Creaking and grinding

[Eoin Rua]

Over the past week or so my Allez has been making wild creaking noises with every rotation of the pedals, and it seems to be coming from the bottom bracket, but it only happens when I've shifted up to the big ring - and as most of my commute is flat it does get rather annoying.

There's a wee bit of movement in the big ring when I wiggle it, but it doesn't seem to be loose as such, and not sufficient to make that much noise I wouldn't imagine

Any ideas what the story with it might be?

 

[gannet]

I had creaking from my bike which the LBS couldn't trace...

I eventually traced it to grit in the bottom bracket cup threads - cleaned it all up put it back together again and all is quiet again

-- Gannet.

 

[BrumJim]

Check tightness of the big ring fixings would be a good start. Probably won't find the cause but will give me peace of mind!

What sort of pedals are you using? Could it be creaking from the cleats/mechanism on SPDs?

 

[Barbelier]

If you're using SPD pedals I'd also look at the cleats first.

Mine creak on a regular basis. Strip the cleats down, clean and grease (especially the bolts) and the creaking goes away (at least for a while anyway).

 

[steviesch]

I would check if chain-ring bolts need tightening.

 

[2old2care]

Check that the crank is not worn on the axle, assuming that it's a square taper axle.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

+1 to every suggestion. Tracing a noise from a bike whilst in motion is nigh on impossible.

 

[Eoin Rua]

Checked the fixings just after posting last night - 2 were a wee bit lose so that's fixed the problem...cheers CC'ers!