Chain or Bottom Bracket Creaking Noises

In article <[email hidden]>,

Steve Sr. said:

Hello,

I have a fairly new titanium frame bike with an Ultegra 10 speed
group. The bike now has about 2800 miles on it.

Within the last couple of hundred miles or so it has developed an
annoying creaking noise that seems to emanate from the BB area.

It also seems to be worse at certain temperatures. Last Saturday's
ride started off in the low 50's and the bike was quiet. as the
temperature rose into the mid-upper 70's the noise got louder and more
frequent.

I have also noticed that the noise seems worse at easy/moderate pedal
effort. Under heavy load or if I purposely maintain constant force on
the drive train the noise lessens or goes away. Most of the time the
noise seems synchronized to the crank rotation other times the noise
is pretty much constant and almost sounds synchronized with chain
rotation. Or maybe it is just that weird Wipperman connect link making
its way through the jockey pulleys!

I took the bike to the shop and they removed cleaned and then
reinstalled the BB. They also used a generous amount of anti-seize on
the threads as I could tell from the remnants around the BB cups.

I went out at lunch today when it was in the mid-70's as well and the
noise was still there.

I predict ... it is not the BB. Check the seat post clamp,
and pedals. Check the bars and stem.

Quoted message said:

So fixing the usual cause of these squeaks seems to have made
absolutely no difference. Any other thoughts on where this noise could
be coming from?

My only other thought is that the noise is still in the BB only in
sealed bearing cup and not where the cup attaches to the frame. Do
these external BB designs have this kind of problem? Is it possible
that this BB is toast after only 2800 miles?

Do chains ever make this kind of noise? The chain has been lubed with
Pro-link. Under no load it doesn't appear to have any tight links
unless there is still some grit in there that is causing it to bind
only under load.

--
Michael Press

Check google archives (groups), there is a ton of info on this. I
always, take the pedals off first, re-grease and put back on. That seems to
be where they squeak first, in my experience.

My long-standing creaking problem turned out to be my Salsa seatpost.
I remounted my old American Classic post and everything got quiet. For
the longest time I thought it was the BB, it even sounded like it was
coming from down there. Go figure.

On Thu, 18 May 2006 21:53:22 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have a fairly new titanium frame bike with an Ultegra 10 speed
group. The bike now has about 2800 miles on it.

Within the last couple of hundred miles or so it has developed an
annoying creaking noise that seems to emanate from the BB area.

It also seems to be worse at certain temperatures. Last Saturday's
ride started off in the low 50's and the bike was quiet. as the
temperature rose into the mid-upper 70's the noise got louder and more
frequent.

I have also noticed that the noise seems worse at easy/moderate pedal
effort. Under heavy load or if I purposely maintain constant force on
the drive train the noise lessens or goes away. Most of the time the
noise seems synchronized to the crank rotation other times the noise
is pretty much constant and almost sounds synchronized with chain
rotation. Or maybe it is just that weird Wipperman connect link making
its way through the jockey pulleys!

I took the bike to the shop and they removed cleaned and then
reinstalled the BB. They also used a generous amount of anti-seize on
the threads as I could tell from the remnants around the BB cups.

I went out at lunch today when it was in the mid-70's as well and the
noise was still there.

So fixing the usual cause of these squeaks seems to have made
absolutely no difference. Any other thoughts on where this noise could
be coming from?

My only other thought is that the noise is still in the BB only in
sealed bearing cup and not where the cup attaches to the frame. Do
these external BB designs have this kind of problem? Is it possible
that this BB is toast after only 2800 miles?

Do chains ever make this kind of noise? The chain has been lubed with
Pro-link. Under no load it doesn't appear to have any tight links
unless there is still some grit in there that is causing it to bind
only under load.

Any ideas? Did I miss anything?

Thanks as always for your thoughts,

Steve

Steve Sr. <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have a fairly new titanium frame bike with an Ultegra 10 speed
group. The bike now has about 2800 miles on it.

Within the last couple of hundred miles or so it has developed an
annoying creaking noise that seems to emanate from the BB area.

I had an annoying creak that I thought was the BB but it turned out to
be the handlebar clamp, the noise was telegraphing through the frame.

Quoted message said:

I have also noticed that the noise seems worse at easy/moderate pedal
effort. Under heavy load or if I purposely maintain constant force on
the drive train the noise lessens or goes away. Most of the time the
noise seems synchronized to the crank rotation other times the noise
is pretty much constant and almost sounds synchronized with chain
rotation. Or maybe it is just that weird Wipperman connect link making
its way through the jockey pulleys!

