It seems to come and go and sometimes is barely noticeable and other times is very loud. Gets louder when under heavy load and believe has to do with the drive train. It doesn’t make this noise when coasting. Any ideas?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jbjyFYQMfQ&feature=youtu.be
I’m pretty sure it’s your right knee. You should get that looked at, pronto.
Check the bottom bracket. It may need to be re-packed and greased.
this is a long-shot possibility: depending upon just what that noise is like, it might also be the interface of the cleat with the pedal. i’ve gone through a couple of what-is-that!?!? times where i couldn’t locate the problem on the bike, and it ended up being the cleat/pedal. it surely sounded like a bike frame thing, but someone mentioned the pedal possibility and it ended up being the case. how i tested it was to keep rolling on the bike and not pedaling.
peggy
It’s all in your head. Get that looked at.
With that out of the way, it might be the bottom bracket.
Either bottom bracket or pedal axle.
Swap the pedals before lugging the bike to the bike shop
I have a BB30 bottom bracket that started clicking/creaking after about 5000 miles. I watched the youtube video showing how to service it but I decided it would be easier to let the LBS handle this. Dropped the bike off in the morning and they rang me a couple of hours later saying they were finished. I don’t remember the exact charge, but it was less than $50. End of problem, and I’m now at 24,000 miles of quiet bliss.
this is a long-shot possibility: depending upon just what that noise is like, it might also be the interface of the cleat with the pedal.
I’m going with this too, but instead of calling it a long-shot I’m going with 85%. A really easy way to test is to put your shoe on the pedal without your foot in it, then see what type of play you have between the cleat/pedal. I’m guessing it’s a lot, I had cheap Look-style pedals that did this too. The clicking is your cleat hitting the pedal as your foot slides forward and back, and the creaking is the friction of the bottom of your cleat on the pedal.
Half the time noises like that (for me) are the bottom bracket as people mentioned. However, last season I had a similar creaking noise that ended up being headset bearings that needed to be regreased. It was extremely hard to tell that the sound was related to the front-end at all but once the headset was serviced all sound went away.
Undo rear quick release, turn axle, do quick release back up making sure the wheel is seated properly.
If that doesn’t fix it, it is the BB.
I had that recently. I really detracts from the pleasure of riding your bike if it’s making a crappy creaking noise.
Mine was solved by 2 things - firstly the slight creak under heavy pedaling power was solved by using one of those strange spanner things on the bottom bracket - this needs to be done up f******g tight.
The second creaking which really got on my nerves, especially on the trainer, was solved by a tip i found here on ST - to put a little blob of grease on the dropouts and re-seat the spindles.
Sorted.
That sounds like the bottom bracket bearings to me. I’ve seen/heard it on a few BB30 and PF30 bikes, mine was one of them.
There could be a few different reasons you are getting a failure, mine was the spindle of the crank was slightly large and was expanding the bearing from the inside. By slightly large I mean it measured .006" larger than any other BB30 crank I had on hand. The bike shop evidently hammered it in because it was very difficult to take out.
The crank should be slightly tighter than what you can comfortably push in by hand and will need a slight tap of a rubber mallet to seat it all the way in. If it’s tighter than that measure it and compare it to other BB30’s
Take the bike off the trainer and ride it outside, might be the trainer not the bike.
I had this happen to me and it turned out to be the seat rails. I loosened them up, greased, and experienced blissful silence from my bike.
Thanks for all the responses. The noise happens indoors and outdoors so not the trainer. And can’t tell from the video but the sound is not coming from the rails or the headset so I’ve ruled out those as possible culprits as well. I’m thinking it could be pedals but more likely bottom bracket. My pedals are decently tight and the noise is loud enough that I don’t think cleat/shoe slippage would cause this much noise. You can hear in the video that it’s much louder than my KK trainer.
I’ll test the pedals and if not fixed I’ll have LBS look at it. Taking it in next week anyway so hopefully they can fix. Thanks again to all.
Any time this has happened on my bike, it was the bottom bracket. Either cleaned/greased or replaced.
Seems like a BB issue as it always happens at the same part of your pedal stroke.
Alternate options…
-Chain hitting the front derailleur (doesn’t seem like it, but check the chainring to see if it’s warped.
-Skewers. They produce this kind of sound if they’re not tight enough. Check both front and back.
this is a long-shot possibility: depending upon just what that noise is like, it might also be the interface of the cleat with the pedal.
I’m going with this too, but instead of calling it a long-shot I’m going with 85%. A really easy way to test is to put your shoe on the pedal without your foot in it, then see what type of play you have between the cleat/pedal. I’m guessing it’s a lot, I had cheap Look-style pedals that did this too. The clicking is your cleat hitting the pedal as your foot slides forward and back, and the creaking is the friction of the bottom of your cleat on the pedal.
I would try checking the cleat/pedal as well, as that’s been the cause of mystery noises for me in the past, as has a seat post in needed of a little silicone.
I had a mystery creek for months, I thought it was bottom bracket which I disassembled and greased with no luck, replaced it with no luck, replaced it with an expensive threaded style bottom bracket with no luck… It turned out my rear cassette was slightly loose. Problem solved!
Thanks for all the responses. The noise happens indoors and outdoors so not the trainer. And can’t tell from the video** but the sound is not coming from the rails or the headset **so I’ve ruled out those as possible culprits as well. I’m thinking it could be pedals but more likely bottom bracket. My pedals are decently tight and the noise is loud enough that I don’t think cleat/shoe slippage would cause this much noise. You can hear in the video that it’s much louder than my KK trainer.
I’ll test the pedals and if not fixed I’ll have LBS look at it. Taking it in next week anyway so hopefully they can fix. Thanks again to all.
You can’t actually tell where the sound is coming from. Creaking on a bike can be BB/crank, saddle rails, stem/headset, wheel QR. You got to eliminate the possibilities one at a time. If it’s creaking out of the saddle it isn’t the saddle rails. If it is creaking hands off handlebars (do this on a trainer! 
) it isn’t the stem. Flip the QRs around or replace them. If it’s still creaking it is the BB.
When you find the culprit, take it apart, clean it, lube it, put it back together. 9 times out of 10 that will fix it. That last 1/10 needs new bearings or the frame BB cup is damaged.