I have an Ia1 that does the same thing. I've never been able to identify the source. Seems to be more prevalent with heavy force/low RPM i.e. climbing. Comes and goes. Shoes don't seem to make a difference. Frustrating. I just changed chainrings and haven't really noticed it, but will have to pay more attention this weekend.

One time I had a creaking problem that I thought was the BB turned out to be the front axle/quick release.

Also, if you have deep rim wheels the valves can often make a ticking noise when riding.

Most of my ticking has been the interface of the axle and bearings. And also where the axle end that attaches to the left crank.
My best guess is to grease the crank axle well and the end of the axle that inserts into the left crank.

other possibility is bad pedal bearings. Did you try another set of pedals?

I've chased a noise like this before, turned out to be my cleats.

Bolts are tight.

Cable is not touching the derailleur.

That was the first thing I checked because years ago I had a cleat that had a metal backing plate that was creating a similar sound when I pedaled. My current (new) cleats are good.

Been rocking the new gen Felt Aero Road since they released that bad boy. I've had creaks from everywhere over the years and the more difficult ones are the hanger being a touch loose and a bad headset. Easing up on the bars, i.e. loosening your grip, can sometimes rule that one out. Another thought, do you have segmented housing for the rear brake cable? Mine ticks a bit when I get out of the saddle (I know you said in or out).

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My YouTubes

It's just going to be a process of elimination....
Ride around the neighborhood in sneakers to eliminate a cleat issue, swap to some old pedals or flats to eliminate pedals.....from there you are starting to rebuild - if the BB is older you just may want to replace (usually an inexpensive part)........ Like I mentioned above, good luck as you have seen, may have had this type of problem and finding the source can be VERY frustrating.

Hey, I am not sure if you saw Geek_Fit's comment or not, but I have a Felt 3X as well with the Prologo saddle and it was making the exact same noise you described and that Geek_Fit said. It is where the saddle attached to the top of the seat post. It seemed tight but it was not, once I tightened it more the noise went away. Comes back every once in a while and drove me crazy as it was a brand new bike. Hope that helps.

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I miss you "Sports Night"

+1

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I miss you "Sports Night"

In my case, I didn't figure it out until I moved the seat to a different bike. It's literally the seat.

no wonder that ISM saddle was cheap on ebay...haha

My guess is the Hollowtech II BB is the source of the problem, if the noise is indeed coming from that area. It doesn't take much to swap that out and see if the noise is still there. That would be the first thing I do.

I had the same problem on a bike. Finally sent the frame back, they figured out the front derailleur was loose. Try in tighten all the screws/bolts on your bike, drove me nuts for 6 months.

I believe that only the 2019 Felt AR5 frame is English threaded and will accept a Shimano Hollowtech II bottom bracket.

If the OP's frame is older, then I believe that it is BB30 and would need to have some adapters installed so that it would work with a Shimano crankset.

Thanks for that info...my bike is a 2016 and I have a 105 crankset. I just got back from a ride and that noise is still there. I'm going to take into my LBS tomorrow and ask them to check the BB.

You could simply remove the crankset and check the bottom bracket yourself.

Provided he has the Shimano tool to remove the plastic tightening bolt or whatever it's called. Anyone who owns a Shimano crankset should go buy one asap.

I would be happy to send one to him for free.

My LBS owes me one!

Why?

I have had noises like this and made assumptions based on the direction I think the sound comes from and whether it happens when I am pedalling or not. I have come to the conclusion that noises can travel in strange ways, and nearly everything on the bike is stressed differently depending on where your feet are in the pedal stroke. You move around, grip things differently, weight and un-weight different parts of the bike, and things push and pull against one another depending on whether the cranks are turning the wheels or the bike is being forced to accelerate, decelerate or steer.

Saying "that'll be the bottom bracket, mate" might be true pretty often but don't jump to conclusions.

In summary, it isn't always what you think it is and it could be almost anything.

I know that doesn't help.

I have had noises like this being caused by, amongst others;

- Badly fitted bottom brackets
- Work bottom brackets
- Badly installed crank arms (too much or too little preload, for example)
- Chainring bolts
- Stem (tririg sigma cable covers can squeak when you pull on the bars)
- Headset (think how you load and unload the
- Creaky saddle rails (creaking where rails meet the saddle body)
- Rear cassette chewing into the freehub body splines, thereby creating the possibility of play under torque
- Front or rear wheels/skewers mystically creating noise and needing to be removed and reinstalled
- Pedals - poorly installed, worn or needing grease (speedplay in my case)
- Cleats - loose bolts or spring clips needing lubrication (speedplay)
- Probably a bunch of other things

I did once spend about 3 months swapping out almost everything to do with the drive chain until I looked properly at the rear wheel and found the issue with the cassette and the freehub splines. Throw another wheel on if you have one, to at least rule that out.

Cheers,
Rich.

So my new bike quickly developed a godawful creaking which I noticed was in the first three gears, big or small ring, in or out of the saddle. Genius wrench at the LBS heard that story and quickly diagnosed it: the new cassette (R8000) was dry (the biggest 3 cogs are riveted on). Pull cassette, tri-flow thoroughly around the rivets, reinstall, and silent, glorious perfection was restored.

Could it be this?

+1 to the crank bolts (you said you looked at) and the front fork (had an aluminum / stainless steel interface that creaked really bad one time, but it was only when I was out of the saddle).

Good luck!

-Eric

Because I've had it in there several times for the same problem. They are going to replace the bearings in the BB, which I hope is the answer.

What did they discover that would warrant replacing the bearings?