My creak also changed with the amount of force applied to the pedals;
the harder you crank the less weight is applied to the handlebars so the
creak lessens or dissappears.

I have also had a spoke making a click that I thought was the BB and a
creaking pedal.

Sometimes bike noises are hard to pin down while you are on the bike,
perhaps you can have a friend ride with you and see if he can get a
perspective on the source of the noise.

Rich

Steve Sr. said:

Hello,

I have a fairly new titanium frame bike with an Ultegra 10 speed
group. The bike now has about 2800 miles on it.

Within the last couple of hundred miles or so it has developed an
annoying creaking noise that seems to emanate from the BB area.

What I thought was a BB creak ended up being a creak from the rear
wheel clamp point in the dropouts. Tightened the rear QR and it
went away. I couldn't believe it as I was convinced it was coming
from the BB..

--
..dt

"Steve Sr." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have a fairly new titanium frame bike with an Ultegra 10 speed
group. The bike now has about 2800 miles on it.

Within the last couple of hundred miles or so it has developed an
annoying creaking noise that seems to emanate from the BB area.

It also seems to be worse at certain temperatures. Last Saturday's
ride started off in the low 50's and the bike was quiet. as the
temperature rose into the mid-upper 70's the noise got louder and more
frequent.

I have also noticed that the noise seems worse at easy/moderate pedal
effort. Under heavy load or if I purposely maintain constant force on
the drive train the noise lessens or goes away. Most of the time the
noise seems synchronized to the crank rotation other times the noise
is pretty much constant and almost sounds synchronized with chain
rotation. Or maybe it is just that weird Wipperman connect link making
its way through the jockey pulleys!

I took the bike to the shop and they removed cleaned and then
reinstalled the BB. They also used a generous amount of anti-seize on
the threads as I could tell from the remnants around the BB cups.

I went out at lunch today when it was in the mid-70's as well and the
noise was still there.

So fixing the usual cause of these squeaks seems to have made
absolutely no difference. Any other thoughts on where this noise could
be coming from?

My only other thought is that the noise is still in the BB only in
sealed bearing cup and not where the cup attaches to the frame. Do
these external BB designs have this kind of problem? Is it possible
that this BB is toast after only 2800 miles?

Do chains ever make this kind of noise? The chain has been lubed with
Pro-link. Under no load it doesn't appear to have any tight links
unless there is still some grit in there that is causing it to bind
only under load.

Any ideas? Did I miss anything?

Thanks as always for your thoughts,

As other poster already suggested it is likely that the BB isn't the
problem. You have tot do some further research:
- ride out of the saddle. Creak still there?
- swap wheels,
- ride no hands,
- ride with one foot unclipped, then the other.

Just this week I had a clicking sound when pedalling my Singlespeed. More or
less in sync with the cranks. I narrowed it down to pedals, crankset or BB.
I greased all I could think of in this area.. Click still there. Before I
disassembled the BB I went by the LBS. The have this guy who is a master in
localize creaks and clicks. He took my bike rode it around the block, came
back and took the left pedal of and greased the flat surfaceof the spindle
which rest against the crackarm. The only surface I didn't grease.....

Lou

<snip q re creak>

Did you remove your cassette and liberally grease the freehub and each
cog and their bearing surfaces as you put them on? Check the lockring
torque? Recently took care of a lot of creaking on two of my bikes
that way.

Have you checked your hub bearings? According to a coupla guys here,
the hubs are shipped fairly dry - you may just need some grease.

Good luck!

D'ohBoy

Steve Sr. said:

Hello,

I have a fairly new titanium frame bike with an Ultegra 10 speed
group. The bike now has about 2800 miles on it.

Within the last couple of hundred miles or so it has developed an
annoying creaking noise that seems to emanate from the BB area.

It also seems to be worse at certain temperatures. Last Saturday's
ride started off in the low 50's and the bike was quiet. as the
temperature rose into the mid-upper 70's the noise got louder and more
frequent.

I have also noticed that the noise seems worse at easy/moderate pedal
effort. Under heavy load or if I purposely maintain constant force on
the drive train the noise lessens or goes away. Most of the time the
noise seems synchronized to the crank rotation other times the noise
is pretty much constant and almost sounds synchronized with chain
rotation. Or maybe it is just that weird Wipperman connect link making
its way through the jockey pulleys!

I took the bike to the shop and they removed cleaned and then
reinstalled the BB. They also used a generous amount of anti-seize on
the threads as I could tell from the remnants around the BB cups.

I went out at lunch today when it was in the mid-70's as well and the
noise was still there.

