Hollowtech II Bottom Bracket Creaking

enoonan

Lo All,
I put a new Tiagra BB on the bike in January and after about 500k a bit of a creak came in it. Fearing the worst I changed it out and put in a new 105 BB.
The only thing is that one started creaking after about 50K.
There is no knocking or grinding from the BB just the creaking.
Is this a regular occurrence with Hollowtech II BBs or have I a bigger problem?

Thanks in advance

Eoin

Lumen

All creaks sound like they come from the BB.

enoonan

Ah no Lumen, its def the BB. Stop pedaling and the creaking stops.

Thought it was the headset my self at first but I was mistaken.

Eoin

dave.obrien

Does it happen at a specific point in each rotation?

Does it happen in specific gear combinations?

Does it happen when you're putting out big power, or regardless of wattage?

Does it happen more when seated or out of the saddle?

If you changed the BB, it's probably not that, it just sounds like that, as said above. Because of the fact that a frame is a pile of hollow, echoing tubes, all creaks sound like they're coming from the bottom bracket...

I had a creaking in my bike recently. It was that the grease on the stembolts had been washed off over winter.

AstraMonti

It could be the pedals as well, or the saddle, or the seatpost..

Holyboy

I presume you greased it! Could also be the pedals or even the seat post or seat clamp, when you're not pedaling you're not moving the post around with your hips, creaking can be a lot of trial and error to find, sounds seem to just travel around a bike frame for some reason, you can be positive they're coming from one place and then find it's coming from a cable cap or something!!!

It also could be your knees:D

enoonan

Dave -
Does it happen at a specific point in each rotation? - Usually on the down stroke of the right leg

Does it happen in specific gear combinations? - No. In all

Does it happen when you're putting out big power, or regardless of wattage? - Med to high output only. Light pedaling there is none.

Does it happen more when seated or out of the saddle? - Both


AstraMonti / Holyboy - All greased up. Reckon I will have to start undoing things bit by bit and re-greasing them and seeing what will work.

Thanks all for the advice.

Eoin

Holyboy

Just wondering, it doesn't actually really matter but has the B.B. shell been properly faced? In my opinion I don't think it makes that much difference but I ALWAYS do face them anyway, Shimano won't warranty any external B.B.s anymore unless they have been faced properly, as of a while ago!
So I suppose if the shell hasn't been faced and it's not flat it could be the problem.

enoonan

Jaysus I hope it is. The Frame is only about a year old.

Eoin

zil

I had a similar problem and turned out the pinch bolt on the non-drive crank had loosened over time, might be worth a look.

Holyboy

Manufacturers don't always face their frames properly, did it have an external B.B. from new?

enoonan

No. Originally it had a cartridge BB. Might be worth a trip to the LBS to see.

Thanks Holyboy.

Zil - I will check those out. Thanks for that.

Holyboy

Then I would think it hasn't been faced,it doesn't really need to be with a cartridge B.B. so manufacturers don't bother,I have a brand new facer if you're local to me drop in, not allowed to advertise but address is on my profile, google it and you'll find me, I'll even do it free of charge, but any decent LBS should be able to do it too.

enoonan

Thanks for the offer Holyboy, its very much appreciated, but I'm about 100miles to the South West!!!

Eoin

bcmf

my money is on the seatpost clamp/ seat.

feck sake lads

holyboy has nailed it, the b/b shell needs facing .i got my touring bike faced when i fitted the crankset perfect,
i'm on my third b/b on my road bike all dura ace btw .
jeez i must get this job done it;'s costing me a small fortune on b/bs;)

dave.obrien

Could well be what holyboy has said. Given that it's happening regardless of whether or not you're in the saddle, I'd say it's not seatpost/clamp related, unless your frame's old enough to flex quite a bit. Obvious causes could be lack of grease in the pinch bolts on the left crank arm, or your pedal, but get the shell faced, it might be that.

Good luck with the work!

mfdc

As Lumen said, everything sounds like it's coming from the BB. My bike has made creaking noises from the BB when power goes down since I got it. I've replaced the BB, disassembled and greased absolutely everything (twice), and just this morning discovered that the clicks are coming from..... the rear wheel! Building a new bike atm, swapped the rear wheels out, and it's as quiet as a mouse.

Like you I was certain it was the BB, would have put money on it. Your noise could be coming from anywhere. Here's the list of possible causes that googling got me that I've tried to no avail, might be useful for you if facing doesn't work:

• Grease under front der mount, if it's band-on
• Clean and grease seatpost + seatpost clamp
• Small bit of grease on the saddle rails
• Grease and tighten BB cups. Put plumbers tape on them if necessary.
• Grease on axle where non driveside crank attaches
• Clean and grease pedal threads
• Clean and grease spoke intersections on rear wheel (!)

The last thing I'm gonna try now is lubing up the spoke nipples on the rear wheel, so if all else fails give that a go too!

feck sake lads

i had the same problem for a year one day i took the entire bike apart (except b/b as it was fairly new) oiled greased everything that need greasing and i mean everything, next spin same bloody noise i could not believe it:mad:
then i remembered when i got the b/b fitted in cycle superstore the shell needed facing bingo problem solved at least with my tourer .now all i need do is get my road bike done.

Raymzor

thank for starting this thread. it has helped me get to the bottom of a creak i had. i had stipped the bottom bracket but this didnt solve the problem. i removed the cassette that didnt help. i changed the two wheels on the deraileur which badly needed to be done. All this hard work needed to be done but didnt solve the creak! IT WAS THE SADDLE/ SEATPOST!

el Bastardo

You can add QR bolts to that list of creaking things that sound like they're coming from the BB.

I've had: Creaking stem bolts, creaking saddle/rail and creaking QRs that all seemed to be coming from the BB. No sooner would I fix one than another would spring up somewhere.

kenmc

Bottle cage bolts were the hardest creak I ever had to discover.
PITA.

mfdc

Hey I remember this thread! Bit of an update I guess... after trying anything and everything I finally found the source of my creak - my rear hub had a crack in it. So yeah add that to the list of things to check.

moby2101

Hey all,

This thread has been very useful, maybe make it a sticky!!

I TORE the bike assunder trying to find a creak after yesterdays spin, it had been driving me nuts for nearly a week...

Turned out not to be the BB as has been diagnosed above^^

It was the saddle clamp