15 Reasons Your Bike Creaks (and how to fix them...) 

Can you do a "15 reasons your body creaks " video next please

The Jimmi roast was gold!😂 You need to sell a t-shirt that says “be the de-motivation your friends need” with Jimmi’s face on it.

I never know what to grease on my bike and with what… of course you can find plenty of advices and rules online but it’s kind of a chapel war, everyone has its own opinion… it would be great if you could make a video about this! For exemple I didn’t know I needed to grease the quickrelease axel of my wheel! Actually tutorials about how to service our bikes would be amazing (and make plenty of views ;-))

I hade a creak sound on my bike during several rides,but I finally figured out it was the internal routing cable knocking the inside frame at each road imperfections.

The shoe comment was great. I had a strange creak when climbing and eventually realized it was the Boa fasteners in my shoes flexing.

I’m an aircraft maintenance technician on a shop floor as long as that is a metal-to-metal on the components contact we apply grease or lubricant on them and I apply this skill set to my Dogma F 💪🏻 It has been 1 year and 6 months creak-free!

Thanks Francis , Nic , and Jimmi..OAF here ..my body creaks and my shoulder clicks from being separated after falling off . It's all good tho...the voices in my head talk over all of it !

After a rainy local ride the guide pulley started squeaking. I went to my local bike shop and told the mechanic and owner that I'm pretty sure it's from the rear derailleur. He said no way checked everything except that. A few months later I found the courage to check it my self and it was bone dry, cleaned it, lubed it and learned something from it.

Interface of d-hanger & frame (alloy hanger, steel frame). Super-light coating of grease fixed a maddening creak that took me a month to find.

I've had a rear derailleur hanger creak before. A quick removal, clean and grease solved the problem (after weeks of pulling other bits off the bike!)

Great advices, great video. Thanks a lot guys. Huge thanks to Nic. Last advice is a killer))

Oh yeah, my brake and shift cables (not internally routed, at least on the handlebars) were clattering against each other where they cross over at the front. It was a g-dd-mned annoying sound! I got velcro cable ties (like you get in electronics shops for computer cables) and used pairs for each cable to make a little retainer for the cables to hold them apart, but relatively positioned. The advantage I found with the velcro ones over more traditional cable ties is that you need only loosely wrap them around the cable, and then use the velcro to interlock them together. They can move with the cable tension but still hold the cables apart very nicely. They are also soft and won't scratch your frame or crush the hydraulic line. Also they come in colours (although I used black ones as that's what I had, but I have some other coloured ones I use on my guitar pedal board, and they're easy to find on Amazon).

Switching from 28mm to 25mm tires on an older frame solved a whole chorus of noises for me. The wheel would spin freely in the stand, but on the road the tire was polishing the brake boss to a mirror finish.

I have developed a creak on my bike recently.. I thought my new BB was to blame… however I’m just about to head to the shed to try everything you’ve mentioned! Thanks guys!!!

Had the worst creak, thought it was my bb30 BB. Bought new bearings still creaked, must of taken the bearings out and pressed back in 20 times. Tried loctite, different greases. Turns out it was my skewers.....

The curse of being an experienced cyclist, years ago my I'd happily run my bikes into the ground ignoring the clicks and squeeks, now it bugs me if they're not perfect.

Once I had a creek so I spent a week eliminating part by part. Eventually took the entire bike apart. Everything except for the front wheel. Turned out my front QR was wound up a little tight which caused the spring to bind and give an intermittent creek.

A creak in the steertube/fork crown joint was a head scratcher for us for a while. A creak in the welded and finished joint on some Roval wheels is still a current ongoing problem. And, an odd sound creak in the engagement splines on Shimano Direct Engagement hubs that are not lubed appropriately at the factory.

I love the thumbnail-arrows pointing everywhere EXCEPT for the BB. Of course, it is TIME, the BB doesn’t creak. 😂

The square taper bottom bracket that my cheap gravel bike came with from new started to creak after less than 6weeks of use.. took me a long time to diagnose as it felt ok and was so new I ruled it out… turns out the amazing spring/summer weather of 2020 and fine gravel dust and excessive new bike cleaning regime really made light work or that cheap BB.

