Anyone else's titanium frame 'creak'?

scak456
scak456 Posts: 55
edited June 2008 in Workshop
Had a ti frame for a month or so and done circa 500 miles.

The frame has developed a creaking noise. Everyone appears and works fine with it.

Speaking to a guy at the white rose yesterday, he reckoned that was normal for a ti bike.

Anyone else had similar experiences?

Cheers
SK

Comments

  • James_London
    James_London Posts: 530
    It's only normal for a Ti bike that needs something greasing or tightening! Or maybe one with a crack in the frame.

    Disassemble, check and re-grease parts until it goes away... :-)

    Post, pedal threads, tighten QRs, cranks, stem. Creaking can come from many places but persistence will pay off. Your LBS or a savvy mechanic friend might be able to help.
  • CHB01
    CHB01 Posts: 13
    not normal.
    I have two Ti bikes and neither creak.

    Its most likely either BB or seatpost...or a crack.
  • scak456
    scak456 Posts: 55
    Thanks Guys

    Trip to the shop then!

    Cheers
    SK
  • 3leggeddog
    3leggeddog Posts: 150
    You can experience "tin cry" with a Ti frame. As Ti is loaded, local areas within the metal change structure, this process is known as twinning. As the stress is released, the twinning unlocks releasing the stored energy as a high pitched ping. It was a long time ago that I studied metallurgy so I cant remember the finer details of the structural change (FCC to HCP?).

    This may explain the noises you are hearing
  • alfablue
    alfablue Posts: 8,497
    I found my Ti frame creaked unless the seat post clamp was very tight (it was a QR clamp on a Ti mtb frame). It took me a long time to figure out the problem as it sounded like it was coming from the BB area. It was an alu post which may also have some bearing on it. I now have a Ti post and a conventional clamp and it clicks no more.
  • ginger1
    ginger1 Posts: 94
    I suffered a really annoying creak on my ti frame a few months back. Turned out to be the shim that was welded inside the seat post. The weld had broken.

    Sent it back to manufacturer who had it re-welded and been fine ever since.
  • simon johnson
    simon johnson Posts: 1,064
    Try shifting your weight around while sat but not pedaling; if there's creaking it may well be the seatpost. I had this problem with my ti frame and resolved it with a spray of cheap hairspray (Harmony, ladies, though Elnett will have the same effect but a nicer smell), spray it on the seatpost- not your hair.

    Well, it's one to try before you undo, oil and tighten every bolt.

    Don't fear the creaker!!
    Where\'s me jumper?
  • Airmiles
    Airmiles Posts: 101
    Yep.....

    Is it a Litespeed? With the ever-so-slightly ovalised headtube? (They did it on some models e.g Vortex to make it more "äero" :roll:

    Cure is, headset out, Loctite (not threadlock, but the really strong one whose name I can't remember.. studlock or something?) reassemble.

    Bsically the headset moves ever-so-slightly in the headtube. The above cures it.

    But before that, try (ordinary) Loctite on your water-bottle-cage screws..... and all the usual BB, chainring bolt, pedal thread checking, greasing, etc. TBH I think there's something about Ti (certainly the fabricated downtubes on some Litespeeds) that just amplifies ördinary"creaks that would get muffled on some other frames.
    I'm not saying pedestrians in Hackney are stupid.. but a fixed bayonet would be more use than a fixed gear...
  • peanut
    peanut Posts: 1,373
    A lot of lite speeds have cracked at the junction of the head tube and down tube. There is a very nasty weakness there caused by the bellmouth of the head tube where its welded to the downtube.
  • neilstryjski
    neilstryjski Posts: 1
    edited September 2021
    A common one for me is the contact point with the rear axle (aluminum) and the dropouts (titanium), clean that and put some copper paste/grease. It was driving me CRAZY and this was a really easy fix.
  • keezx
    keezx Posts: 1,323
    Fix? Do'nt think so.
    Copper paste /grease only dampens the noises and does nothing with the cause, which is movement beteen two parts, which should not be there....
  • pilot_pete
    pilot_pete Posts: 2,120
    keezx said:

    Fix? Do'nt think so.
    Copper paste /grease only dampens the noises and does nothing with the cause, which is movement beteen two parts, which should not be there....

    Absolutely. Sounds to me like he needs to do up his axle tighter!
  • manglier
    manglier Posts: 1,297
    Had an annoying creak on my Lynskey. Changed the Sram Red GXP chainset for an FSA SLK Light BB386 Evo with BSA cups, problem solved. I don't rate the GXP BB.
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    13 year old thread revival. Possibly a new record...
  • froze
    froze Posts: 213
    edited September 2021
    I have the least expensive TI bike that Lynskey made and it doesn't creak. I suggest there is something else going on and not the frame. Problem is going to be finding the source of the noise. I had creak and after 2 weeks of listening I got lucky and figured it out, I removed the saddle of the post and flexed it as much as I could and CREAK, so I first poured some oil at where the front frame and the rear frame went into the saddle, then I tightened little screws on the saddles, nothing it still creaked, I did that last week, today the noise stopped!? The only thing I can think of is that it took a week for the oil to soak in?

    Sure it's an old post but someone might look at the post and get ideals to fix their creak.

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