I am in the process of eliminating the creaking and squeaking noises from my 2003 Intense Uzzi SLX.
Since I have not completed this task, and it seems that it may be ongoing, I thought I would post
what I have done so far. I found 4 sources for the creak that gets amplified through the frame. The
first two are common, and they were the bottom bracket and the seat post. There are many posts about
those problems.
My seatpost requires regular lubrication. Does anyone have experience on whether carbon fiber or
powder coated aluminum are better to prevent creaking? I have an Easton powder coated aluminum post.
I emailed Easton to ask their advice, but never received a reply.
The third problem was the suspension pivot bearings. Intense told me to lube the pivot bolts, and
check the bearings while I was there. 4 of the 8 bearings were bad. The bike had 650 miles on it,
and it had been creaking for a while. (I rode a lot last winter, and washed my bike too often I
think.) The two main pivot bearings below the bottom bracket were almost seized. BTW, the torque on
the 4 link plate bearings is 120 inch-pounds. The torque on the main pivot bearings is 70
inch-pounds, and there is a set screw on the main pivot that must be lossened before removal &
tightened after torquing. Intense said to use blue locktite on all pivot bolts. The Intense warranty
manager said the lube is not important, but that they use Park Polylube 1000. I used Magalube G with
teflon. The last two pivots are near the rear axle. Intense said the torque is not important on
these because they bottom out. I used 130 inch-pounds and blue locktite. I replaced 6 of the 8
bearings. The bearings near the rear axle were still good.
The link plate bearings (4) were Enduro 608 2RS MAX. I replaced with KYK 608.2RS ($3.24 each). The
main pivot bearings and the rear stay (by wheel) bearings were Enduro 6000RS. I replaced the main
pivot bearings with SKF 6000 2RSJEM ($10.94 each).
Now the fourth problem. It was driving me crazy. It seemed that I had fixed everything that moved,
but there was a clue. The creak was further into the travel now that the suspension bearings were
replaced. I spoke with the Intense warranty manager about the Progressive 5th Element shock with
titanium spring. He thought that the shock may cause the creaking, but didn't have any good
advice. The shock has a defective bottom eyelet mount, so we were focusing more on that. It didn't
seem like an enlarged shock eyelet would cause the creak, but I took the shock out and lubed the
eyelets and pins anyway. It didn't help. Eventually I thought about the spring to shock interface.
It is metal-to-metal. I didn't have the proper tools to disassemble the shock, so I pried the
spring away from the spring perch on each end of the spring (not sure if perch is a correct term
on a bike) and squeezed some Magnalube between the spring and the perches. It worked. I did a
Homer Simpson Whoo HOO!
I am concerend that the spring fix is short term. I plan on making some spacers or washers to go
between the spring and the shock, possibly out of UHMW material. Does anyone have any ideas?