the dreaded creak or click now for those
of you who watched the gcn tech clinic
I'm sure it's all of you right you all
know just how much I despise those sales
now personally I've never fallen victim
to one from a bottom bracket but I do
know that plenty of you have or
certainly ride with people out there who
have got themselves a creaky bottom
bracket so let's look into how to solve
those creaks and clicks firstly then
let's actually find out where that sound
is coming from because it might not be
from the bottom bracket after all it's a
process of elimination and we'll start
with the easiest things first
so let's actually stand over the bike
and then wrestle your handlebars pretend
you're on Drake rifle in the sprint or
something like that put as much torque
as you can through it and see if you've
got any creeks or clicks if there is
then it's probably going to be your
headset bearings or the interface
between stem and bar give that a grease
up and see if it gets rid of it now does
the creek only happen when you're riding
along in the saddle yeah right we'll
take out the seat post and also remove
the saddle from the seat post to re
grease it or use carve and gripper when
necessary
also a little tip here it could be to
cover the rails of your saddle with some
anti-seize or copper paste and then
refit it all back together
and then go out and have a ride and see
if it's still creeks still creaking
blimey most people have got it sorted by
now ok so it's time to remove your chain
set and give it a good clean up on the
axle of it as well as the inside of the
bearings of your bottom bracket and also
the seals to then apply some fresh
grease to the inside of those bearings
as well as on the axle of your chain set
refit it go for a ride
creeks free okay it's time for the
nitty-gritty then so you're gonna have
to actually remove the bottom bracket
from the frame so depending on what type
of bottom bracket you have depends on
the tools required to do so so a press
fit bottom bracket you are going to need
some specialist tools
the same goes for a traditional bottom
bracket where you are going to need one
of those notched style spanners to
actually remove them once they are
removed then clean up both the bottom
bracket as well as the bottom bracket
shell itself now if you've got yourself
a traditional style bottom bracket now
while I say traditional I mean one with
threads so it simply threads into the
shell of the bottom bracket I would
recommend trying one of these three
methods firstly you could try some
copper paste which has been great in the
past when I've had to try and solve this
problem for people then you've got
anti-seize as well as some grease and
failing that you could even try some
PTFE tape which is what plumbers use
because that can even take up a little
bit of tolerance differences and
eliminate those creeks remember as well
to talk up the bottom bracket to the
manufacturer's recommended torque
setting that's very important so if you
have a press bit tight bottom bracket
that's creaking and it's inside of
either a steel alloy or carbon frame
then you could well try a thin layer of
high-quality grease inside of the shell
and then refit the bottom bracket and
see if that stops any creeks failing
that you're gonna need some of this
retaining compound but how does that
work well first of all you're gonna have
to use some of this which is adhesive
primer which goes on the inside of the
bottom bracket shell and allow that to
dry then apply the retaining compound
and when that dries it actually hardens
and expands very very slightly so it
takes some the difference between the
bottom bracket shell and the bottom
bracket cups see what I mean here so
it's then gonna stop any very very
slight movements which could be causing
that creaking now if you've got a
titanium frame out there well firstly I
would try some anti-seize first of all
because that seems to have really good
results in stopping creeks now many
people out there they think to
themselves or why not just apply this
from the start
well as a rule of thumb if it's not
creaking it doesn't need it
so don't go ahead and put it onto a
brand new build that you're doing at
home because well it may well not be
needed now another option is one of
these which is a bottom bracket for a
press fit bike but it's threads
together so it's kind of going back to a
little bit of old school here but I like
the idea behind it because it certainly
helps out people who have a bottom
bracket shell that maybe is not
perfectly in line because when it
threads together the two parts are going
to be perfectly equal I like the idea
behind that right I hope that solved
your creaky and clicky bottom bracket
now if you've got a method that I've not
tackled in this video leave it for me in
the comment section down there so I can
add it to my notebook of remedies for
these annoying problems believe me I do
in fact have one remember as well to
like and share this video with your
friends share it with someone who's got
a really annoying
creaking bike because well we don't want
them to ride with us if they're that lag
do we now we do really but well just get
rid of that Creek anyway remember as
well to check out the gcn shop at shop
go with cycling Network comm where we
have a whole heap of goodies for you to
check out and now for another video this
time how to fit and remove a press fit
bottom bracket click just down here