Litespeed 2000 CREAK!!!

[mcooley]

Okay, so I have a 2000 Litespeed with the infamous "creak" sound.

The creak occurs while I am out of the saddle climbing or sprinting. Riding while seated or climbing in the saddle the bike is quiet.

Things I have replaced so far:

Handle bars, headset (new Chris King), greased bottom-bracket (more than once), checked wheels by swapping them out with other wheels, tightened cassette, new pedals, etc.

I am thinking that the Bearing Cups in the headset might need to be replaced, or, the original Look carbon fork is cracked. It has an aluminum FSA stem which looks good cosmetically.

One further note, after putting in the new headset the sound left momentarily but by the end of the ride it was back in full force.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[caleb]

Check your cleats.

[mcooley]

I should add, the frame is a Vortex.

The sound occurred with two different types of pedals and cleats. I tossed my MTB pedals and shows on it to check, no luck. Sound stayed.

[dave thompson]

Try some 'good' skewers; Shimano or Campy. As an added precaution I also would carefully inspect all joints and welds along with the surrounding areas just in the off case that you might be suffering a frame crack.

[victoryfactory]

I had the same thing on a 1999 Tuscany.
It turned out to be the front deraileur cage flexing!
Bomb it with lube or temporarily disconnect it to test.

Another candidate is the seat post/saddle/clamp area

also check Water Bottle bolts.

In my experience, although creaking on a Ti frame is always declared
to be the Bottom Bracket at first, it almost never is!

That was a sweet frame.

Good luck

VF

[MattTuck]

Rule #1 of Bicycle Repair

Any sound that seems to be coming from the bottom bracket is NOT coming from the bottom bracket.


Check your saddle/seat post/etc.

[shiftyfixedgear]

Had a creak in one customers Ti bike that turned out to be the bb cable guide screw that was rubbing on the BB cartridge inside. It only made noise when the frame was under a heavy effort and there was flex. Coupla washers and the noise was gone. I noticed that there was a rough mark on the outside of the cartridge during one of the many futile attempts to replace/regrease/anti-sieze/ etc. the bb assembly. It is cheap and easy enough to try and add a washer or two and see if it helps.

Don't ask how many dead-ends and possibles were tried in order to find THAT out.

Had a similiar mystery noise that turned out to be a bad spoke in a Ksyrium rear wheel. After months of mentioning to us about the noise, the customer finally broke that spoke. After replacing it and retensioning - voila, quiet. Again, after a huge amount of time and energy was spent on fruitless chases.

[eddief]

cable guide bolt touching bb inside the shell. a needle in haystack.

loose spokes have been my nemesis more than once. click, click, click.

[mcooley]

Thanks everyone, like I said it was strange how it left momentarily after the new headset but it has done that in the past after some other adjustments, so, somewhere in there something is being tightened or put back to spec then it goes back etc. Annoying but starting to think it's not worth the chase, unless, something breaks for reals.

I wonder if rebuilding the whole bike would be a less lengthy tedious process?

[mcooley]

I'll try the BB cable screw, easy if that's it!

[Peter B]

Try also checking the bar/stem interface. I've had intermittent creaks there, especially w/ ti stems. Some carbon assembly paste or thin film of anti seize might cure it.

[avalonracing]

These are all good ideas.
When you changed the headset did you also replace the fork race? I had a noise that I was chasing down forever. I switched parts, lubed everything and so on. In the end it I narrowed it down to a slightly loose Chris King fork race. It took 10 minutes and $12 to finally fix something that drove me nuts for many months.

[Chris]

Spacers? Changing the headset and then it goes away would make me look there. Are they dirty? Give them a wipe and the slightest touch of grease between them.

[kestrel]

Try some 'good' skewers; Shimano or Campy. As an added precaution I also would carefully inspect all joints and welds along with the surrounding areas just in the off case that you might be suffering a frame crack.

Excellent precaution. Most anything else causing it will just be a minor annoyance, a cracked frame could be disastrous. My creak turned into a cracked frame, luckily I discovered it before the an accident.

