Creaky BB

Lumen

I have a hollow creaking noise from the BB area (yeah I know, they all say that). It's the same cadence as my pedalling, and happens under load, particularly in the bigger ring. I can "feel" the noise (vibration) coming through the right crank.

The frame is a Scott Addict SL with a press-fit GXP BB86 bottom bracket and a SRAM Red crank. I've only done about 100km on it.

I went to attempt to check the crank bolt tightness last night and was confused to see two concentric hex-shaped holes. I ran away scared.

Should these be tightened in any particular order?

FWIW, the BB was fitted before the frame was shipped to me.

Any other suggestions before I unleash The Skeffington?

bcmf

sounds like
a) your crankset may need to be tightened
or
b) you BB may need to be tightened
or
c) your pedals may need to be tightened

If there is carbon involved anywhere give it to Mr. Skeffington who I am sure will have a torque wrench

Raam

I had similar recently. I took the crankset out and cleaned and greased it. Creaking gone.

BIKE75

Had this with a pair of Shimano pedals , changed to time and it went away

Change out your pedals if you can before stripping the bb

velo.2010

Put together my Madone 10 days ago. Similar wide BB. Difficult to get the balance right of how tight you fix the crank arms while still having a certain amount of swing to the unit.

Be careful not to tighten the plastic cap on non-drive side too much(5-6nm max). This leads to sticky and noisy crank.

As far as im aware the wider BBs(86-90)etc are so stiff as to induce a certain amount of vibration in crank/chainset, noticed when you pick the bike up of the ground. Of course thats not how we usually ride.

parko202

had a similar problem, well it was more a clicking in the bb when i was pushing hard, turned out the bb was near dry, regreasing sorted it out.

DirkVoodoo

Yeah I wouldn't tighten anything on a bike without using a torque wrench.

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Yeah I wouldn't tighten anything on a bike without using a torque wrench.

Yeah I have one of those, although they're apparently not required if you're a competent mechanic.

Which reminds me of this.



Thanks for all the tips people, I'll have another look tonight and regrease everything in sight.

Is there anything I shouldn't grease in the BB area?

rottenhat

Make sure you clean everything scrupulously too...any dirt or grit in there can cause creaks.

psychozeb

i have a clicking on the right side of my crank also, only about 150km done on it from new.it's fine though if i stand on the pedals.am i better to take it to have it checked properly or would i be able to grease it myself easy enough-ultegra crank.

AstraMonti

I had an awful creaking as well. I was 150% sure that it was on the bottom bracket, after Mr. Skeffs visit it was gone.. The pedals were too loose..

Raam

psychozeb wrote: »

i have a clicking on the right side of my crank also, only about 150km done on it from new.it's fine though if i stand on the pedals.am i better to take it to have it checked properly or would i be able to grease it myself easy enough-ultegra crank.

You need the right tool to take off the crank. This yoke


http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=3785

psychozeb

Raam wrote: »

You need the right tool to take off the crank. This yoke


http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=3785

think i'll leave it to the bike shop,don't want to end up making a mess of it.maybe at a later stage i'll pick up the proper tools.

Raam

psychozeb wrote: »

think i'll leave it to the bike shop,don't want to end up making a mess of it.maybe at a later stage i'll pick up the proper tools.

It's really very easy

psychozeb

Raam wrote: »

It's really very easy

will order the tool,would be an incentive to learn how to maintain the bike myself for the small niggles anyway.

Ryaner

I've been battling with a similar noise myself. Replacing the BB didn't fix it either. Annoyingly the noise is also there is I use different pedals too.

One place that I saw recommended not to grease was inside of the bb where the axle goes. Thinking was that the grease can clog the bearings and the axle starts running on the grease and not the bearings. I know my headset was very sensitive to the amount of grease in it ymmv

psychozeb

was just about to ask what grease to use and where it should or shouldn't be applied.

Lumen

So I finally acquired a replacement bottom bracket and some Loctite 641 from eBay, which the internet told me would fix the creaking.

Took these with the bike to Cycleways, who diagnosed the BB creak as being a badly-adjusted headset full of sand and muck.

I can't test the fix until the snow and salt goes away.

btw, Skeff did the build but I was the last person to feck around with the headset before the creaking started, so it was all my own fine work. :rolleyes:

velo.2010

I overhauled the BB and headset on mine at Christmas. The headset was far mankier than the BB and took a good amount of cleaning. I nearly regret touching the BB, though I suppose its better to get into the habit of regularly cleaning it.

ps. sorry Lumen I think I got your first name wrong in that PM back to you.