Intermittent squeak when pedalling what could it be?

[Kingfisher101]

Hi, I've got a squeak like a rat being murdered every so often when I pedal forwards. Its not the brakes, I've pedalled with them undone and nowhere near the rims and I still get it. So far I've taken the back wheel off and put it back in making sure its properly aligned, I've cleaned the whole drivetrain and wet lubed it. I've cleaned the pads and sanded them and cleaned the rims throughly(its not them anyway.) I've also taken the seat off and re greased the seat post and the rails of the saddle.
My gut feeling is that its the bearings in the bottom bracket. Anything else that springs to mind?

 

[PaulSB]

I feel your pain. A few years ago I had an intermittent squeak/creak which drove me and the LBS crazy for months.

I went in one day and the mechanic handed me a set of cleats. "Put these on Paul. PLEASE!" 😂 I did. Problem solved.

Every six weeks or so I back off my cleats slightly, lube and tighten again. I also clean the pedals and lube them.

This is on SPDs and I rarely get mystery creaks these days.

 

[ColinJ]

Every six weeks or so I back off my cleats slightly, lube and tighten again. I also clean the pedals and lube them.

This is on SPDs and I rarely get mystery creaks these days.

My SPD shoes/pedals sometimes make squeaking/creaking sounds. I put a little lube on the surfaces of the pedals where the soles of the shoes make contact and that solves the problem for another few rides. (You can see where the contact is happening because the pedals get polished there by the friction of rubber on metal.)

A more subtle squeak caught me out for a while until I noticed dirt on the sides of my shoes below my ankles and the logos getting polished off my cranks. I ride 'heels in' and normally the shoes are a couple of mm from the cranks as they pass them, but occasionally the float in the system allows my heels in a bit too far and the shoes glance the cranks in passing. I can make the noise happen by turning my heels in, and stop it by turning my heels out a bit.

 

[Kingfisher101]

I feel your pain. A few years ago I had an intermittent squeak/creak which drove me and the LBS crazy for months.

I went in one day and the mechanic handed me a set of cleats. "Put these on Paul. PLEASE!" 😂 I did. Problem solved.

Every six weeks or so I back off my cleats slightly, lube and tighten again. I also clean the pedals and lube them.

This is on SPDs and I rarely get mystery creaks these days.

Thanks for that, its a gravel type bike with MTB flat pedals. I've just taken them off and cleaned and re greased and put them back on. If its not them it has to be the BB.

 

[wonderloaf]

One of my pre-ride rituals is to apply a thin layer of grease over the pedal contact points using a small brush, otherwise I get the dreaded squeak.
One downside is that I end up with red grease marks on the toes of my nice light grey shoes when I flip the pedal over to clip in

 

[BoldonLad]

This may be a silly suggestion, but, could it be your shoe, rubbing against the crank? I had this happen to me. After several miles,riding with a friend, totally mystified where the squeak was coming from. He said, "stop peddling", which I did, sure enough, steak gone. Moved my foot slightly on the peddle, no squeak.

 

[ColinJ]

This may be a silly suggestion, but, could it be your shoe, rubbing against the crank? I had this happen to me. After several miles,riding with a friend, totally mystified where the squeak was coming from. He said, "stop peddling", which I did, sure enough, steak gone. Moved my foot slightly on the peddle, no squeak.

See post #3, above!

 

[BoldonLad]

See post #3, above!

Pleased I am not the only one to be caught out like that!

 

[iluvmybike]

Sometimes the rubber seal covers on hubs get dry and squeak like that - bit of silicone lube on them works wonders

 

[Specialeyes]

I had an intermittent squeak pop up on London-Southend this morning. After all the usual suspects, it turned out to be the top jockey wheel on the rear mech that had dried out. Sorted!

 

[Blue Hills]

One of my pre-ride rituals is to apply a thin layer of grease over the pedal contact points using a small brush, otherwise I get the dreaded squeak.
One downside is that I end up with red grease marks on the toes of my nice light grey shoes when I flip the pedal over to clip in

Try this
https://www.wilko.com/wilko-500g-mu...cv9BZ7Xz3mtiXN8d3uhoCO6QQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Described by them, rather enticingly, as caramel coloured.
Eat your shoes?

 

[wonderloaf]

Try this
https://www.wilko.com/wilko-500g-mu...cv9BZ7Xz3mtiXN8d3uhoCO6QQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Described by them, rather enticingly, as caramel coloured.
Eat your shoes?

You've given me an idea, if I used Nutella I could just lick my pedals if I ever needed an in ride carb hit

 

[sasquath]

My bikes tend to get loose cranks on BB squeaks, all square tapered bikes did this. Until I seated cranks on the taper using 10t hydraulic press. I feel sorry for whoever is going to attempt removal, but they never squeaked again.

 

[newfhouse]

Could it be your knees?

 

[Kingfisher101]

Could it be your knees?

No its the bike, my knees are fine.