5/24 Update - Solved - Creak/Click Support - BB386 BB

[bikerboy337]

Here’s the deal:

Carbon Frame
BB386evo Bb
Carbon seatmast.
SRAM Red group.
Ultegra pedals with yellow cleats on Giro Empire SLX shoes

I installed a wheels manufacturing thread together dub BB, SRAM RED DUB crank. Followed all instructions including using grease but not locking compound. Touqued to spec for everything.

Symptoms: I get a clicking sound when pedaling and putting in more than 150ish watts. Coasting or slow pedaling under 150w and it’s silent as can be, happens when sitting or standing. Drivetrain is waxed, so super quiet without the ticking noise. Doesn’t happen at a particular point in my rotation. Noise happens in 46 and 33 chainring and happens in any cassette gear.

I’ve Tried:
Re-torqued bb cups and reinstalled crank, re-greased everything
Reinstalled seatmast top, cleaned and greased and torqued to spec
Reinstalled pedals, cleaned threads and regressed
Swapped to a different new waxed chain (bike is a new build, so everything has under 500 miles)
Drip waxed chain to make sure it wasn’t an issue with original chain
Retorqued thru axles
Confirmed FD install and alignment
Confirmed shoe laces not the culprit
Added a few drops of lube at seat rail/seatpost interface


My next thought is to remove the bb and add some retaining compound? Wheels Manufacturing says not to do so and will void warranty but I’m not sure what else to try. The BB did require two tools to get it torqued to spec as it spun at the end when over let’s say 10nm. So added a wrench on the back side to tighten to 50nM.

Would love any other thoughts before I go that route.

Really annoying to have a super quiet waxed drivetrain but have this annoying clicking/squeak when riding. Otherwise a super setup going on with my build.

Thanks in advance.

[Gummee]

IME BB creaks aren't usually the BB

Check play in the pedals
Check the dropout in the rear
Check crankarm bolts

HTH

M

[Ralph]

Have had that sound from rear skewers. Changed them and sound went away.

[thermalattorney]

Originally Posted by bikerboy337

My next thought is to remove the bb and add some retaining compound? Wheels Manufacturing says not to do so and will void warranty but I’m not sure what else to try.

Just when through this with a Praxis BB in a PF30 frame. The general consensus is Loctite 609 + 7649 primer. Apparently 609 has a low shear strength so removal will be possible. Sucks to have to spend $40 more, but that's what worked for me, at least for now.

[slambers3]

Is does the crankset have a removable spider? Has that been checked? Chainring bolts tight? Are the pedals tight enough into the crankarm?

[TheseGoTo11]

Creak sources I’ve discovered:

Spokes rubbing where they cross (drop of lube silenced)
Dust in dropouts
Dust between headset spacers

Pedal/crank interface is a common one, but sounds like you covered that.

[bikerboy337]

I’ve tried a few more things to continue ruling out non-bb issues. Rainy today so I’ll get back out tomorrows

I swapped to a different set of pedals and will wear different shoes tomorrow to confirm no cleat/pedal issue.

I went ahead and pulled the thru axels, cleaned threads and regressed and torqued to spec.

Red crank has had chainring bolts checked, all torqued, with loctite, and good to go.

I also reinstalled the cassette and torqued to spec (sram red 10-33).


Don’t think any of these are the issue, but continuing to check things off to see….

[Dave]

I greased my WM thread together BBs. If I get a creaking noise, it's my aero seat post. I think that carbon assembly paste makes it worse.

[bikerboy337]

Still getting a clicking/mechanical noise.

I swapped pedals and shoes for this ride
Put some triflow on my chainring bolts, seatpost cradle, bb bearings.

Next ride I’ll swap wheels but they’re quiet as can be.
I’ll add a little lube to my thru axles on reinstall.
I’ll doublecheck all the other bolts are greased and torqued (rear der, dropout, FD bolt, disc bolts, etc)….


If all that fails I’ll pull the bb, clean the shell and then grease the hell out of it and reinstall….and remove and reinstall the chainrings using loctite on the bolts…

If that doesn’t work then I’ll try some loctite on the shell/bb interface (not the bb threads)


That’s all I can think to do….

[Jere]

If it really is the bottom bracket.
Carbon with aluminum bottom bracket and it’s not a lose fitting.
Clean everything with alcohol
Use Teflon paste , not tape the plumber stuff for threads.

[mjf]

Assuming all of your parts are correctly matched (386EVO BB with DUB bearings).

