Hi Gang,
Has anyone else had problems with their bottom brackets on cervelos being really noisey?
I have a P3SL that I just bought in the winter and there’s a lots of crackling/clicking. I took it to the bike shop and they said it’s probably just from the humidity of riding indoors and that it needed to be cleaned and regreased. I let them do the job, but now it’s worse.
Any help would be useful.
Gerard?
Try and figure out what BB is in there. More than likely Cervelo’s have a variety of different BB’s. However, other folks on other bikes might have the same BB.
I don’t see any reason why all BB’s on Cervelos would share a common problem. Pretty hard for the problem to be frame related.
Plumbers tape
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It is the frame, can depend on the milling of the threads and the percentage of contact of the threads when interfacing the BB shell threads. Oddly, a higher quality thread in a higher quality frame will have a higher rate of creaking than a frame with less precise threads (or less threads all together). My Litespeed has this issue much more than my Cervelo - but, my Cervelo creaks on occasion.
sure its the BB, also check seat post and seat post head
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It is the frame, can depend on the milling of the threads and the percentage of contact of the threads when interfacing the BB shell threads. Oddly, a higher quality thread in a higher quality frame will have a higher rate of creaking than a frame with less precise threads (or less threads all together). My Litespeed has this issue much more than my Cervelo - but, my Cervelo creaks on occasion.
Call me skeptical. It MIGHT be the frame. It also might be the BB or the installation. My wife’s Cervelo started creaking at the BB. Turned out the BB was not tightened all the way and there was play between the BB and the shell. Tightened it up and no problems for a 1000 miles now.
I would try greasing the seatpost first. I had this situation in both of my bikes, and a little grease went a LONG way. Not before driving me and the LBS nuts (I ride a 61cm and they had no one big enough to test ride it)
Pete
I had that same problem with my P3— Solved by loc-titing the bottom bracket.
-Marc
sure its the BB, also check seat post and seat post head
This is a god tip. I had a selection of clicking with my Soloist (with Chorus BB & cranks, Centaur front mech) which I was certain was coming from the BB/front mech area. It always occured at the same point in every pedal revolution, which simply reinforced my view that it was front mech/BB related.
A guy at my LBS suggested that I tighten up the bolts holding the saddle on its rails, and mentioned that it could be creaking as my leg hit the same angle with each pedal stroke. And he was right. Instant solution.
OTOH, I now have a similar clicking on my R2.5 - all Chorus - which I only get when I’m out of the saddle. Dunno what that is.
Larbot,
Did you happen to replace the aluminum headset spacers with carbon ones?
(larbi?)
check the bb tightness…is it an external or internal bb? make?
check the crank bolts
grease and tighten everything down.
check the pedals
check the seatpost/seat bolts
all of those have caused creaking on my bike before
Can you explain to us how a “better frame” that engages more threads can lead to more noises? It would seem intuitive that the more threads engaged the less play there will be, and hence, no noise.
I would think that the clicking noise comes from movement, possibly over threads.
I have a noisy BB on the non-drive side. I am about to put some teflon tape on the threads, but that seems to be treating the symptoms, not the cause.
thanks
i guess you’re sorta correct.
Your lightspeed doesn’t creak becuase it is a higher quality frame. Your lightspeed creaks becuase it is TI, and the taps on the bottom bracket aren’t exactly straight…it is very difficult to get the BB taps on a lightweight TI bike to line up straight.
As stated above, be sure to check the bottom bracket and apply teflon tape if you want - that will help.
It very well may be the pedals as well - you can teflon them too.
I have been the careless victim of forgetting about the pedals when I had a “BB” squeak, but I eventaully figured it out. All is smooth as butter now. I actually dont use teflon tape, but teflon impregnated grease.
Hi guys thanks for the tips,
I’ll try regreasing/applying teflon to the BB and pedals after Muskoka to see if it helps. I don’t notice it any worse when I’m out of the saddle and it actually sounds like more of a clicking than a creaking. Kinda like bearings hitting each other, but it might just be a creak in disguise.
I only mentioned this as a Cervelo problem because the guy at the bike shop says he sees it with most of the cervelos he sells. I dunno, maybe he’s full of shit.
Thanks again!
I would add bottle cage bolts to the list - take them out and regrease them. When you twist the frame (ie pedal) you can get movement at any bolt interface and on an aluminium bike it is hard to track the noise as it echoes along the tubes.
My post cleaning lube routine involves wd40 to any pivot points (in calipers, mechs) any exposed threads or bolts that I may wish to turn one day (saddle clamp assembly, barrel adjusters etc) and anything else that I wish to prevent rusting.
Always worth trying different wheels or pedals (if you have multiples) to eliminate or isolate the source
In my case it is definitively the BB. I can hold the crank arm while on a trainer and only one side of the BB creaks. The BB is also tight too, so it’s not like it is loose.
I too was told that this problem happens a lot on Al frames, and frequently on Cervelos.
So my question is, why would a “better” frame with better threading creak? And what does it have to do with Aluminum?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say the problem is the lightweight FSA bottom brackets. I had one shred after two months. This wasn’t on a cervelo. I now have a bottom of the line heavy as crap truvativ isis on my cervelo and I am as happy (and silent) as a clam.
There is something to be said for durability over lightweight.
Dan
www.aiatriathlon.com
Possibly, I have the MegaExo Bottom Bracket - which don’t some pro-teams use this? I can’t imagine it is that inferior.
I think the problem is the tolerances in the thread-setting. I might take mine out and scoth brite it a bit to remove any burrs. Plus the teflon tape.
The sleeve in the MegaExo can click against the cups - either grease the interface or leave it out. Your cleaning and taping plan is pretty good - or just lots of grease when you reinstall. I havent been too impressed with MegaExo so far, the bearings have been dying pretty quickly.