What's your noise and how'd you fix it?

[TunaAndBikes]

I'm assuming all bikes tend to creak/ping/ting/squeak at some point in their life
If not, please share your secret and we can disregard the remainder of the post.

Otherwise, I'd like to suggest building a compendium/reference of sorts.

Kindly share what's your noise (or what was your noise) and how you fixed it!

[spoonrobot]

Sheldon Brown has the definitive list, AFAIK: https://sheldonbrown.com/creaks.html

I'll share one I've never seen anyone else mention. I've had chipped paint under the seat collar cause an audible clicking during pedaling on two different bikes. I even tested to see if it was something else by adjusting the saddle height multiple times - solved the problem by sanding down the seat tube extension.

I've also had clicking during standing climbing that was caused by corrosion on the inside of the headset spacers and steerer.

[skitlets]

I had a squeak caused by incorrect b-tension screw and slightly off indexing. The jockey wheel was too close to the cassette.

[TunaAndBikes]

I had a squeak that seemed to come from the BB but was the saddle squeaking when climbing.
Lubed the rails/saddle interface and was G2G

[tuxbailey]

The current bane of my existence:

https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=253560

Still looking for solution.

[Matthew]

Dirty clamp/rails on a Ritchey seatpost. Drove me insane. Clean/lube. No noise since.

[weiwentg]

I had a squeak from what sounded like my right cleat. Right now, I think the cause might actually not be the cleat. I have the Speedplay Aero Walkable pedals with the aero surround cover. It seems like the cleat's rubber cover isn't sitting fully flush on the cleat, and thus it isn't quite flush with the aero surround. That shouldn't be an issue ... except for the bit where the pedal spindle contacts the outer cover, and that presses it into the aero surround. There's a little gap there. I've put some dry lube down in between the walkable cover and the aero surround.

I previously checked the flatness of the base plate, but it wasn't that.

[Spaghetti Legs]

Several years ago I battled a creak for a long time and it ultimately turned out to be the clear coat on the rear dropout. I sanded it a little and noise gone.

[giverdada]

I'd start with the Sheldon Brown list, as it has helped me figure out pretty much everything.

My latest noise:

Rear wheel 'creak' - Torque cassette lockring to spec, lube quick release pivots, lube seattube bottle boss bolts, clean and lube spoke cross points (!), clean and lube and torque seatpost, lube and torque chainring bolts.

[mass_biker]

Creak - creak - creak.

Thought it was the pedal/cleat interface.
Because I had re-lubed the bar/stem interface a few weeks back.

So off I went - as I should've in the first place - to the source (Sheldon Brown).

Disassembled the treadless stem/steerer tube interface. Wiped it down. Degreased it. Tightened everything back up.

Ahh...silence.

(except my lungs + heart out of the saddle).

m_b

[kppolich]

2020 Trek Boone, BB90.
Creak coming during medium to high effort while pedaling, seated and standing.
Issue was the NDS bearing and BB interface.
Fix was BB90 V2 bearings which are 37.1mm, rather than regular BB90 @37mm.

Before targeting the BB I cleaned, lubed, and greased absolutely everything.
Cassette, FHB, Pedal spindles, cleats, Front Iso-Speed, Rear Iso-Speed, Chainring bolts, quarq spider, thru axles, and headset bearings.

[Tickdoc]

Ugh. Got a little rattle going on my ciocc at the moment that is driving me crazy. Sounds like an old pair of ergo shifter rattle but when I grab them I still hear it.

Only hear it on certain roads too. Got to be just a little rough pavement to elicit the rattle. Just enough to be annoying. Not enough for me to fully investigate.

Had a bottom bracket creak one time they drove me crazy enough to take it in. Everyone in the shop rode it to find the source. Tightened the bb, the crank bolts, the water bottles, the pedals, etc. turns out the wheel lock spindle Only needed a touch of grease.

[R3awak3n]

I had this noise where I could have SWORN was the BB. Tried diff BBs, diff cranks, just could not get it to go away. Then I was listening to a podcast and someone mentioned their Through Axle and how it needed to be greased. Well, worth a try. And yep, it was that, bike been quite for a few years now

[ahsere]

After not riding it for 3-4 years (it was in storage after a move) I recently started riding my Indy Fab Crown Jewel again, and there was a creaking sound coming from the BB that was driving me crazy, especially when out of the saddle or when pedaling hard in general. I got the BB out, and it was a little dirty and dry, but nothing too awful. I cleaned and greased the thing and put it back in thinking that the sound could not be caused by that insignificant amount of dirt and that I would have to keep looking. I was wrong.

[Seramount]

last creak was a PITA to find.

checked stem, bars, pedals, cleats, saddle rails, drop outs, crank, cassette, and BB.

finally pulled the seat post out, cleaned and lubed it...fixed.

[oldpotatoe]

Coldish day..ride..heard a rhythmic 'tick', kinda each pedal stroke..sitting or standing. Went home and completely took the bike apart, including hubs..clean, grease, an 'overhaul'.
Next day, warmer, ride..no tick, hooray!!

BUT next day, colder again, tick back..arrrggg!

