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Creaky BB - Campag setup

Hi Folks,

reaching out to the body of knowledge that makes up this forum...

I'm constantly getting creaks out of my PF86 BB. I'm using the official campagnolo cups, with Record 11s cranks. I've taken them to the LBS a number of times (he's an official Campy dealer), and yet it still appears, mainly when I'm putting the power down.

Has anyone else experience of this, and know of a solution, or do I just have to suck it up and accept that it's going to be noisy when I'm climbing/sprinting?

Cheers

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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12 comments

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kaizoku0506 | 9 years ago
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I just dealt with this on my Ultegra BB. The short-term fix was to tighten the bolts on the chain rings mid-ride (I still have 400+ miles left and didn't want to deal with creaking the whole way). The long-term fix was to add another shim to my drivetrain. Apparently there was one too few of these paper (or thinner!) thin shims on my drivetrain. This was allowing a little bit more flex than normal and lead to creaking.

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Iamnot Wiggins | 9 years ago
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I used to run some Parlee BB cups with my Campag chainset. It was a PF30. Loctited them in place and it was super silent. Have a look to see if they'll fit your BB as they come recommended!

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DavidJ | 9 years ago
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I had this with my Chorus setup.

Tried pretty much everything then, more in hope than expectation,sprayed down the middle of the hollow axle from each end with GT85

Creaks all gone now.

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joemmo | 9 years ago
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just to eliminate all the non-bb related causes, grease your seatpost all the way down. I recently traced an annoying 'tick' to the seatpost moving ever so slightly inside the seattube when pedalling hard.

Also, pedal to crank interface, chainring bolts, cleats, your knees... check them all.

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notenoughbikes | 9 years ago
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Eliminate the pedals first - I had a "creaky BB" when out of the saddle but the LBS demonstrated that the pedal release springs just needed a bit of lube.

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mike the bike | 9 years ago
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I'm old so I've had loads of different threaded BBs over the last fifty years, fitted with mostly Shimano and Campag' gear. Despite averaging over 5000 miles a year I've never once had a creaking axle. Never.

But press-fit? Now there's a different story. Don't get me started .....

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Yorkshie Whippet | 9 years ago
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What material is the frame?

Like the first response I have a creak with a SRAM crank in PF30 bb in carbon frame. Three new bb and it's back within a 100 miles or so. The advise given seems to make sense, Plastic cups in carbon frame=noisy ride.

I did notice that Matt (the guy who does the hill rides on the Cycle Show) had a creak going up Fleetmoss.

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Derny | 9 years ago
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I got copious creaking from my 2007 Record crank, BSA BB. No amount of cleaning or torquing seemed to help. Seems like a design flaw. I got rid of them.

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DaSy | 9 years ago
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Often the cause of creaks from UT cranks is the hirst coupling in the middle. Creaks were often solved by thoroughly cleaning the two faces, removing any corrosion and then reassembling with some good anti-seize assembly grease. It needs to be torqued up pretty high, I think it was about 55 to 60 Nm for the axle bolt.

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vonhelmet | 9 years ago
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I was reading about this just the other day. Have a look at this blog post: http://roguemechanic.typepad.com/roguemechanic/2008/09/campagnolo-ul-1.html

The long and the short of it is that you need some sort of shim between the crank arms and the cups. Which the same blogger makes and sells here: http://roguemechanic.bigcartel.com/product/roguemechanic-campagnolo-ultr...

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s_lim replied to vonhelmet | 9 years ago
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vonhelmet wrote:

I was reading about this just the other day. Have a look at this blog post: http://roguemechanic.typepad.com/roguemechanic/2008/09/campagnolo-ul-1.html

The long and the short of it is that you need some sort of shim between the crank arms and the cups. Which the same blogger makes and sells here: http://roguemechanic.bigcartel.com/product/roguemechanic-campagnolo-ultr...

Unfortunately he's talking about the BSA setup, and not PF/BB30 - I had that problem on my old BSA bracket frame too, coincidentally.

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CXR94Di2 | 9 years ago
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Did the lbs grease the cup or bond them into place. All these press fit bearing designs have creaks. Mine is PF30, which I converted to sram cups and external threaded bearing. This stopped my creaking, the cups are plastic as opposed to composite which I understand Campag use. Maybe a different cup material will sort it?

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