Best solution for a High-end Specialized Creaky Bottom Bracket

Thanks for all of the responses. I removed the pedals and noticed they were quite loose, so I’m guessing that was the issue. I’ll do more testing to figure out the source.

To answer the above questions: Yes it’s press fit. It’s also through-axel which means it’s not the wheel sitting in the dropouts incorrectly. The pedals are Powertap P1’s and they have 8,000 miles on them and need to be serviced. Everything else on the bike has about 200 miles on it.

I’ve had 4 bikes with specialized BB30 bottom brackets—3 Crux and 1 Epic.

Every. Single. Time. I’ve had a “bottom bracket creak”, it turned out to be something else—seat post, saddle rail, pedal, wheel hub, headset. Check everything over before assuming it’s the bottom bracket.

It very well may be the bottom bracket, but don’t assume that it must be.

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Easiest set of culprits to eliminate are seat/seatpost: stand, push, listen. Creak gone = they’re it, creak still there = they’re in the clear. Next - quick releases. Next - pedals/cleats. Beg/borrow/steal a pair of shoes + pedals, swap, grease the pedal threads, torque them in correctly, and test. Gone = you found it, still there = you didn’t.

In other words - concluding “it’s the BB” is only possible once you have eliminated everything else - you can’t pedal the damn thing without using the BB…

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https://www.hambini.com/bike-parts.html
Check out hambini . He is a bb wizard and if you message them you will get a qualified answer .

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I just solved my creaking issue, I had previously stripped and greased the headset, BB, both skewers, dropouts, pedal spindles, seat post… Everything. It turned out to be the cassette. Making sure it was stripped apart, and a touch of lube/grease where it contacts the hub body and between each of the nylon pieces. Perfect… thanks

If it’s a DA cassette, the creak will likely return. I went thru several DA cassettes, even brand new out of the box w/this issue. The long term solution was to switch to an Ultra cassette. YMMV

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Make sure to give them lots of nasty feedbacks.

Why are we still dealing with creaking BBs when we are buying bikes for +/-$10k?

Based on your post and the one above I replaced the DA cassette on my 2019 S-works Tarmac with an Ultegra cassette. Sadly, no improvement at all to the creak coming from the back wheel/hub area.

But today it occurred to me that the bike starts out silent on each ride then develops a creak a few minutes in, and then really only on longish uninterrupted climbs (5 minutes plus, in a fairly low gear). I realized that freewheeling, even briefly, silenced it for a while. So now I am convinced that it is either the free-hub bearings and/or the pawls and springs. My theory is that freewheeling distributes the remnants of lube, but after a minute or two, the pedaling pressure brings the metal back into contact and creaking returns.

So I’m about to pull the free-hub and have a look. I’m hoping it is the pawls and a quick clean and grease will make a big difference. I’ll be less pleased if the free-hub bearings are shot.

I had creaking issues on my Allez. Replaced the bearing 3 times in less that 4,000 miles. Figured I was causing the creaking cause I’m fat.

Finally bought a Hambini BB, no more creaking. Expensive.

Worth it.

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I’d second the purchase of a Hambini BB. In the end, the PF BB system is flawed

I solved my “creaking bb30” recently: turned out to be my shoes. Pedal was rubbing against the bottom of the shoe when pedaling hard. Fixed with crank brothers shoe shields. FWIW the previous time I had a creak it did turn out to be the bottom bracket; new bearings fixed it. It was this thread that got me looking at different locations for the noise this time, after looking at my bearings which still seemed really smooth when I took my crank out to look at them.

Hambini BB all the friggin way, you will never have to replace a bearing or bb again.

the bearings last FOREVER and the BB is super well made, and will be lower resistance than ur ceramic stuff.

2020 Venge Pro, creaking for the last year…

Just replaced the stock Praxis BB30 with a Hambini BB30 yesterday. Pleased with the part and the install process in general. Couple of questions:

  • Did anyone else’s (@rac1ngsnak3 @noahphence @Aplcr0331) Hambini BB install much more easily than you expected? I experienced no popping, and it only took moderate pressure using my press to get that sucker all the way in.

  • Did anyone else experience apparent increased friction doing the silly unloaded tests (spinning the crank, leaving the crank horizontal and watching it drop to vertical)? I expected less friction, but there’s definitely more. It’s probably not going to be noticable when I ride, but still… could be too tight on the preload nut maybe?

I’ve emailed Hambini these same questions… pretty sure I did the install properly, but you never know.

Also didn’t eliminate my creak. My guess now is headset or cables as @AndyGajda experienced. As soon as I stepped over the bike onto the trainer, bars moved and there was the creak again (never noticed it in that scenario before). Curious Andy, what lube did you use on the cables?

Thanks!

And locktite the threads

Yep, those unloaded tests are silly, I know… but he’s got a video up on an install on his Cervelo where they spin a lot more freely than mine are. We’ll see what he says.

What little pedaling I’ve done they spin smoothly and I can feel the stiffness difference. Unfortunately I still need to chase the creak.

FYI in case anyone ends up following this thread:

  • Hambini recommended backing off the preload nut a little bit. He and his blog also say the bearings need about a 250km run in to achieve best performance.

  • I isolated my creak to the seat post. I felt around while riding on the trainer when the bike was creaking and felt the click at the junction of the seat post and the clamp. Removed the post, saw some rain grit in there and that whoever built my bike didn’t use friction paste on the post or grease on the contact surfaces within the clamp. Cleaned the seatpost, used those compounds, and my creaking is gone.

Supposedly creaking seatposts are often mistaken for bottom bracket creaking, and that’s definitely what happened with mine.

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I recently replaced BB Ceramic Speed bearings with a Praxis Works BB on my SL6. Fine for 400km then it started creaking a bit even though it was installed as per instructions. Praxis advice was to check and tighten and sure enough the BB needed a nudge to hit the “end-stop”. All good since then. So would recommend.

One more place to check for creaks is the rear hanger screws being loose.

Sorry for the late reply - I just put a few drops of ceramic dry lube on the points where the cables entered the frame.

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Another follow up, after my run in period my Hambini racing BB spins like a dream. Definitely can feel the additional stiffness compared to the 2-piece Praxis. Very happy!

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Same scenario. Creaking bb, installed wheels manufacturing bb - still creaked. Installed Hambini (tight but no popping) creaking worse! Short of buying new frame don’t know what to do next.

Creaking only starts after 30minutes or so in to rides and gets progressively louder. Changed wheels, skewers, pedals, shoes, greased seatpost the works. Bummer.