Creaking hell

Worth pointing out that I had to buy a second bike and swap out parts one at a time to work out what the problem was....

I had same problem...creaking when under pressure.

left hand crank. Splines creaked when going uphill.

There's only one way to eliminate this untraceable noise. N+1.

https://roadcyclinguk.com/how-to/maintenance/whats-creak-identify-solve-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEiIFbIklJg

May be useful

Need to be pragmatic:

Eliminate cleats: get your trainers on and go ride up a hill. No squeak, not cleats

Tighten and grease chain ring bolts: easy done

Check chain for wear, clean and lube and try

Remove chainset: check BB for friction/ smooth running, lube surfaces, clean axle and tighten to ensure no play. Is it your shoe rubbing the crank arm

Front mech: position correct, no chain rub

Cassette: remove clean and make sure tight with no play

Headset: check on climbs, does it occur when just out the saddle or even when seated and hands rested on the tops

Wheels: check QRs/ axles for wear/ spoke tensions etc

Grease everything and anything. There was a good "creak" solving video on youtube sometime back, might be worth looking out.

My experience is that riding with a friend can help localising the problem. Even better is if you can reproduce the sounds on a turbo trainer you can save yourself a lot of time and noisy rides. Good luck. There will be a solution, but can take a while to cure.

Need to be pragmatic:

Eliminate cleats: get your trainers on and go ride up a hill. No squeak, not cleats

Tighten and grease chain ring bolts: easy done

Check chain for wear, clean and lube and try

Remove chainset: check BB for friction/ smooth running, lube surfaces, clean axle and tighten to ensure no play. Is it your shoe rubbing the crank arm

Front mech: position correct, no chain rub

Cassette: remove clean and make sure tight with no play

Headset: check on climbs, does it occur when just out the saddle or even when seated and hands rested on the tops

Wheels: check QRs/ axles for wear/ spoke tensions etc

Grease everything and anything. There was a good "creak" solving video on youtube sometime back, might be worth looking out.

My experience is that riding with a friend can help localising the problem. Even better is if you can reproduce the sounds on a turbo trainer you can save yourself a lot of time and noisy rides. Good luck. There will be a solution, but can take a while to cure.

Need to be pragmatic:

Eliminate cleats: get your trainers on and go ride up a hill. No squeak, not cleats

Tighten and grease chain ring bolts: easy done

Check chain for wear, clean and lube and try

Remove chainset: check BB for friction/ smooth running, lube surfaces, clean axle and tighten to ensure no play. Is it your shoe rubbing the crank arm

Front mech: position correct, no chain rub

Cassette: remove clean and make sure tight with no play

Headset: check on climbs, does it occur when just out the saddle or even when seated and hands rested on the tops

Wheels: check QRs/ axles for wear/ spoke tensions etc

Grease everything and anything. There was a good "creak" solving video on youtube sometime back, might be worth looking out.

My experience is that riding with a friend can help localising the problem. Even better is if you can reproduce the sounds on a turbo trainer you can save yourself a lot of time and noisy rides. Good luck. There will be a solution, but can take a while to cure.

If you're convinced it's in the BB/crank area, then you're probably right. You orginally said the BB was fine, but you're dealing with a press-fit BB here, one of the worst 'innovations' of recent years. I recently had a similar experience with a BB386 EVO and changed out for a Wheels Manufacturing threaded replacement; no more creaks.

Not saying this is the case here, but maybe.

Tighten up the rear QR. If it's a Ti one, get a steel one, grease it and do it up tight.   I had a problem - wrongly diagnosed as spoke tension - not that.  Changed the skewers to Hope from Ti Planet X and the problem went.

I had this a couple ofyears ago on a fairly-new bike equipped with Mavic Aksium disc wheels. Turned out to be the hub on the rear wheel is made of of a number of parts - 3 I think I was told - that are bonded together. And the bonding had failed on the rear hub. Replaced under warranty, no problem since (so far!)

Deatils in these links

https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=105798&p=1009113&hilit=creak#p1009113

https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=104561&p=995118&hilit=creak#p995118

I had something similar. Checked everything and couldn't clear it. Well. Hadn't checked the rear dropout though, because that's what. Tightened up the screw fixing it to the frame, job done.

I've had similar from rear axle (bolt through) which stopped when it was greased, and also from chainring bolts not completely tight. 

Look at the crank-spindle interface. The only way to do so is to swap the crank out. I chased a maddening creak for weeks before this was proved the case.

Have had two similar experiences:

1) rear derailer slightly out of adjustment, as wheel was flexing under load was just enough to keep catching in lowest gear.

2) pump, attached with a bottle cage bracket, had received a knock and was just knicking chain when on lowest front cog.

Try swapping out wheels and other suspect parts in turn ( friends may come in useful) to see if that cures the problem. It may at least isolate the source of the creak. Since it only happens under extreme load, if nothing else works, examine the frame to ensure there are no micro cracks at the joints. You don't say how old your bike is, what material it's made from or whether you've had any spills on it. The frame is the least likely culprit but it's not unheard of. Try everything else first though.

QRs - grease 'em and snug 'em (particularly the rear)

If its not that check your cassette lockring is tight

Cleats.

Does it stop if you move your heel outboard a bit? A central cleat position doesn't suit everyone, I moved the cleat as far to the big toe as possible and the creak stopped. The opposite may be true for you or just do the same, mess around and see if it makes any difference.

Don't (like me) convince yourself it's the bike  and shell out for a service you don't need till you've eliminated this possibility.