Squeaks, Clicks & Creaking

Over time you may notice unwanted squeaks, clicking or creaking coming from various places on your bike. The following sections help to stop these annoying noises.

Seat Post Maintenance

1. Stick a piece of electrical tape around your seat post to mark the height you ride at.
2. Remove the seat post from the bike
3. Clean the seat post with a degreaser and making sure you clean inside the frame as well
4. Remove and clean under the seat clamp
5. Remove the seat clamp bolt, clean and re-grease with anti seize
6. On your seat post use the following:
   1. Carbon Fibre = Use fibre Grip
   2. Metal post = Anti Seize 
7. Tighten up using a torque wrench
8. Check to see if it has cured the noises.

Seat Clamp Maintenance

1. Make a mark of the position of your saddle with tape or measure from the front of the bars to the tip of the saddle.
2. Remove the saddle and do the same cleaning procedure for the seat post.
3. Use a spray lube on the points that your saddle rails meet the saddle itself.
4. Remove the bike from the bike stand to set the angle of the saddle.

Handlebar & Stem Maintenance

Do you have Carbon Fibre Bars? These can be a source of noise and I would recommend taking your bike to your nearest professional bike shop for them to investigate.

Stem Clamp Bolts 

• Any dirt or grit between the clamp and bars can be a source of noise.
• Remove and clean thoroughly
• Apply Fibre Grip even if it is Alloy bars and stem
• Apply Anti Seize to the bolts and retighten everything
• The face plate must sit evenly so tighten the bolts in stages to achieve this.
• Always finish off with your torque wrench
• Stem bolts need to be greased and torqued but do not apply Fibre grip to the steerer
• Still noises? You need to strip and re-grease the head set

Quick Release 

These can dry out and when you are out of the saddle and leaning the bike they can be a source of noise, so remove them and clean and re-grease them.

Bottom Bracket / Cranks Maintenance

• Remove your pedals and clean properly
• Clean the threads in the crank as well
• Re-grease and re assemble to the correct torque
• Creaking Cleats
  • Spray a lube and wipe it off again
  • Or remove the bolts and clean and re-grease these or lock tight
• Check your chain ring bolts are correctly torqued

Take a ride to see if it has solved the noise.

If not:

• Remove each chain ring bolt individually and clean, re-grease all contact points
• Still noisy? Remove the chain rings and clean and re-grease the contact points
• Rear mech hanger remove, clean and lightly grease

Still not worked, then it is time to look at the cranks and bottom bracket.

General Rules

• Grease the cranks where the meet the axle, just a thin layer
• THREADED BB
  • Grease the thread of the BB cup
  • Grease the bearing
• PUSH FIT BB
  • Grease the bearings in the cups
  • Cups go into the frame dry
• Always check with the frame manufacturer before doing this job

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