My GF recently got a new P2C. When she pushes hard through the pedals, climbing out of saddle or standing to sprint, her bike screeches pretty loudly on the downward push. It happens when you push on either of the cranks. It sounds like it is coming from the bottom bracket but I really don’t know. I have just really started on working on our bikes and I am affraid to mess with her bike when I don’t entirely know what I am doing. We have a race this weekend and we would like to get this resolved quickly. We don’t have time to get it to a bike shop. Anyone have any recommendations on what to check or where to start. Thanks
Given your description of the problem, I’d say the BB is the prime suspect. Remove the cranks, disassemble the BB, inspect/clean/grease it, and re-install (make sure the frame is clean and tighten it to specified torque). Do this sooner rather than later; don’t let the creaking go on. If the BB is loose, for instance, you could strip the threads and ruin the frame (not to mention damage the bearings inside the BB).
You might also check to see that the tire is not rubbing on the frame cutout. If it is, remove the rear wheel and back out the screws in the dropout that control the distance of the tire from the cutout.
The tire rub was a problem and that has been fixed but the screeching still continues so I guess that I will have to get the BB looked at.
Grease BB and put some teflon tape, the white tape plumbers use. Great tip given somewhere in ST; it sorted a similar problems on a Felt B12 when grease itself did not sort it out.
I’ve had a new P2C for about 5 weeks. The screech was all tire rub on the cutout. The shop backed it off and put loctite on the screws, then it would only screech when climbing. Then they backed it way off (so you can see daylight all around between the tire and cutout). No more screech.