Head Creaks

[jack steindlberger]

Hey guys, I've got an older beach cruiser, a Murray from the 80's. It's got a creaking noise that I'm almost positive its coming from the head, and it makes the creaking noise when I pull on the handlebars while I'm pedaling faster or up a hill. It's a pretty old bike, a beater, but its got a lot of sentimental valiue, so I'm not going to throw it out (unless it's totally broken). I'd love some advice on how to silence the creaking!

 

[RWright]

I would probably start by servicing the head tube, clean it out, grease the bearings ect. Probably find more help in the know how section of the forum.

 

[Sittingduck]

Just out of interest... does the creak still happen when you stand on the pedals and come out of the saddle? I was convinced I had a headset issue after recently cleaning the headset and finding rust in the bearings. Turned out the creak was the seatpost and nothing to do with the bearings in the headset (although I do need to replace them, soon).

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Slightly off topic but can you/ should you grease the seat post on an aluminium bike? I have an awful creak on my bike and no idea were it is coming from, I thought I would try with the seat post first.

 

[Sittingduck]

I cured mine by removing the post, cleaning post and inside the seattube and re-greasing, using teflon grease. Voila!

If the creak stops as soon as you get out of the saddle and starts again when you sit down, it's almost certainly the seat post.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

I cured mine by removing the post, cleaning post and inside the seattube and re-greasing, using teflon grease. Voila!

If the creak stops as soon as you get out of the saddle and starts again when you sit down, it's almost certainly the seat post.

Mine creaks when out of the saddle, I just want to eliminate the easy stuff before I pass on the problem to the LBS. I've just changed the pedals, so I better check I have tightened them up enough, can't see it being them though.

Next question whilst I have your attention!
Can I pull the qr skewers out and grease them?

 

[themosquitoking]

My bike developed a creak yesterday, if i go out tomorrow i shall try all of these suggestions to try and find it. It's amazing how often on this place a thread pops up just as you need it.

 

[Sittingduck]

Mine creaks when out of the saddle, I just want to eliminate the easy stuff before I pass on the problem to the LBS. I've just changed the pedals, so I better check I have tightened them up enough, can't see it being them though.

Next question whilst I have your attention!
Can I pull the qr skewers out and grease them?

It might be worth cleaning and regreasing stem and interface with handlebars.

Yes, you can grease skewers if you want to and I suppose it will help rusty residue building up on them, but generally I don't bother. I am sure other folk may well do.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

It might be worth cleaning and regreasing stem and interface with handlebars.

Yes, you can grease skewers if you want to and I suppose it will help rusty residue building up on them, but generally I don't bother. I am sure other folk may well do.

Cheers, I haven't got the confidence to play with the handlebars, if I screw the wheels up I have a spare set whilst I get them fixed.

 

[jack steindlberger]

Just out of interest... does the creak still happen when you stand on the pedals and come out of the saddle? I was convinced I had a headset issue after recently cleaning the headset and finding rust in the bearings. Turned out the creak was the seatpost and nothing to do with the bearings in the headset (although I do need to replace them, soon).

Yeah, it does creak while I'm standing on the pedals and out of the saddle. it happens when I put any stress on the handlebars while riding (pulling stress). I'll take the head apart and try to see what's wrong. thanks for all the replies