Well, it was the zipper pull clicking on the jacket I wore on the cold days..:eek:

Another one that was not really 'bike'..old Silca Impero pump under top tube..when standing, it flexes enough to 'click'..found out when I forgot it one day..:)

[JONATHANPATTIE]

Yes there is definite difference between creak and squeak.

[Johnnysmooth]

Odd creak I could have sworn came from bottom bracket area, only happened when I pushed hard was actually a skewer creaking as it wasn’t quite tight enough.

[biker72]

Sounded a little like a dry chain but the noise was still there when I stopped pedaling and coasted. Loose water bottle cage bolt.

[TunaAndBikes]

Sounded like misaligned gears but it kept churning when coasting.
It was a loose spoke. Tightened it up and it was G2G

[unterhausen]

I think my squeaks have always been the saddle, even if it sounded like it was coming from my cleat. Although I had a cleat bolt come out once, so that might have squeaked a bit.

I have a click on my mountain bike coming from the rear wheel. I blame it on the stupid swing dropouts Salsa insists on using. But I haven't ruled out their skewer, which is one of those ones that you have to flip the right way then unscrew.

[Geemalar]

Not so much a creak or squeak, but my internal cabled carbon frame had what sounded to me like the cables outer sheathing rattling against the frames internals when riding over bumpy roads. I was all prepared to pull it all apart, reroute the cables and put some insulation around the sheathing.

On my last ride, as I was putting the bike away in my basement my front wheel happened to hit the raised step going into the back of my house. I immediately heard the noise from what sounded like the front wheel. Reached down, grabbed the valve stem and noticed that it was rattling against the valve stem hole in the rim.

What joy that 5 minutes of a piece of heat shrink around the valve stem vs what would have been x hours of rerouting cables, only to find that the time spent would had done nothing to eliminate the noise. Bike is dead silent now.......

[tuxbailey]

This weekend I finally fixed the squealing noise of my MTB's front disc brake. That noise really discouraged me from riding the bike.

Turned out a bad caliper (installed new) and the contaminated fluid is causing braking noise.

[Onno]

Regular clicking with pedaling, on the right side. Was pretty sure it was the BB, but turned out to be the pedal. Tightened the plate and relubed bearings (even though there was no play), and that fixed it. Cassettes have caused me lots of noise angst over the years too! And my very first case of suspected BBitis turned out to be the seatpost. Now I know to stand and pedal when I first suspect a BB problem.

[mwynne]

Found and resolved a new one in the last few days. Was getting a regular squeak/creak when seated and pedaling, irrespective of how much effort/power - no noise when out of the saddle. Not the saddle cradle, not the seatpost insertion or binder. Nothing seemed to flexing in the frame in a weird way...

Turns out there is a little plastic cap at the back of my saddle (Ergon SR Pro) that covers the back of the rails and the edge of the saddle cover, and that was squeaking. Popped it off, light layer of grease, popped it back in. Haven't ridden yet, but I could get it to make noise before greasing by flexing the saddle with my hands - no noise now, so hopefully that does it!

[Ozz]

Regular clicking with pedaling, on the right side. ...

same....turned out to be front dr cable was bent, and hitting the crankarm on each rotation....

[Minamimto]

A clicking noise on my freshly built up track bike. My mechanic friends were sure it was something loose rattling inside of the fork. It turned out to be a loose spacer on the front wheel axle that should not have been there!

[Blue Jays]

Whirring sound that changed with speed or disappeared...turns out it was extra front derailleur cable just barely touching the rear tire.

[Toeclips]

The noise I get is in my head
"Buy it, buy it NOW"

So i got rid of that noise,
only to be replaced by "no...you should have thought about that before you bought it "

[martl]

I'm assuming all bikes tend to creak/ping/ting/squeak at some point in their life
If not, please share your secret and we can disregard the remainder of the post.

Otherwise, I'd like to suggest building a compendium/reference of sorts.

Kindly share what's your noise (or what was your noise) and how you fixed it!

Most obscure clicking/creaking noises I encountered:

Click noise speed variable, from the valve shaft in the CFK rim, fixed by jamming a small twig in

Click noise when riding in a sitting position: came from the tool bag to saddle mount

Creak noise fixed by greasing the contact spot between derailleur hanger and rear dropout

General observations: the larger the tubing diameter, the louder the noise. Where the noise seems to Com from according to your ears has *no* connection to where the noise originated. Alloy frames worse than Steel worse than Ti (no 1st hand experience with plastic)

[Mikej]

Ticking when I stand on it out of the saddle- rear disc was touching the pad due to the caliper not being centered.

[Onno]

Solving noises is both really irritating, and satisfying. It's rare that I fix a noise with my first guess at what the problem is, which doubles the irritation. On the other hand, the more strike outs, the more the satisfaction when I finally do figure it out. Unless I've spend a bunch of money on unneeded replacement parts....

[tbike4]

My aluminum handle bars creak. I've done everything with the bolts on the stem to the bar and stem to the fork. It's the bars for sure and when I grab them anywhere besides on the shifters, like on top or if I grab the stem, no noise. I guess I try new bars.
So I did not adhere to the title of the thread. I have not fixed it. But I will darn it.