[wheelio]

Had the same problem with my Lynskey. I ditched the lightweight Ti Skewers for some slightly heavier steel ones. after doing pretty much every thing you tried. No more creak. I think there is just to much flex with Ti on Ti. At least it solved my creaky ride.

[Kane]

I brought my bike to Lance's 00 and 01 Tour mechanic. His name is Dave and he owns a store in SANTA BARBARA. He took a Park Allen set and reset every bolt tension on the bike in 5 minutes, (every bolt!). The noise was gone and it has never returned. I have no idea what caused the problem and I don't care.
You won't be as good as Dave and you won't be as fast as Dave, but that is the way it is done by a pro. His store is on Canon Perdido in S.B.
CHEERS,


Kane

ps. He charge me $5!

[jhat]

Here is one I had never seen before, it was a Litespeed with a carbon seat stay. The noise came from where the carbon seat stay plugs into the frame at the top by the seat cluster. Bad/failed bonding caused enough movement to creak.

[Saxon]

On my Legend it was the front derailleur clamp.

[Lifelover]

A dab of lube on any spoke interface. Hub, rim and anywhere they cross each other.

[mcooley]

Good idea about the shop, maybe, I will stop next time I am going through SB. I have replaced the skewers, no avail.

[benb]

Here is one I had never seen before, it was a Litespeed with a carbon seat stay. The noise came from where the carbon seat stay plugs into the frame at the top by the seat cluster. Bad/failed bonding caused enough movement to creak.

I had a Trek that did this.. I could duplicate the noise with the frame on the repair stand by squeezing the rear dropouts together with no rear wheel installed.

Not a fan of CF seatstays on a Alu/Ti frame for that reason.. Serotta said they do theirs differently and it shouldn't happen but it was the big reason I asked for Ti seatstays.

[mcooley]

Okay, I may have discovered the problem. I think the culprit is the seatpost sleeve inside the frame. Any thoughts on applying lube to it? Not sure how else it could be fixed. Replacing it seems difficult.

Thanks,
Mason

[shaq-d]

Okay, I may have discovered the problem. I think the culprit is the seatpost sleeve inside the frame. Any thoughts on applying lube to it? Not sure how else it could be fixed. Replacing it seems difficult.

Thanks,
Mason

dunno what a seatpost sleeve is, but if u just lube up the seatpost and lube up the part of the frame the seatpost goes into, u'll be fine. i use white lithium, anything will work.

creaks that peeps can't locate, i find, are usually cuz of the seatpost.

sd

[R2D2]

It is hard to replace because it is welded in place.
Have you talked to Litespeed? They may be able to correct the situation.

Try using Corrosion-X. It can really penetrate tight spaces. Most marine supply houses have it.

[mcooley]

Thanks. I assume you have used it and it's safe for Titanium frames?

[SPOKE]

Okay, I may have discovered the problem. I think the culprit is the seatpost sleeve inside the frame. Any thoughts on applying lube to it? Not sure how else it could be fixed. Replacing it seems difficult.

Thanks,
Mason

many years ago, early 1990's, cannondal frames had a sleeve installed in the ST. many of them made the creaking noise. the solution was to poor Boiled linseed oil into the tube and let it soak for a while. drain the mess out and reassemble the bike. creak gone.
cheers.....

[dave thompson]

many years ago, early 1990's, cannondal frames had a sleeve installed in the ST. many of them made the creaking noise. the solution was to poor Boiled linseed oil into the tube and let it soak for a while. drain the mess out and reassemble the bike. creak gone.
cheers.....
FrameSaver could accomplish the same effect.

[R2D2]

Thanks. I assume you have used it and it's safe for Titanium frames?
It safe. Used to corrosion proof aluminum planes. Fine on Ti.

[mcooley]

Can you actually remove the threaded portion of the water bottle mounts on a Litespeed Vortex 2000? They are set into the frame but on the inside they seem larger possibly making removing them difficult?

Thanks