Can’t track down my awful creaking - any ideas??

[veggieburger]

I'm going with chainring bolts.

[djg21]

I had one of these on a titanium frame. The clamp from the front derailleur wasn't secured tightly enough an would cause a clicking every pedal stroke. It took me a long time to figure out where it was coming from.

[andy.mgnr]

Wow thanks for all the replies y'all! A lot of great ideas to check when I get home from work!

Just to answer a few ideas, It's a thru-axle bike which I've thoroughly greased so no QR issues, and no chainring bolts here - Shimano XTR with direct mount chainring that I've very thoroughly greased and reassembled.

Cassette is a great point and I think that's my next best bet! It definitely seems drivetrain related as doesn't make a sound when I'm coasting and steering all around and even jumping up and down to compress the bike/suspension - but the second I slightly start to pedal it starts clicking/creaking immediately!

Also I saw its unlikely but maybe greasing the derailleur hanger seems worth a quick try....

This wouldn't be so annoying if I didn't live in a brown stone that requires me to walk the bike up and down 3 flights of stairs every time I test to no avail!!

Cheers y'all

[54ny77]

can feel the op's pain....it's maddening trying to find something like this!

mcteague: funny you should mention qr's. turns out that on two bikes that have the creak culprit, it's the quick releases. both happen to be enve ti skewers. so, i grease the heck out of the axle, and squirt chain oil generously on the cams, re-mount, then voila. problem solved.

Originally Posted by mcteague

Make sure to grease the QRs, or thru-axles. Over the years I've chased down odd creaks that I was sure were BB related but ended up being the quick release.

Tim

[bambam]

how about the derailer hanger or the Brake mount?? (either to the frame or the component)

Switch out the wheel if that's easy to try to eliminate the hub/freewheel.

Good Luck

[tomato coupe]

I find the saddle or seat post is responsible for bike creaks the majority of the time.

[Turkle]

I had a maddening creak for a while. Turns out it was the insole of my shoe rubbing against the hard carbon sole, and when my foot got a little sweaty it would squeak. Poured some baby powder in there and it went away for good. That was a funny one, but it took weeks to find.

[thwart]

Doesn’t sound like the bike is titanium, but if that is the case, having the threaded-in BB rub against the face of the bike’s bottom bracket can cause an annoying click/creak.

Which is very, very difficult to track down…

[bil]

I feel like this thread should be Sticky!
a wonderful collection of most (creak) causes all in one place.
We could add to this tread as we uncover other causes

[Ralph]

Originally Posted by mcteague

Make sure to grease the QRs, or thru-axles. Over the years I've chased down odd creaks that I was sure were BB related but ended up being the quick release.

Tim

This.....After I eliminated everything else.

[tbike4]

Originally Posted by bil

I feel like this thread should be Sticky!
a wonderful collection of most (creak) causes all in one place.
We could add to this tread as we uncover other causes

Sticky. Yes. I doubt it's your crank but here is my story. My buddy had a creak. He will pay me what it takes to find it. I probably tried a lot of what has been mentioned here. I am thinking the crank somewhere. It was a 6700 or 6800. I put my Shimano crank on his bike> no creak. His crank on my bike> creak. Then swap just crank arms, DS, NDS, my bike, his bike, you get the idea.
Turned out his DS Shimano crank was separating as we know they tend to do.

New crank for him. I think I still have his NDS arm somewhere.

[Onno]

Is a pedal or crank arm hitting something? a bottle cage, a derailleur wire end?

[rsl]

Maybe the drive-side bearings need to be repressed into the hub shell on the rear hub.

I had an issue that sounds almost exactly like you described, and I'm pretty sure I tried every suggestion so far listed on this thread. It was driving me crazy. Credit to Steve Garro who suggested checking the rear hub bearings, and he was right! For what its worth it was an I9 torch hub. I don't know how to do any hub maintenance so I asked my local shop to do the work and it fixed the issue.

[joeminglin]

Might have missed it. Does the creak happen while standing and seated? My aethos had a creaky seatpost which carbon paste on the shaft fixed. This is after literally checking everything else including the seatpost head bolts.

[downtube42]

Originally Posted by Onno

Is a pedal or crank arm hitting something? a bottle cage, a derailleur wire end?

Indeed. I've had RD cable-end hitting spokes, FD cable-end rattling against a fender, and crankarm just barely grazing the frame pump. All made me think the worst.

OP, I'd try riding no-hands to see if it goes away, to potentially eliminate front-end causes.