Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Silence, Please!

Have you noticed that almost every squeak, creak, and groan from your bike "sounds" like it is coming from your bottom bracket? Fitzy and I were discussing the fine art of troubleshooting mysterious bike creaks last night and we agreed that the bottom bracket is rarely the culprit.


I am currently in the process of chasing down a mysterious creak on my singlespeed and I think I have narrowed it down to the rear wheel. Specifically, I "think" it is the interface between the cassette spacers/cog and my DT Swiss SS rear hub. I tried to address it by greasing the faces of each spacer and the cog but after riding for about an hour the creak started to return.

Has anyone else seen this before?

Rear Hub: DT Swiss 240 SS
Cassette Spacers: Aluminum, DT Swiss (came with hub)
Lockring: DT Swiss (came with hub)
Cog: Chris King SS, 20T
Chain: SRAM PC-1

EDIT: To eliminate other variables, I did the following first:
1) Cleaned & re-greased bottom bracket
2) Cleaned & greased pedal spindles & pedal washers
3) Cleaned & re-greased the chainring/XTR crank interface
4) Cleaned & re-greased the chainring bolts
5) Checked tightness of rear skewer
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6 comments:

  1. HamiltonJune 28, 2011 at 9:41 AM

    It's actually your a) knees b)lower back or c) elbows!
    Add gears and watch your creaks disappear ;-)
    [I swear Chris E. did not put me up to this!!]

    ReplyDelete
  2. CarneyJune 28, 2011 at 10:06 AM

    Yes! - Well, something similar. I have a pair of American Classic wheels that used to creak like nobody's business whenever any real power was applied to the pedals. For a good month I thought it was the BB but it was indeed the freehub splines that just needed some lube. I put some heavy grease on the splines and now she is quiet as a mouse. Worked with both a cassette and a SS cog. Hopefully that helps!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 7:52 PM

    Forget the grease. I use plumbers tape and tfe paste.

    ReplyDelete
  4. VitoJune 28, 2011 at 8:03 PM

    Tear the entire bike down, give it a really good cleaning. Your squeaks will disappear.

    Then again, Hamilton may have something there. At 53 I ride a single speed and, but my problem is more of a snap, crackle, and pop.

    ReplyDelete
  5. FixieDaveJuly 2, 2011 at 8:19 PM

    pc1 can be a creaky chain as well, useing a stainless cog on alum freehub body use losta grease... if using stans rims the no eyelet deal can creak as well if there is a slightly out of tension spoke

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dave ByersJuly 4, 2011 at 1:27 PM

    I am pretty sure it is the King SS cog on the aluminum freehub. The aluminum Niner cog is much quieter. I think Homebrewed Components' alum/stainless 2-piece cog with a 7mm wide base could be the ticket.

    ReplyDelete