Sleeved bars and creaks

[cardcatalog]

Anyone have a good solution to silencing a sleeved bar that creaks?

I have a nitto noodle, which has a sleeved 26.0 clamp. When I pull on either hoods or drops, it creaks. It’s killing me.

Just to answer ahead of time: I’m confident the noise is from the bar. I’ve taken the front end of the bike it’s on apart, made sure the steerer tube is happy/no cracks, and cleaned and lightly regreased everything. It’s on a 99 lemond zurich, which has a threaded steerer and quill stem. I cleaned and regreased the headset, cleaned the inside of the steerer, cleaned and regreased the nitto stem and the threads of the rod and expander wedge, and cleaned and regreased the bolt of the clamp holding the bars. I used to have a 3ttt stem on there, and it made the same sounds.

Thanks for ideas!

[ultraman6970]

The problem IMO is not the handlebar is the stem....

Back in the day what we did was to ream the stems to 26 (or 26.4 if the handlebar was 26.4) so the surface was even, in mass production and with the anodizing the surface at the clamp area gets really bad. Thats how we used to get rid off of the problem. No idea if you have access to a reamer.

Since you have done everything I would do to like greasing stem all over the place, then I would try the reamer, the issue is to have access to one.

Personally I ad this problem once and we used the reamer with the master builder, after that pretty much every new stem I got was reamed to specs, you have no idea how bad they come sometimes.

Hope this helps.

[Louis]

I know why the sleeved bar creaks...

Sorry, but I couldn't resist. BBC Radio had a story about Maya Angelou a few days ago for their "Witness" history program - it's been 50 years since her autobiography was first published.

More apropos:

Can you duplicate the issue while stationary and straddling the bike? If so, then have someone else identify the exact location. If it is from the bars, and you're absolutely every contact point in the area, including all fasteners, and it still creaks I can't help.

If you can't duplicate the sound "on the ground" then I'd say that there's a decent chance that it isn't from where you think it is, which would explain why what you'd done to date hasn't helped.

Good Luck

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/304/media/images/75155000/jpg/_75155929_angelou_book_ap.jpg

[ultraman6970]

Now that you mention that... did you check the quick releases??? if you use plastic ones there is a slight chance is the front QR. Hope is that.

[Peter P.]

Many production steel frames of your vintage, while ostensibly made with high end tubing, skimped by using lower alloy head tubes, which were known to deform over time, causing the headset cups to move within the head tube, resulting in creaking. I had a Trek (which would include LeMond) frame which did just that.

One test you could try would be to lay the bike on its side and drip lube into the sleeve junction. Let the bike sit overnight and repeat with the other side. If the creak goes away, then perhaps you've confirmed it's the bars. You could also try a sleeveless handlebar or buy another pair of Nitto's.

I'm in the camp that it's not the handlebars.

[Black Dog]

A simple start is to use prep paste at the interface between the bars and stem and between the stem and steerer tube. If the fit between the bars and stem is tight you may need to open the bar clamp on the stem to prevent the prep paste from being scraped off the sleeve as you insert the bars. This has worked for me in the past. The idea about penitrating oil in the sleeve is also great.

[cardcatalog]

Thanks, all. A lot of good suggestions for things to try this week. I'll update after I've played with some of these good ideas.

@Black Dog: the prep paste idea is a great one. Will pick some up this week.

@Peter P.: the dripping lube into the sleeve idea is an interesting one. I'll give that a swing. If it turns out I have a crappy head tube, not much I can do about it. The claim was that it was a full 853 frame, but there's no way for me to know if that's not fully true.

@ultraman6970: it didn't occur to me that maybe the clamp may not actually be 26.0! I had the same problem on a different stem. I do have some wider non-sleeved bars around. I'll see if they make the same sound when in this stem. No access to a reamer, unfortunately. QR thought is a good one, but I've swapped from bontrager whatever skewers to shimano, and no difference.

@Louis: yeah, can easily replicate while on the ground and stationary.

[cardcatalog]

Update here: I tried a non-sleeved bar and am able to reproduce creaks in this stem. This is after cleaning and greasing everything.

I also dripped a bunch of green (capillary action) locktite into the sleeve of the old nitto bar, and tried to use compressed air to blow it in. I’ll leave it over night and see if the creaks remain.

I did not yet try prep paste. It’s next.

More than anything, this is just making me wish I had a threadless steer tube.

[m_sasso]

Wait, you changed bars and you are still getting creaking, yet you are still looking at your bars for the problem.

I don't get it, no disrespect, however, I think it is time to get a new bike or some ear plugs!

[bicycletricycle]

For a long time I was sure that a pair of nitto rando bars I had creaked. Eventually I discovered it was the stem.

[cardcatalog]

Wait, you changed bars and you are still getting creaking, yet you are still looking at your bars for the problem.

I don't get it, no disrespect, however, I think it is time to get a new bike or some ear plugs!

Ha, this isn't a perfectly scientific approach to creak elimination. I'm not using a torque wrench, temperature isn't constant, etc.

Yes, I put unsleeved bars on the stem, and heard some amount of creaking still, though not *exactly* the same creak. This made me agree more with the "it's the stem" theory. I then re-installed the old sleeved bar.

There was an earlier suggestion to try applying carbon/alloy prep paste to the clamp area. I have some on the way, but it's not here yet. Since I was re-installing the bar, and I did have green locktite around and a compressor, I tried getting locktite in that sleeve. And then it was left overnight.

And the big news: I went for a ride this morning, and the creak is gone!

[cardcatalog]

While I'm certainly happy with the lack of creaking, I don't know conclusively that it's green locktite in the sleeve that solved the problem.

Nitto sleeved bars have a small gap on the underside that runs most of the length of the sleeve. I did put locktite in that gap, which may have dripped out into the clamp area before I snugged the bolt. So maybe it's just having locktite in the clamp area, maybe it's having it in the bar sleeve, or maybe it's both. Not sure! But at least for now, silence is music.

[cardcatalog]

And of course: thanks again for everyone's suggestions!