Creak - help!!!

Dizeee

Hi all,

After some advice please. I have developed a loud and sharp creak from my bike under load on each pedal stroke. Bike is a 5 month old Carbon De Rosa Merak with Athena II. It is going in tommorow to have the BB checked and re greased, however, today whilst riding with a group (including the mechanic who will be seeing to the bike tommorow), he said it sounded like the seat / seat post. Upon standing up and pedalling the creak does indeed seem to disappear in general, however, when standing and climbing higher gradient hills (Barhatch and Whitedown this morning) the creak does return so it's all a bit odd.

I tried shunting back and forth quickly on the seat when riding and that does not replicate the sound. It is only under load. Someone else said, which I agree with, it sounds like carbon on carbon.

When I got back and once'd over the bike, I have no idea whether it is linked, but found a very loose screw. The screw is located right next the rear derailleur and cassette, and goes into the bike frame horizontally at the furthest point at the end of the frame (on the trianglular point). It looks like whatever this allam screw is has totally unwound itself all the way out. Problem is I can't screw it back in because it is millimetres from the derailleur hinge.

Any ideas if that is linked or what is going on? I have a horrid feeling this may become a little bug that is not so easy to locate or fix. Hopefully I am proved wrong tommorow.

wayne10244

Have you got any pics of the screw and frame as I could have a better idea if that is the cause

Dizeee

Not my bike, but the same bike, just a different colour.

The yellow arrow located the screw and it's direction.

My gut says this is totally seperate to the creak though.

wayne10244

Yes that would cause the creak as it looks that that screw holds the derailleur hanger to the frame so you can screw the derailleur to it. I would check the threads that the screw goes into first as you may of stripped some if ok put some thread lock on and tighten up and that should sort the creak out.

peteone

Have you checked skewers? Easy one to eliminate and can often be the cause of creaks. I had one recently I swore was coming from the BB and turned out to be front skewer.

gozzy

My shoes rub my crank arms and make an awful squeak depending on whether I'm on the flat or climbing.

owenlars

The derailleur doesn't have any significant load on it so unlikely to be the hangar or the mech itself. Check this Sheldon Brown link for some tips.

http://sheldonbrown.com/creaks.html

Dizeee

Def not shoes or skewers, they are a a def no no - done 3000 miles with same shoes / cleats / setup since May so they are ok, skewers, regularly check plus had recent punctures on both and all ok there.

The screw again, what does it do exactly? This creak is in the frame and sounds like carbon on carbon, it's like a torsion twist sound and eminates from the centre, is it really likely the screw at the back?

tom.hall.me

Hello, I am having the same issues with my De Rosa Merak.

I'm really unimpressed with my De Rosa Merak, the rear derailleur hanger makes creaking noises which stops me from enjoying the bike. I have had this problem over the past year, it has been back to the bike shop AW cycles in Reading countless times and back to the distributor I-Ride and back to the De Rosa factory in Italy. The derailleur hanger has been replaced twice and refitted countless times all of this has taken most of this year and I have been without my bike for months at a time and not been able to enjoy my bike for this season and I am still waiting for a resolution. De Rosa have been really slow at responding to rectify the issue and I am really unimpressed why it has taken so long to resolve.

I have spent the past year chasing daily to get some feedback on what is happening but it takes months for De Rosa to respond. I don't think I would purchase another Italian bike again.

Dizeee

I have heard of similar issues from someone else who bought a Colnago from AW Cycles.

Why not take it to Pure Motion in Byfleet? They deal with I Ride, and specialise in Italian Superbikes. I have has issues with the in the past when I crashed my Merak and was told it was unfixable ( when it was ) but ultimatley for you they may be a new avenue to rectify the issue.

if the issues are as bad as you say, a full refund from AW Cycles is in order, on refusal of that, a small claims court initiation to claim your money back for a defective item.

Dizeee

And I forgot to mention, this creak was solved by a dollop of seatpost grease by Pure Motion almost instantly so was never a long lasting issue. The bike has been faultless ever since. It got me round the Ride London this year in a smidge over 4 hours and runs like a dream.