That one Tuesday where every bike had the same weird bottom bracket creak

I had three separate bikes come in last Tuesday, all with a creak from the bottom bracket area. Two were carbon frames, one was aluminum. After checking the usual stuff, I found each one had a loose chainring bolt causing the noise. Tightened them all to 10 Nm with my Park Tool socket, and the creaks were gone in under five minutes each. Has anyone else seen chainring bolts cause that many mystery noises lately?

3 comments

3 Comments

iris5741mo ago

Remember that weird click on my gravel bike that sounded like a cracked chainstay? Just a dry seatpost binder bolt.

ben_nguyen1mo ago

Yeah, saw a post on another forum last week where a guy chased a creak for months, even replaced the bottom bracket. Turned out to be a single loose chainring bolt the whole time. It's wild how such a simple thing can sound exactly like a frame or bearing issue. Makes you check those first now before you go down the rabbit hole.

rose_cooper1mo ago

Used to roll my eyes at people chasing chainring bolt creaks. Thought it was always something deeper like a press fit bottom bracket or a cracked shell. Last month had a customer's bike that sounded exactly like a dying BB, creaking on every pedal stroke under load. Spent an hour checking everything, even pulled the crankset. Then I remembered a post like this and just grabbed a torque wrench on the chainring bolts. Three of them were barely hand tight. Tightened them up and the bike was dead silent. Changed my whole diagnostic approach since then.