I currently have a creak that is driving me insane so I'm this video was perfect timing and I'm hoping I'll be able to solve the problem today

When all else fails with the seatpost wedge clamp creak, use plumbers teflon tape on all the contact parts.

Creaky crankset is a favourite.

This is the stuff right here!

I honestly did NOT know about the Chainring Screws. I've heard this weird BB cracking for a few weeks now. Maybe it's that? Thanks for that tip!!

It's always good when Nick is on the channel 👍🏻👍🏻

Thank you for mentioning Jimmy-moan issue! Happen to have very similar problem and now do know what might cause it!

"Make sure your nipples' greased." Nic's side eyes 🤣🤣🤣

I‘d add externally routed cables in the sockets on the frame as creaking source and a tip for internal seat clamps on non-round seatposts. When you torque them up, wiggle them from side to side with a bit of force on the saddle and torque again. You will be surprised how often you can torque with 6 Nm until it‘s really tight and seated.

Loving the videos as usual but can you do a tyre inflation video. Pressures for scenarios, types of pumps, what's best what sucks. Thanks heaps Ray.

I had what I was convinced was my spokes rubbing together, especially as wetting the spokes temporarily stopped the noise. Had the whole wheel re-built, did not fix it. I then took off my cassette, and found a very thin chrome washer (part of the cassette, not the 11/10 spacer) was broken. I took this off, put copper-slip on the interface surface, re-mounted it and hey presto! I still think it was the spokes rubbing together but this was being caused by slight movement of the cassette. The washer was like a thin sliver of chrome (back of a SLX cassette) and was sufficiently thin that I didn't even have to adjust the gears, but it was enough.

For resin pads I find minor contamination can be fixed with an IPA bath followed by sanding down and wipe off with clean alcohol. Solves noisey pads if I've ridden gravel in the wet.

Nice video and right on time! I have this weird pinging/creaking noise coming from my rear wheel when I tilt the bike to one side. I can only reproduce the sound when moving. I know its the wheel since I don't have this noise when I use an other wheels set (same cassette). What I have tried: grease on the nipples (from the outside), grease on between the spokes, clean and grease thru axles. Any thoughts? The noisy wheel is carbon the quiet one is alu.

5:02 unrelated to creaking, but for Crank Brothers pedals, the metal "shoe shield" is indispensable to prevent the clamp bar digging into the sole. At a pinch, the slotted plates found in some SPD cleats such as Wellgo 98A are also suitable for the purpose.

I had a creak go on for a couple weeks till I isolated it. It was driving me nuts and I damn near put a warranty claim on my carbon fork because I thought I had cracked it, but it turned out to be the bar clamp on my Redshift stem. The bars had worn down from years of reinstalling and adjusting to where they wouldn't clamp properly anymore. The way it was creaking made it feel and sound like a broken steerer.

I had a creak whenever I pulled on the bars during a climb/sprint. Very annoying- turns out the bike shop did a poor job of assembly (not just the headset but the whole bike). Headset cups were bone dry and the stem cap was torqued incorrectly. Fair to say there was little to no grease/ASC/gripper around the rest of the bike too.

Front derailleur hanger, not the integrated type but the ones that clamp around the seat tube. I chased that creak for months, I thought it was the bottom bracket. Every time I got out of the saddle and put some power down, the frame flexed and the hanger creaked.

What's the story with the Time ADH!? That's my dream bike. Can you do a video on it? Maybe take a trip to their factory. Haven't seen anyone else do a deep dive on Time bikes and feel like they are super underrated!! Love the show. Keep up the good work. Greetings from the black forest.

Last one made my day

The cleat /shoe interface is sometimes the culprit. Remove the cleat, clean the shoe and the cleat and all good.

lol I love the last reason for a creak!

I had a squeak once that drove me crazy because it took forever to locate. Turned out to be a water bottle cage screw was just ever so slightly loose.

I recently had a creaking freehub. So frustrating because it was just one pawl, so it would come and go depending on which pawls were engaging when putting the power down. Cost me £90 to replace it and 1 week off the bike waiting for the lbs to get the part in. Worth every penny though.

