Annoying bottom bracket creaking

1964johnr

I have an entry level Giant SCR 2 which has developed a noisy and very irritating bottom bracket creaking. It doesn't seem to affect performance, although I can feel something through the pedals. Thought I would buy a bottom bracket tool and take a look. Anyone have any ideas how I might cure it?

lfcquin

aaahhh. The annoying creak. The bain of all cyclists!

Only thing I would say is make sure you know it's the bottom bracket. I've had lots of these types of "creaks" over the years and they almost always seem to come from the bottom bracket. Sometimes they are, but I have also found problems with pedals, crank arms and wheel skewers that sound and feel like its the bottom bracket.

Try a different set of pedals (if you have them), grease up and tighen your wheel skewers (or try a different set of wheels if you have them available), oil your chain and front and rear mech moving parts and see where you are at.

gmacz

As said try new pedals and also nice and tight on the BB bolts.

sungod

as above, look at more than just the bb

you can feel something as you pedal, it's likely something is loose or worn

it may be that the bearings are dry/worn in bb and/or pedals, you may be able to feel/hear this if you turn pedals/cranks by hand

check all these are tight...

pedals
cranks
chainring bolts
bb

if the bike has done a lot of miles, especially in the wet, try undoing them, cleaning, applying some anti seize to threads, and refitting

ddraver

Sounds BB like to me though - try the above, but start saving some bike tokens for a new one. Hope are brilliant for UK conditions if you re not labouring under any delusions of grandeur...

dennisn

I have Shimano with outboard bearings. I always put a drop or two of oil on the bearing face and the crankarm face(where they touch).