The first thing I would always check is the crankset spacing, and whether there's any sideways play in the spindle that you're not making up with the preload adjuster and of course tighten the preload adjuster. You still may need to add additional spacers to take of the majority of the excess spindle length, if there is any.

Second to that, I like to try and flex the frame a bit by putting the closest pedal @ 6 O clock, lean the bike away from you, and then push the pedal downward with your foot, enough that you're able to flex the frame side to side. If there's any creaking coming from the crank/BB, this is usually enough to make it known while the bike is static since there's not another good way to test for the side to side flex except under load.

Have you checked the spider/chainring? That's been a culprit in several of the bikes I've worked on over the years and sometimes they need to be disassembled and cleaned to clear up odd noises.

[SummitAK]

Originally Posted by bikerboy337

Here’s the deal:

Carbon Frame
BB386evo Bb
Carbon seatmast.
SRAM Red group.
Ultegra pedals with yellow cleats on Giro Empire SLX shoes

I installed a wheels manufacturing thread together dub BB, SRAM RED DUB crank. Followed all instructions including using grease but not locking compound. Touqued to spec for everything.

Symptoms: I get a clicking sound when pedaling and putting in more than 150ish watts. Coasting or slow pedaling under 150w and it’s silent as can be, happens when sitting or standing. Drivetrain is waxed, so super quiet without the ticking noise. Doesn’t happen at a particular point in my rotation. Noise happens in 46 and 33 chainring and happens in any cassette gear.

I’ve Tried:
Re-torqued bb cups and reinstalled crank, re-greased everything
Reinstalled seatmast top, cleaned and greased and torqued to spec
Reinstalled pedals, cleaned threads and regressed
Swapped to a different new waxed chain (bike is a new build, so everything has under 500 miles)
Drip waxed chain to make sure it wasn’t an issue with original chain
Retorqued thru axles
Confirmed FD install and alignment
Confirmed shoe laces not the culprit
Added a few drops of lube at seat rail/seatpost interface


My next thought is to remove the bb and add some retaining compound? Wheels Manufacturing says not to do so and will void warranty but I’m not sure what else to try. The BB did require two tools to get it torqued to spec as it spun at the end when over let’s say 10nm. So added a wrench on the back side to tighten to 50nM.

Would love any other thoughts before I go that route.

Really annoying to have a super quiet waxed drivetrain but have this annoying clicking/squeak when riding. Otherwise a super setup going on with my build.

Thanks in advance.

The BB spinning in your frame is the confirmation that it is what’s creaking. Torquing the BB tight won’t fix that the frame or BB is out of spec. I had the same issue with a WMFR thread together BB on a PF30 frame. Of 3 different PF30 BB’s I had on bench the WMFR had the smallest diameter. At that time I used a CK BB and installed it with Loctite retaining compound and primer. This bike has had thousands of creak-free miles since this install.

Since then I first moved to Enduro TT BB’s for 386EVO and these have worked well. Now I used one piece BBInfinite BB’s for all PF installs. These use retaining compound and primer for all installs.

Another option I’ve used on PF BBRight frames is the Token Ninja. They composite cover over alloy screws together internals allows a slightly tighter fit spec. The downside to these BB’s is the flanges are so thin that install or removal can be challenging.

[RudAwkning]

I had a ticking caused by the stock plastic DUB preload collar.

Replaced it with an alloy Cane Creek collar and noise went away.

[bikerboy337]

So spend 2 hours tonight going over everything.

Bb shell is to spec, writhing 0.05mm of 46, no issue there
I swapped the cheap plastic compression fitting with a cane creek previously, but cleaned that up a bit and it’s still perfect.
Removed cranks, chainrings, cleaned it all, retorqued the chainring back on (red axs)
Removed the bb, cleaned the shell and the bb, greased the shell, cups and threads of the bb and reinstalled. Torqued to spec
Reinstalled crank.
Removed thru axles (carbon-ti axles), cleaned and greased the thread and head as well and greased the frame where it contacts the axles
Removed the rear dropout, cleaned, greased it up good and torqued to spec.
Regreased and reinstalled the RD and FD.


Bike is silent in the stand… waxed chain and clean drivetrain, literally zero noise in the stand, no chainrub, no noises, everything seems to be torqued and greased to spec…

At this point if it’s ticking/creaking tomorrow then it’s gotta be a bb issue and I’ll swap to a bbinfinite one piece bb to try….

We’ll see…

Going to be 70 tomorrow so I’ll be able to get out for a nice ride…

[charliedid]

If not mentioned...

Check your handlebars and stem.