"Tightening" to eliminate noise can be bad. A properly torqued bolt can certainly make noise, and over-torquing is not a long-term solution.
First rule my mechanic sensei taught me is "remove and regrease." Could be anything from the brake levers to the sleeve to the stem to the headset. Sometimes, you can get a squeak out of the sleeve on the handlebars. Laying the bicycle on its side and working in a couple drops of lube can fix that. I use the "dry" type lubes to prevent dirt-attracting-goopiness. For front end squeaks, I wouldn't hesitate to disassemble down to dropping the fork out of the frame. Technically speaking, the head tube is part of the frame. Your wedge should be down in the steerer tube of the fork. I wrench (as in pull, not work on) my bars pretty aggressively on the Quickbeam, particularly when the road/incline goes up. Every few months, a creak creeps in, and the usual culprit is the wedge of the stem. I'd reckon that if the creak occurred that early on, you were slightly "stingy" with the grease. Hope that helps! - Jim On Saturday, August 31, 2013 6:51:23 PM UTC-7, Michael wrote: > > *What Happened:* > After about 10 miles riding, something on bars/stem started creaking when > I put weight on the right ramp, hood, and drops. Left side doesn't creak if > I put weight on it. > I tightened the hood, and stem bar clamp. Stem bolt is tight. Bars still > squeak but not as bad. > ** > *Info history:* > I put my new, from RBW, 41 Noodles on it and set it up as close as I could > to my dependable Giant bike set up. > Bars 1.3cm below saddle height. Feels great. Nitto Deluxe stem 190 rise. > Only about 3mm's left before stem extension bottoms out by hitting the > headset lock nut. So I think stem wedge should be above the butt of the > head tube if there is one. I have used this setup at higher bar levels and > no creaking. Just today after setting it 1.3cm below saddle. At 1cm below > saddle, no creaks either. > > BTW, I *lightly* greased the stem below min insertion point and > wedge when installing. > > *Ideas?:* > Maybe needs grease on bar cuff at stem clamp? > More grease on stem and wedge? > Maybe the stem being all the way down in steer tube is creaking because so > much of it is contacting the inside of steer tube now and the whole rise > shaft need grease? > > New 41 Noodle from RBW, so I don't think the bar would have a crack in it > that creaks. The bars are flexy (both sides) and I can see them flex when I > push hard on the drops. I did this with bike stopped to try to make it > creak to see where the noise is coming from. > > *Any other ideas come to mind?* > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
