Spent a whole afternoon on a creaky seatpost that wasn't the seatpost

Had a customer bring in a gravel bike with a loud creak from the back end, swore it was the seatpost. I pulled it, greased it, torqued it to spec... still creaked. Checked the rear axle, the QR skewer, even the bottle cage bolts. Nothing. Finally, after like three hours, I'm holding the saddle rails and pushing down when I see it... the actual creak was from a tiny, almost invisible crack in the saddle's plastic base, right under the nose. The pressure from pedaling was flexing it just enough to make noise that traveled right down the post. I felt so silly... the fix was a new saddle, but the hunt took forever. Anyone else had a noise that perfectly imitated a different part?

3 comments

3 Comments

clark.robin8d ago

Ever had a creak that sounded exactly like a bottom bracket? I chased one for ages that turned out to be a loose chainring bolt. The sound just travels through the frame in weird ways sometimes.

reesemoore3d ago

Wait, your shoelace, @julia_miller24? That's a new one for me. I guess it makes sense since sound travels so weirdly in a frame, but man, that would drive me crazy trying to find it. I'm just glad my weird noises usually come from the actual bike parts.

julia_miller248d ago

The sound just travels" thing is so true, I once had a headset creak that was actually my shoelace hitting the frame.