Creaking in fork?

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The past few days I have heard a creaking from what seems like the fork. I dont notice it all of the time, it just comes and goes. I have heard the same noice with 2 different front wheels, and both wheels spin fine when in my hands. Once I put a wheel in the fork and start spinning I can hear a clicking, that turns to creaking when weight is applied to the bike. There is no rubbing on the fork or brakes by the wheel, no apparent problems with the dropouts, and after some fairly thorough tapping tests and up-close inspection, the fork blades seem alright. Does anyone have any idea what this might be?

Well if does it with different wheels that fairly well rules out the wheels.

Very odd that it clicks when only spinning the wheels. Most wheels are a little out of balance due to the valve stem (campy/fulcrum wheels etc counter balance this). But the unbalance would be a very low load at low RPM.

Is the noise happening at the same speed of rotation? ie is the valve stem at the same place with each click?

I would assume a creak from the fork when loaded would be a head set issue. However you might have loose fork drop outs hwere they are bonded to the carbon fork, both of these issues should be inspected as they are very safety critical!

When was the last time you had the head set serviced/greased? It's pretty easy to do and you may find your answer when you take the bike out after you do the job. You'll be surprised how much crap builds up on the lower bearings of the head set.

Well if does it with different wheels that fairly well rules out the wheels.

Very odd that it clicks when only spinning the wheels. Most wheels are a little out of balance due to the valve stem (campy/fulcrum wheels etc counter balance this). But the unbalance would be a very low load at low RPM.

Is the noise happening at the same speed of rotation? ie is the valve stem at the same place with each click?

I would assume a creak from the fork when loaded would be a head set issue. However you might have loose fork drop outs hwere they are bonded to the carbon fork, both of these issues should be inspected as they are very safety critical!+1! I seriously doubt that the headset is the culprit here since it only happens when the wheels are spinning. I would be taking it to a trusted lbs if it were my bike.

Sounds like the best course of action is a trip to the LBS. Good to know before something unfortunate happened.

Sounds like the best course of action is a trip to the LBS. Good to know before something unfortunate happened. Please let us know what it was.

well, its been awhile, but it turned out to be a crack on the inside of the headtube that was vibrating as the wheels spun. gotta love Trek. oh well, new bike time. looking at a cinelli frame with centaur gruppo. my first bike was a bianchi san remo light touring bike with mirage/veloce and i loved it. cant wait to get back to the ergo levers.

Im glad to hear that you found out what it was the easy way. You might not have been able to post the results if you had found out the hard way:eek:! Actually any strange noises on a bike should be thoroughly investigated before you ride it again.