Creaking bars?

pottssteve

Hi,

I've had my Van Nicholas for several months and it's ridden with no problems. Went out yesterday, all fine. Went out today and, for some reason, the handlebars have started making creaking sounds under load (especially when I pull on them when climbing). Could there be a bit of damp in there? Any other causes? I don't think they're overtightened - there's no visible signs of cracking. Any ideas of causes and solutions would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Steve

CiB

I cured mine by undoing the clamp that holds them in place, giving everything a good clean and then refitting, being careful to not to to overtighten. I also made sure that each of the 4 bolts were tightened gradually and equally.

marcusjb

Creaky bars is something worth paying attention to - creaky may lead to snappy bars!

You don't mention whether your bars are carbon or alloy?

Agree with CiB - dismantle everything, give it a good look over and refit with a torque driver.

I've never (touch wood) snapped bars, stem or steerer - but know people who have and it sounds about as scary as it gets (up there with a rim exploding).

Peddle Up!

marcusjb wrote:

I've never (touch wood) snapped bars, stem or steerer - but know people who have and it sounds about as scary as it gets (up there with a rim exploding).

Rims can explode?! Holy Mo... :shock: :shock: :shock:

marcusjb

Peddle Up! wrote:

marcusjb wrote:

I've never (touch wood) snapped bars, stem or steerer - but know people who have and it sounds about as scary as it gets (up there with a rim exploding).

Rims can explode?! Holy Mo... :shock: :shock: :shock:

If you let them wear too thin, the sidewall of the rim can explode under the pressure from the tyre - saw the aftermath of a rim explosion on a 600 I did this year - luckily happened at low speed, but the chap said he did literally crap himself as it went off like a gunshot.

ductions

I thought I had creaky handle bars on my planet x. I was a little worried since they are carbon bars. But upon further investigation it turned out to be coming from the fork area. I could replicate the creaking sound by sitting on the top tube and moving the bike back and forth with the front brake tight.

I took it to the shop and was told in the end that it was the carbon fibre rubbing on the bearing set in the headset. They greased all of the components and the creaking has no gone.

A few weeks later I thought the creak had come back but this new creak turned out to be coming from the seatpost - I had tightened it too much. It's often very hard to tell where a creak is coming from.

pottssteve

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I will take the clamp, give it a clean and re-assemble carefully, checking for cracks (the bars are carbon). I'm pretty sure it's the bars, it happens mainly when I go over uneven ground and, as I mentioned, when pulling up on the bars if climbing. I will also have a good look at the forks though (also carbon).

Any other things I should look for?

Cheers,
Steve

marcusjb

Hopefully that will sort it out for you - certainly sounds like bar/stem are likely candidates based on what you're saying. I certainly didn't want to panic you or anything - but creaky front ends are not something to ignore (reality is no creak should be ignored, but a creaky bottom bracket or whatever is not going to fail and potentially cause you some real mischief compared to something at the front end going!).