Where did Nick get that awesome shirt. I love it. I want one!

Somehow I'm a bit happy Giant put the FC-RS520 on the Defy instead of the hollow fc-r7150, gives you some assurance its not gonna break

that Time frame is next level

My rear wheel creaks when I put torque on it. I always thought the spokes were binding. I've checked the tension of them, and the wheel seems fine. I've never gotten around to loosening the spokes and redoing. I'll regrease the threads if I ever do.

One for Nicks vast knowledge base - my SuperSix Evo has a creak/tick when I pedal but only after the bike has been standing a while and it only lasts for the first 0.5km or so. Then the noise goes away. It’s not my hips or knees either! Any idea?

A few extras to mention... Derailleur bolt and/or hanger bolt. When you put load on the chain, it flexes and creaks when loose. Cassette Tight Rotors Tight You mentioned Q/R Skewers greased, but also Thru axles greased and torqued. IF it is actually the BB, it could be that the actual frames BB shell is flogged out/out of spec, and that is a whole other thing

Jimmy is quite convincing as a grumpy bike mechanic 🤣🤣

Good advice. You missed 3 biggies though: creaking suspension fork, creaking suspension seat post, creaking suspension handle bar. Also grit between your seat post and stem.

Titanium silca cage on moots titanium frame. Use a good thread lock with a tiny rubber donut rung seal between surfaces to save the squeak. This took me months to find & sent me loopy

okay you guys have gone full GCN with this one 😂

That’s a sweet bike

I do think it's best to tighten bolts crosswise, so lower left, upper right, lower right and upper left. Then you can tighten your stem more evenly

4:55 OMG Shoes! That's a very old reference.

SRAM QUARQ powermeters the spider mounted can creak if it’s mounted on with grease and not torqued correctly! I got one and I was cleaning and greasing changing the BB bearings and I was going nuts and then I learned that I had mounted my powermeter “wrong” after changing to shorter cranks 😂 I felt pretty dumb but no more creaking now only me who is creaking now

My rear Hunt wheel makes a squeaking/creaking noise when the tire (currently a Rene Herse Switchback Hill) is not pumped up to above 40+ PSI.

I recently went through this and found that the BB (HT2) was not torqued enough. I only ever noticed when grinding up steep grades, but that was the worst time for a creak to appear!

The last creak I found was from the derailleur hanger attachment to the frame.

Great video guys!! This is super useful. One I just got fixed which wasn't mentioned - .worn crank axel causing movement. Replacing cranks fixed that

Shimano also recommends not to use any grease on press fit BB install.

Had a clicking coming from the BB. Bike needed a refresher anyways. So new BB. New chain and cassette. Service of the headset. Still didn’t fix it. Checked the wheels, brakes and cranks. Then new pedals. Still there. All it took to fix it was a world wide crankset recall. Didn’t show any signs of failure but sent it away. Got new cranks back and finally on more clicking. Ahh Shimano Ultegra R8000

Another common creak that's in pedals and didn't metioned it, the thread between cranks and pedals. I had it last year, I thought it was the cleats, but took out the pedals, put some grease on the threads, and put back in. The creak was gone.

I had the weirdest creak, it ended up being the derailleur hanger. Now thats my first spot to check if its a creak at the same spot in a pedal stroke.

My MTB creaked terribly in the bottom bracket area. In the end it was the bolted derailleur hanger(!).

Believe it or not, but I recently discovered that the source of the strange creaks were the velcro straps in my shoes. Around the metal loops the straps touch the opposite side of the shoe and this causes creaks under load. It happens only in warm temperatures (makes sense, because most probably the straps / shoe material softens in such conditions). I'm trying to solve it with putting the paraffin between the surfaces, for now with a success, but I'm not sure for how long.

What about a creak when the bike is practically standing still, with no weight on it? I get a creaking/rubbing noise from my bike when it's barely moving at all - it's coming from the front of the bike. It is too quiet to even hear when riding, you can only hear it when it's quiet. I thought it was from my headset bearings being too dry, greased them up again, and still same problem. Putting a single finger on the top tube and barely rocking the bike from side to side is enough to make the creak happen. (rocking side to side meaning NOT turning the bars)

I have one thing that creaks in my bike, and it's worth to say if somone have fornt derailleur: on smallest chainring cable is a bit too outside and touch my crank every spin that i make

Do a Brompton specific version of this please? I am sure it will be appreciated, but only if you handle a few Bromptons!

