, put it all back together. This will take at least a half hour to do. Likely over an hour with a triple. But, this fixes a LOT of mystery squeaks, pops, and clicks.

You can remove the BB and regrease. Or, add teflon tape and regrease.

Still got problems? Replace any clipless pedals with platforms and make sure it's not the pedals or shoes.

I have stated the likely fixes in the reverse order that you should investigate. First, eliminate the pedals and shoes as a source. Then, the BB. Then, the crankset.

Yours is a very common problem and often needs patience to affect a proper fix. Best luck with your fix ;-)

fish156 said:

Drive train squeaks can be brutal to get rid of, so don't be too hard on your LBS.
One thing that can fix a lot of squeaks takes a fair amount of time to do. Anytime I put a new crankset on one of my own bikes I completely dismantle the crankset and grease all of the chainring bolts, the bolt retainers, and all of the mating surfaces in the crankset. Restated, that means I grease everything that can rub against another metal surface. Any two metal pieces that can rub against each other - grease them both. Now, put it all back together. This will take at least a half hour to do. Likely over an hour with a triple. But, this fixes a LOT of mystery squeaks, pops, and clicks.

You can remove the BB and regrease. Or, add teflon tape and regrease.

Still got problems? Replace any clipless pedals with platforms and make sure it's not the pedals or shoes.

I have stated the likely fixes in the reverse order that you should investigate. First, eliminate the pedals and shoes as a source. Then, the BB. Then, the crankset.

Yours is a very common problem and often needs patience to affect a proper fix. Best luck with your fix ;-)

Thanks Fish,
I believe that you idea could apply to me.
However, the sound does come from the head-set.
I'm sure that if I was a mechanic or at least a techi.,
I could deal with it myself.

Do you think I should leave it completly up to my LBS?
I'd hate to open it up then have my dealer tell me I'm screwed
because I took it into my own hands.

fish156 said:

Drive train squeaks can be brutal to get rid of, so don't be too hard on your LBS.
One thing that can fix a lot of squeaks takes a fair amount of time to do. Anytime I put a new crankset on one of my own bikes I completely dismantle the crankset and grease all of the chainring bolts, the bolt retainers, and all of the mating surfaces in the crankset. Restated, that means I grease everything that can rub against another metal surface. Any two metal pieces that can rub against each other - grease them both. Now, put it all back together. This will take at least a half hour to do. Likely over an hour with a triple. But, this fixes a LOT of mystery squeaks, pops, and clicks.

You can remove the BB and regrease. Or, add teflon tape and regrease.

Still got problems? Replace any clipless pedals with platforms and make sure it's not the pedals or shoes.

I have stated the likely fixes in the reverse order that you should investigate. First, eliminate the pedals and shoes as a source. Then, the BB. Then, the crankset.

Yours is a very common problem and often needs patience to affect a proper fix. Best luck with your fix ;-)

Thanks Fish,
I believe that you idea could apply to me.
However, the sound does come from the head-set.
I'm sure that if I was a mechanic or at least a techi.,
I could deal with it myself.

Do you think I should leave it completly up to my LBS?
I'd hate to open it up then have my dealer tell me I'm screwed
because I took it into my own hands.

Unbelievably said:

Thanks Fish,
I believe that you idea could apply to me.
However, the sound does come from the head-set.
I'm sure that if I was a mechanic or at least a techi.,
I could deal with it myself.

Do you think I should leave it completly up to my LBS?
I'd hate to open it up then have my dealer tell me I'm screwed
because I took it into my own hands.

Sorry, I got crankset in my mind for some reason.

Ok, squeaking headset .....

New bikes frequently have rubber environmental seals in the headsets and the wheel hubs. I have seen, on several occasions, where these will make a really annoying squeak. All this usually turns out to be is a bit of dry rubber rubbing against metal. The fix is very easy. Just put a drop of light oil (TriFlow is perfect) in between the seal and the metal. Hubs are easy, as the rubber seals are exposed and you just peel them back a tiny bit and drop the oil in. Headsets are a bit tougher, as you need to remove the stem and find where the rubber seal and the steerer tube meet each other. Don't forget that this happens in two places - both at the top AND the bottom of the head tube. The last head tube squeak I fixed was at the bottom. So, for the bottom, you need to remove the stem and any spacers and drop the fork down far enough to expose the bottom rubber seal. Any decent mechanic can do this, put in a drop of oil, and get the whole thing back together in just a couple of minutes. It's not a big deal, but it is extremely annoying until you get it quieted down. You will know right away if this is what fixes the problem. Hope this helps.

Unbelievably said:

Thanks Fish,
I believe that you idea could apply to me.
However, the sound does come from the head-set.
I'm sure that if I was a mechanic or at least a techi.,
I could deal with it myself.

Do you think I should leave it completly up to my LBS?
I'd hate to open it up then have my dealer tell me I'm screwed
because I took it into my own hands.

Sorry, I got crankset in my mind for some reason.

Ok, squeaking headset .....

New bikes frequently have rubber environmental seals in the headsets and the wheel hubs. I have seen, on several occasions, where these will make a really annoying squeak. All this usually turns out to be is a bit of dry rubber rubbing against metal. The fix is very easy. Just put a drop of light oil (TriFlow is perfect) in between the seal and the metal. Hubs are easy, as the rubber seals are exposed and you just peel them back a tiny bit and drop the oil in. Headsets are a bit tougher, as you need to remove the stem and find where the rubber seal and the steerer tube meet each other. Don't forget that this happens in two places - both at the top AND the bottom of the head tube. The last head tube squeak I fixed was at the bottom. So, for the bottom, you need to remove the stem and any spacers and drop the fork down far enough to expose the bottom rubber seal. Any decent mechanic can do this, put in a drop of oil, and get the whole thing back together in just a couple of minutes. It's not a big deal, but it is extremely annoying until you get it quieted down. You will know right away if this is what fixes the problem. Hope this helps.

I bought a Trek 7700FX for my commuter and initially experienced the same bar/headset mystery squeak. I took it back and we chased that squeak but could never eliminate it. I switched out to a new bar and headset, and the squeak left the upper part of the bike but another one showed up in the lower. It took little more than a service of the bottom bracket and the issue was solved. They never gave me any grief about chasing it either, but then again I told them up front that it was their bike if they couldn't fix it.