Loud creaking noises when i pedal?

Question

i have an 07 specialized epic and whenever i pedal i hear a loud creaking sound. its a regular rythmic sound. i greased the threads on my bb as well as the spindle

anything else i should be looking at?

Answer 1

You may need to disassemble the pedals and check for any places where the metal is rubbing together.  Also, you could try spraying some WD-40 once you have disassembled the pedal.  Be sure you have a set of Allen wrenches available to check other possible problems you find.

But, that should help you out a bit.

Sincerley,

G.C.

Answer 2

Often this is the sound of your BB being loose or going bad.  Also check your pedal tightness.  Use waterproof grease, not WD-40

Answer 3

Wiggle the pedals side to side to feel if they are too loose.  Too loose or too tight wirh dried out bearings will make em squeek.  Rotate the pedals by hand, they should spin very freely with no feelings of resistance to your force.  Now grab a crank arm and apply force like you want to pull it off.  There should be no play or looseness.  Squeeking means there are metal parts rubbing on other metal parts with no grease or there is a mouse caught in there!

Answer 4

Loud creaking noise in the BB region usually means one of two things:  A loose pedal or a loose crank arm.  A loose pedal can be tightened by taking a thinly slotted wrench (usually a 15mm for road bikes) attach it to the pedal and pedal backwards.  Once you start to feel resistance grab the rear wheel as this will give you leverage.  You'll want to get the pedals pretty tight so wrench down on them pretty hard.  As for the crank arms you will want to tighten them up by wrenching down on the crank arm bolts.  Older bicycles and some specialty cranks still use the hex head crank bolt (usually 15mm) and you can use either a special crank bolt wrench or a socket wrench in a pinch.  Newer crank assemblies will use a large allen head bolt instead of a hex head bolt.  Again you will want these bolts to be pretty tight so really torque down on them.  But not too tight as you may snap the head of the bolt off and then you'll really have a problem.  

A couple of other notes...

Don't let a crank are get too loose as the BB spindle will tend to distort the internal crank slots and eventually flare them out to the point of being useless.  Not something you want to do with a very expensive pair of cranks.  Although with the newer serrated style cranks this issue is less of a concern.  Second, you'll always want to use grease on the crank bolts and the pedal spindles but NEVER on the bottom bracket spindle!  Putting grease on a bottom bracket spindle is a sure fire way of ruining a nice pair of cranks.  You want have a clean and grease/grime free surface area on both the BB spindle and crank arm.  If you have put grease on the BB spindle then I suggest you take off the crank arms immediately and wipe away all the grease and grime.  Unless you have a self extracting style of crank, pulling a crank arm will require a special crank arm puller tool.  If you don't have that tool you can take your bike to a good bike shop and they can do it for you.  Lastly, when you are installing pedals check to make sure you are installing the correct pedals on the correct crank arms.

Answer 5

First, don't ever use WD-40 on your bike. It's useless except for (maybe) cleaning something. Use a proper bike specific lubricant.

The others have offered good advise. But here's another idea if that creaking happens when you're sprinting out of the saddle. Check the spoke tension in your wheels. Especially the front wheel. They could be just a tiny bit loose and make that sound.

Something else to think about.

Answer 6

welcome to the world of external bottom brackets! they will creak no matter what, however a relatively loud creak means you need to do something.I have had the best luck with shimano xt BBs or Enduro BBs.It is essential that you have a quality torque wrench and torque to specs.I am looking forward to the new threadless bottom brackets as they should eliminate most problems with threaded BBs.Enduro fork seals online info is clear and concise if you care to visit their website.could be other sources of creaking but have always found BB to be the source, think of it this way...how many annoying noises does your car make? cant tell because of engine noise etc, on bike you here everything...just do some maintenance get a good quality BB and enjoy!