Just spent 3 hours hunting a phantom creak in my bottom bracket

I was rebuilding a 2018 Trek Domane and heard this awful creak every time I stood up to climb. Took me forever to realize it wasn't the bottom bracket at all, but a loose derailleur hanger bolt that I'd overtightened and stripped a bit. Has anyone else wasted an afternoon on a noise that turned out to be something totally dumb and simple?

3 comments

3 Comments

wells.christopher9d ago

Oh man, I feel your pain. Spent a whole Saturday chasing a creak on my old aluminum frame bike. Ripped apart the bottom bracket, greased everything, put it back together, still creaked. Even swapped pedals. Turned out it was just the seatpost clamp not tight enough. The stupid thing was barely loose, just enough to make that awful noise under power. Felt like such a dummy when I figured it out. You learn to check all the little stuff first after a few of those hunts.

jenny_lane129d ago

Seatpost creaks are the worst, they always trick you into thinking it's the drivetrain.

elliot_roberts9d ago

Spent a whole Saturday on a creak? That's brutal. I'd lose my mind.