So fixing the usual cause of these squeaks seems to have made
absolutely no difference. Any other thoughts on where this noise could
be coming from?

My only other thought is that the noise is still in the BB only in
sealed bearing cup and not where the cup attaches to the frame. Do
these external BB designs have this kind of problem? Is it possible
that this BB is toast after only 2800 miles?

Grease onto the BB shaft and splines?Pedals? Ride w/o cycling shoes?
Didn't the bike shop tetest ride the thing? These BBs are susceptible
to being noisey if things aren't tight and greased.

Quoted message said:

Do chains ever make this kind of noise? The chain has been lubed with
Pro-link. Under no load it doesn't appear to have any tight links
unless there is still some grit in there that is causing it to bind
only under load.

Any ideas? Did I miss anything?

Thanks as always for your thoughts,

Steve

Steve Sr. said:

Hello,

I have a fairly new titanium frame bike with an Ultegra 10 speed
group. The bike now has about 2800 miles on it.

Within the last couple of hundred miles or so it has developed an
annoying creaking noise that seems to emanate from the BB area.

It also seems to be worse at certain temperatures. Last Saturday's
ride started off in the low 50's and the bike was quiet. as the
temperature rose into the mid-upper 70's the noise got louder and more
frequent.

I have also noticed that the noise seems worse at easy/moderate pedal
effort. Under heavy load or if I purposely maintain constant force on
the drive train the noise lessens or goes away. Most of the time the
noise seems synchronized to the crank rotation other times the noise
is pretty much constant and almost sounds synchronized with chain
rotation. Or maybe it is just that weird Wipperman connect link making
its way through the jockey pulleys!

I took the bike to the shop and they removed cleaned and then
reinstalled the BB. They also used a generous amount of anti-seize on
the threads as I could tell from the remnants around the BB cups.

I went out at lunch today when it was in the mid-70's as well and the
noise was still there.

So fixing the usual cause of these squeaks seems to have made
absolutely no difference. Any other thoughts on where this noise could
be coming from?

My only other thought is that the noise is still in the BB only in
sealed bearing cup and not where the cup attaches to the frame. Do
these external BB designs have this kind of problem? Is it possible
that this BB is toast after only 2800 miles?

Do chains ever make this kind of noise? The chain has been lubed with
Pro-link. Under no load it doesn't appear to have any tight links
unless there is still some grit in there that is causing it to bind
only under load.

Any ideas? Did I miss anything?

Thanks as always for your thoughts,

Steve

The last creaking bottom bracket on one of my bikes was fixed when I
greased the stem quill.

On Thu, 18 May 2006 21:53:22 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have a fairly new titanium frame bike with an Ultegra 10 speed
group. The bike now has about 2800 miles on it.

Within the last couple of hundred miles or so it has developed an
annoying creaking noise that seems to emanate from the BB area.

It also seems to be worse at certain temperatures. Last Saturday's
ride started off in the low 50's and the bike was quiet. as the
temperature rose into the mid-upper 70's the noise got louder and more
frequent.

I have also noticed that the noise seems worse at easy/moderate pedal
effort. Under heavy load or if I purposely maintain constant force on
the drive train the noise lessens or goes away. Most of the time the
noise seems synchronized to the crank rotation other times the noise
is pretty much constant and almost sounds synchronized with chain
rotation. Or maybe it is just that weird Wipperman connect link making
its way through the jockey pulleys!

I took the bike to the shop and they removed cleaned and then
reinstalled the BB. They also used a generous amount of anti-seize on
the threads as I could tell from the remnants around the BB cups.

I went out at lunch today when it was in the mid-70's as well and the
noise was still there.

So fixing the usual cause of these squeaks seems to have made
absolutely no difference. Any other thoughts on where this noise could
be coming from?

My only other thought is that the noise is still in the BB only in
sealed bearing cup and not where the cup attaches to the frame. Do
these external BB designs have this kind of problem? Is it possible
that this BB is toast after only 2800 miles?

Do chains ever make this kind of noise? The chain has been lubed with
Pro-link. Under no load it doesn't appear to have any tight links
unless there is still some grit in there that is causing it to bind
only under load.

Any ideas? Did I miss anything?

Thanks as always for your thoughts,

Steve

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I cleaned and relubed the chain
using pro-link and following the directions on the bottle to wipe off
the excess after application. I also took the pedals loose and
re-greased them.

Thing were pretty quiet for about the first 30 miles on today's metric
ride and then the drive train started to get noisy again although not
nearly as bad as before.