Whose Time bike is that?

Great video. Creaks and clicking sounds are extremely annonying and also hard to find. I found pedals are often the issue. And bikes could benefit from a lot more grease in the right places. More probably better than too little. Please do a video on all parts that should be greased.

10:25 , the rotor truing fork behind him on the peg board .

A creak in the headset was driving me mad for a month, rebuilt and greased the headset multiple times. Ended up being the computer mount on the canyon integrated handlebar.

I had a chirping sound coming from my bike and I tried everything to fix it - it ended up being unevenly tensioned spokes rubbing at their crossection.

In my case it was the headset. Easy fix, but the last thing I looked at. If headset is at all loose then you also run the 'ring of death' risk (on a carbon steerer).

My shiny new Pinarello F5 makes an interesting/weird whine, very softly, when I'm *not* on her, and rock her back and forth. Like.... sit at a park bench for snack break, holding bike, rock back and forth. Can't hear it when in loud areas or riding - may just be too quiet and sounds get overwhelmed. No idea where it is coming from. She rides great. Love the bike. Dunno why she makes the whine sound. Ideas?

I had an annoying, intermittent rattle on my bike, which turned out to be the grab strap on zip handle for frame bag touching water bottle.

Let's talk single speed, or fixed gear in my case. Chainline can be a real issue, because single speed chains don't give you much leeway so your front and rear sprocket have to be pretty much in a perfect line for all of it to work nice and smooth. It took me years to realise that bottom brackets spacers (among many other things) work wonders to make slight adjustments. It gets real noisy and rough on your chain as well as both sprockets if it's not spot on.

My Top 3 are all in the video and it's always annoying but never dramatic: 1. Axles 2. Rail-Saddle-Connection 3. Stem clamp I mostly ride alone, so i don't have the Jimmy-Problem or I am the Jimmy myself but still don't know where it comes from, of course.

I've been trying to chase down a clicking sound that seems to be coming from the bottom bracket but only in one or two gears. Once I shift out of those gears, the click goes away. I've changed out both derailleurs and the cassette. I've inspected the frame. I've taken it to two bike shops, and apparently I'm the only one who can hear this click. A ghost? Suggestions greatly appreciated...

We need a jimmi the mechanic playlist

Took my bike to the shop to get serviced, the bike shop didn’t tighten the dust cap and crank bolts… I was wondering what the awful click my bike was making was for a few hours at least

We need nicks tip on washing grease off your hands

why noone mention the front derailer? It took me ages to find out that the problem was that, while hard pedalling and slightly bending the frame at a certain phase, the chain starts ribbing the front derailer making the shitty annoying noise

My most recent creak turned out to be my helmet. Sounds pretty loud because it's happening right at your ears. :)

You missed 2 big ones. 1. Dry pedal spindles. 2. Rear derailleur hanger and where it bolts to the frame. If its dry and or loose it will sound just like a creaking BB under power.

tha valve stem issue causes a click w/ every rotation of tha wheel, drives me crazy! ... instead of tape i get a drinking straw slip it over the stem into the rim and fix it!

Torching break pads works

Jimmi’s TIME is beautiful

❤

That last one plagues me all the time. Probably because I listen to The Wild Ones Podcast whilst riding.

Yep; my bike is like me: old, complains and isn't as good as it used to be 15 years ago lol. Oh well...still gets the job done. :P

The clicking noise can come from a slider knocking on the zip fastener of your shirt or jacket. I had that. So from your clothes in general ...

My knee was the the problem , grinding noise that became painful.

Hi, it’s me. I’m the Jimmy. How do I fix being the Jimmy?

No mention of a loose headset? Oh, just later in the video instead of with the stem/handlebars.

- play in hub bearings - broken spoke - salt build up in stem or headset spacers

4:46 what are thooooose?

One of the best ways of getting rid of a creak I have found: A set of headphones