My Creaking Trek 5200

[bellafonte]

Just wondering if anyone knows why, and how to stop my 5200 from creaking.
Ive had the bike 3 months, im a reasonably heavy guy, at 85kg and this 2003 model and I knock out some decent kas together, from 300 to 700 a week. But in the last couple of weeks there has been a loud creaking noise coming from both the forks and the bottom bracket.
Has anyone else had this problem?
And if so what do I do?

My height is 178cm and I ride a 56cm frame. All standard apart from some bottle cages.

I love this bike its fast, light and sweet as hell to enjoy all that forward motion on, but the creaking freaks me out, will it break? Does it mean there are parts being worn out when they should'nt be?
Any tips would be great so thanks and to all, enjoy the ride!

Long Live the Pedalution.

 

[rek]

Try giving the bike and drivetrain a good clean first, it might just be something like a dirty chain with a couple of squeaky links.

Apart from that, it could be something that's a little loose .. either bottom bracket, crankarm, pedals, spokes ..

 

[bigW]

Make sure everything has grease on it, when I bought my bike the guys that built it did not grease the headstem which made it really stiff and creaky till I pulled it apart and saw what they had done (or not done), same with the bottom bracket ...

 

[bubba99]

If the bike is only 3 months old take it back to store. Most creeking from bottom bracket can be from crank arms. I have Look pedals and had to put a little grease between cleet and shoe to stop creeking there. I assume you have Ultegra components which have sealed bottom bracket catridge which is reliable. I have Durace and Trek 5900 and have some creeking I think in bottom bracket and cannot get to stop. The BB in Durace requires more adjustment. I cannot get the headset to come apart and are taking to store tomorrow for there opinion and can let u know what they find.

 

[Mampara]

Sometimes it sound like it's coming from the BB but then it's from the seat rails. Undo the seat from the post, grease and tighten again. After that another creak started and ended up being the pedal. Took it apart and re-greased. Perfect now. My bars creaked at the stem fasteners. I just released the bolts a bit and re-tightened it. No creakes anywhere anymore.

 

[bellafonte]

Hi guys and tks for the replys.

I did some of your suggestions, undid bolts, and greased them, then all tight again.
Head stem bottom brkt etc and stll the ***** creaked, she was speaking to me, just not in dummy mechanic language.
Anyways i went to the bike shop and as it turns out the front hub at the quick release was a little loose. A quick tweak and bobs a relative.
I guess with carbon bikes the real pain is that sounds get amplified from all over and hard to track.
Thanks for the replys though, and its a new tip i guess, check even the wheels.

 

[trekbiker2003]

I have an '03 5200. During the 3,500 miles I've put on this bike I've experienced a few creaks and rattles and have managed to eliminate all of them. Completely tight and quiet now.

specs:

60 cm Trek 5200
Look PP357 pedals
I'm 6'1" 205 lbs

sources of creaks and rattles:

Bike shoe cleats: make sure the cleats are screwed tight to the shoes and use dry silicone spray inside the front and rear lips of the cleats where they clip into the pedals (dont spray the bottom of the cleat where it contacts the pavement or you'll make them even more slippery to walk around in). just a little grit in the cleats can make a lot of noise. Sometimes on a long ride (like a century ride with many rest stops) I'll get grit in my cleats from walking around which causes another creaking noise. When this happens I give my cleats a hard squirt of water and this solves the problem for a while. The silicone spray works better and lasts longer than water though.

Chain: Boeshield T-9 drip lube (every 100 miles). I've tried MANY lubes and this one is by far the best. Boeing developed this lube/rust preventer for thier aircraft production. Then, several years ago, woodworkers discovered it for their shop tools (which is how I came across it). About 5 years ago I started using the T-9 spray on my bikes and noticed a few bike mechanics had also discovered it. Then Boeing got word of this and now markets a great little drip lube dispenser specifically for bicycles (much better application than the spray can). T-9 really quiets the chain down and improves shifting performance. It collects more dirt than the dry silicone or wax lubes but less than some of the heavier oilier lubes. It is also very easy to clean off the chain. I just replaced the chain on my 5200 at 3,500 miles and it had less than 1/16" stretch (which means I really didnt need to replace it). thats pretty damn good wear!!

Head set: Using the front brake and rocking the bike back and forth I can tell if it's loose. If loose, loosen stem bolts and press down while tightening stem bolts to take slack out of headset. Theres probably a better way to do this but this works for me.

dropouts: sometimes a creak develops in the wheel quick release mount where the steel quick release contacts the aluminum dropout on the bike frame. remove wheel, clean and re-install with proper quick release tension

seat post: clean and lightly grease the seat post where it contacts the seat tube and make sure it is properly torqued.

spokes: the stock Bontager wheels are very good. Unbelievably strong. no spoke noises on my bike

crank, BB, pedals, chainrings: The sealed BB shouldn't be causing noise but the threads in all these components should be greased and proper torque applied when installing them. Grease the pedal/crank arm threads, the crank spindle, the crank bolt threads and the chainring bolt threads. get a Park torque wrench and make sure everything is properly tight (see the excellent Park Tool website)

one irritating rattle I experienced turned out to be the shifter cable housings banging into each other on bumpy roads. the cable housings can contact where they cross each other in front of the handle bars. I tweaked them a little so that they had enough clearance to keep from hitting and that solved that noise.

now my bike is completely tight and QUIET... just the way I like it

 

[JuneBug]

Originally posted by bubba99
If the bike is only 3 months old take it back to store. Most creeking from bottom bracket can be from crank arms. I have Look pedals and had to put a little grease between cleet and shoe to stop creeking there. I assume you have Ultegra components which have sealed bottom bracket catridge which is reliable. I have Durace and Trek 5900 and have some creeking I think in bottom bracket and cannot get to stop. The BB in Durace requires more adjustment. I cannot get the headset to come apart and are taking to store tomorrow for there opinion and can let u know what they find.

My Looks were squeaky too. thanks I am going to do that. They only squeaked when climbing uphill so folks could really hear me coming. Though it was fun to annoy people. it was not fun that I couldnt sneak up on anyone.