I am begriming to think that the chain is picking up grit which is
getting into the rollers which causes noise as the grit gets crushed.
The proverbial sand in a bearing scratching noise. This noise then
gets transmitted to the frame through the BB.

BTW, When I had a the chain all clean before I lubed it I measured it
and it was barely perceptible over the 12" mark so chain wear is not
an issue.

Thanks,

Steve

D'ohBoy said:

<snip q re creak>

Did you remove your cassette and liberally grease the freehub and each
cog and their bearing surfaces as you put them on? Check the lockring
torque? Recently took care of a lot of creaking on two of my bikes
that way.

Not yet. This may be next.

Quoted message said:

Have you checked your hub bearings? According to a coupla guys here,
the hubs are shipped fairly dry - you may just need some grease.

These wheels have sealed bearing hubs. They better not be creaking
with only 2800 miles on them!

Quoted message said:

Good luck!

D'ohBoy

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Steve Sr. said:

Hello,

I have a fairly new titanium frame bike with an Ultegra 10 speed
group. The bike now has about 2800 miles on it.

Within the last couple of hundred miles or so it has developed an
annoying creaking noise that seems to emanate from the BB area.

It also seems to be worse at certain temperatures. Last Saturday's
ride started off in the low 50's and the bike was quiet. as the
temperature rose into the mid-upper 70's the noise got louder and more
frequent.

I have also noticed that the noise seems worse at easy/moderate pedal
effort. Under heavy load or if I purposely maintain constant force on
the drive train the noise lessens or goes away. Most of the time the
noise seems synchronized to the crank rotation other times the noise
is pretty much constant and almost sounds synchronized with chain
rotation. Or maybe it is just that weird Wipperman connect link making
its way through the jockey pulleys!

I took the bike to the shop and they removed cleaned and then
reinstalled the BB. They also used a generous amount of anti-seize on
the threads as I could tell from the remnants around the BB cups.

I went out at lunch today when it was in the mid-70's as well and the
noise was still there.

So fixing the usual cause of these squeaks seems to have made
absolutely no difference. Any other thoughts on where this noise could
be coming from?

My only other thought is that the noise is still in the BB only in
sealed bearing cup and not where the cup attaches to the frame. Do
these external BB designs have this kind of problem? Is it possible
that this BB is toast after only 2800 miles?

Grease onto the BB shaft and splines?Pedals? Ride w/o cycling shoes?
Didn't the bike shop tetest ride the thing? These BBs are susceptible
to being noisey if things aren't tight and greased.

The pedals are now greased. I haven't pulled the cranks off yet.

Unfortunately, this shop seems to have problems with straight forward
things. I have little confidence in their ability or willingness to
take the time required to diagnose complicated issues such as this.

Steve

On Sun, 21 May 2006 22:15:02 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 18 May 2006 21:53:22 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have a fairly new titanium frame bike with an Ultegra 10 speed
group. The bike now has about 2800 miles on it.

Within the last couple of hundred miles or so it has developed an
annoying creaking noise that seems to emanate from the BB area.

It also seems to be worse at certain temperatures. Last Saturday's
ride started off in the low 50's and the bike was quiet. as the
temperature rose into the mid-upper 70's the noise got louder and more
frequent.

I have also noticed that the noise seems worse at easy/moderate pedal
effort. Under heavy load or if I purposely maintain constant force on
the drive train the noise lessens or goes away. Most of the time the
noise seems synchronized to the crank rotation other times the noise
is pretty much constant and almost sounds synchronized with chain
rotation. Or maybe it is just that weird Wipperman connect link making
its way through the jockey pulleys!

I took the bike to the shop and they removed cleaned and then
reinstalled the BB. They also used a generous amount of anti-seize on
the threads as I could tell from the remnants around the BB cups.

I went out at lunch today when it was in the mid-70's as well and the
noise was still there.

So fixing the usual cause of these squeaks seems to have made
absolutely no difference. Any other thoughts on where this noise could
be coming from?

My only other thought is that the noise is still in the BB only in
sealed bearing cup and not where the cup attaches to the frame. Do
these external BB designs have this kind of problem? Is it possible
that this BB is toast after only 2800 miles?

Do chains ever make this kind of noise? The chain has been lubed with
Pro-link. Under no load it doesn't appear to have any tight links
unless there is still some grit in there that is causing it to bind
only under load.

Any ideas? Did I miss anything?

Thanks as always for your thoughts,

Steve

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I cleaned and relubed the chain
using pro-link and following the directions on the bottle to wipe off
the excess after application. I also took the pedals loose and
re-greased them.

