You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I started getting a creak on my aluminium hardtail when pedaling around 4 weeks ago; I ride it every day so it was a real PITA. I thought it was the BB for a while despite just having replaced it, but still spent a good week or two faffing around trying to fix it.
After I'd eliminated that and almost everything else (wheels, brakes, pedals, cranks, seatpost hardware, handlebars) I realised it was coming from the headset. The shifting of weight from left to right would make a loud cracking, and I could even do it by alternating standing on each chainstay.
I tried greasing it and replacing the bearings to no avail. My last call before booking it in for a steerer tube replacement, assuming it to be the dreaded creak, was to remove the crown race and grease around it. That fixed it completely!
The past two weeks and a couple hundred miles its been silent, but after day of getting hammered on the blacks at BPW it was back really bad. It sounded like a completely f----d bottom bracket. Took the crown race off and greased it today, which again fixed it, but I'm thinking its probably going to come back.
I've never had this problem in the past two years / 5000 miles on the bike, and I'm not really sure why its making such a noise (especially after immediately fixing it with grease). Anyone else had a problem like this before? I might order a different crown race in case its just some weird thing with it and the fork, but beyond that I dont really know what to do... I would've thought a press fit CSU creak would be constant?
I thought I had such a creak and it was actually where the shifter outer dived into the frame. A shot of talc in there and it's silent again.
Could try wrapping it in PTFE Tape ?
Does the race need facing?
I had a creaking headset which turned out to be a slipping stem, it would loose it pre-load and start to creak. Changed to stem, problem cured.
You could fix it with threadlock [use the weakest not stud and bearing] but you'd probably need a press to get the cups out.
Also unclamp and clean bars, shifters, brake clamps, along with the stem and cap. Fine grease all contact points, reassemble.
I had a right old racket from the seat/post and thought the saddle-shell of the Phenom was on it’s way out. Turned out it was fine dust and dry clamping points on the seatpost assembly because after dusting and greasing it’s now silent.
What p7 said. It may not have been greasing the crown race what did it, but a different step in that disassembly/re-assembley process.