Re: Creaking Cannondale CAAD3 ?

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

I have a 2000 Cannondale CAAD3 touring frame with a Shimano 952 XTR
tripple crank and bottom bracket. The bike has about 13,000 miles on
it and this crank and BB has about 6-8,000 miles of the total.

During a recent 500 mile week long tour it has developed a creaking
sound that is synchronous with pedal rotation. The sound is really
nasty sounding and is obviously resonating in the frame tubing which
gives it the annoying "tinny" sound

The sound is much more pronounced with light spinning pedal pressure
when I am seated on the saddle. With no pedal pressure the sound is
gone. It is also greatly reduced or eliminated by standing on the
pedals.

At first I thought that this was a problem with the seatpost or seat
since the sound seemed to go away when standing on the pedals. I have
since disassembled and greased the post, frame clamp, and saddle rails
and the creaking sound is still there.

My thoughts now are turning to the bottom bracket as a source of the
noise. While on the tour I had the support staff tighten the BB which
made no difference at all. So now I am begining to wonder if it is the
BB or something else. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone?

A cycling buddy that works at a bike shop suggested reinstalling the
BB with teflon tape to solve the problem. Does this sound like a good
idea? I would appreciate some feedback before tearing everything
apart.

Thanks,

Steve

To me, it sounds like you have narrowed it down to being a problem with the
interface of the crank and BB axle. If you do not tighten these cranks to
spec., after a while they will begin to have this problem. Most likely they
are already damaged and a good tightening will not correct the problem, but
you can try. If the damage is very slight, tightening will stop the
creaking. Of course, I have no way of knowing and the problem could be
elsewhere, but this same thing happened to me and this is what I discovered.
BTW, I don't have the torque specs on the crank bolts handy, but I can tell
you that a great deal of force is needed. You should install grease on the
crank bolt threads, too. Some people don't bother with this. I think the
shimano website still lists the install sheet for these cranks so this would
be a good place to start. I still really like these cranks from Shimano.
Good luck.

Dave