Thing were pretty quiet for about the first 30 miles on today's metric
ride and then the drive train started to get noisy again although not
nearly as bad as before.

I am begriming to think that the chain is picking up grit which is
getting into the rollers which causes noise as the grit gets crushed.
The proverbial sand in a bearing scratching noise. This noise then
gets transmitted to the frame through the BB.

BTW, When I had a the chain all clean before I lubed it I measured it
and it was barely perceptible over the 12" mark so chain wear is not
an issue.

Thanks,

Steve

Here is another followup. Regreasing the pedals seemed to get rid of
some of the noise. However a lot of it is still there.

I also removed the casette and greased the outside of the freehub and
then put the casette back on. I couldn't tell that this made any
difference.

On recent rides I have noticed the noise is significantly worse when
the chain is in the lower gears. Under these conditions the chain line
is not good. What might be more important is that there is more stress
on the freehub bearings like this.

The noise almost goes away in the higher gears. Under this condition
the chain is almost directly on top of the hub bearing

I am begining to think that this freehub might be on its way out after
only 3000 miles. On the ride today I noticed multiple instances of the
freehub going "tink" when engaging. I also noticed several times that
it seemed to slip before engaging. These aren't good signs for a
healthy freehub

Now all I have to do is figure out how to get these Rea-Design sealed
bearing hubs apart so that I can remove the freehub and flush it. I
like the idea of sealed bearings but what good is it if the freehub
isn't sealed?

Steve

My little annoying creaking noise came from the rear wheel. The spokes
will stretch and the rear (and front) wheel will need to be re-trued
after a month of riding or so.

Steve Sr. <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have a fairly new titanium frame bike with an Ultegra 10 speed
group. The bike now has about 2800 miles on it.

Within the last couple of hundred miles or so it has developed an
annoying creaking noise that seems to emanate from the BB area.

It also seems to be worse at certain temperatures. Last Saturday's
ride started off in the low 50's and the bike was quiet. as the
temperature rose into the mid-upper 70's the noise got louder and more
frequent.

I have also noticed that the noise seems worse at easy/moderate pedal
effort. Under heavy load or if I purposely maintain constant force on
the drive train the noise lessens or goes away. Most of the time the
noise seems synchronized to the crank rotation other times the noise
is pretty much constant and almost sounds synchronized with chain
rotation. Or maybe it is just that weird Wipperman connect link making
its way through the jockey pulleys!

I took the bike to the shop and they removed cleaned and then
reinstalled the BB. They also used a generous amount of anti-seize on
the threads as I could tell from the remnants around the BB cups.

I went out at lunch today when it was in the mid-70's as well and the
noise was still there.

So fixing the usual cause of these squeaks seems to have made
absolutely no difference. Any other thoughts on where this noise could
be coming from?

My only other thought is that the noise is still in the BB only in
sealed bearing cup and not where the cup attaches to the frame. Do
these external BB designs have this kind of problem? Is it possible
that this BB is toast after only 2800 miles?

Do chains ever make this kind of noise? The chain has been lubed with
Pro-link. Under no load it doesn't appear to have any tight links
unless there is still some grit in there that is causing it to bind
only under load.

Any ideas? Did I miss anything?

Thanks as always for your thoughts,

Steve

*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***

<snip suggestion that poorly-tensioned wheels are the issue>

Chris:

Your little annoying creaks are due to a very poorly tensioned wheel
(spoke nipples releasing twist in the spokes). If the wheel needs
re-truing every month, either you need a new wheel, or, more likely, a
new wheelbuilder.

D'ohBoy

this is a leading caws of terminal muffler bearing!!

"D'ohBoy" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1149012969.404601.231910
@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

<snip suggestion that poorly-tensioned wheels are the issue>

Chris:

Your little annoying creaks are due to a very poorly tensioned wheel
(spoke nipples releasing twist in the spokes). If the wheel needs
re-truing every month, either you need a new wheel, or, more likely, a
new wheelbuilder.

D'ohBoy

Yeah I know. I did both by building a new set of wheels myself.
36 spoke CXP-33
15/14 double-butted
Ultegra Hubs

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by dtmeister [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

What I thought was a BB creak ended up being a creak from the rear
wheel clamp point in the dropouts. Tightened the rear QR and it
went away. I couldn't believe it as I was convinced it was coming
from the BB..
..dt

Wow! Some great advice on here, I was on the verge of forking out for a new BB when I thought I would read through this lot first. Just tightened my rear wheel QR and the creaking has gone! Thanks to dtmeister and everyone else. :-)