this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
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Hit a bump on my road bike, now it's creaking pretty badly. Video included. (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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2023 Felt VR 60.

I hit a bump while riding and now the front of my bike creaks. If I apply pressure on my handlebars, I can even hear it without riding. It sounds like the noise is coming from between the handlebars, so I'm thinking maybe it's the headset? But I'm not sure.

Here's a video of the sound: https://youtube.com/watch?v=7mbQVzI_Jj4?feature=share

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

What is the frame/fork made of? What kind of "bump"? I had a carbon bike that made that kind of sound after a mild crash, and it ended up being a crack that caused a much less mild crash weeks later, but it's a little hard to hear from the video. A normal road bump shouldn't cause anything that serious though.

Have you tightened your handlebars? Could be coming from stem to steertube connection. I would have someone push on it for you, get your ears down there, and try to isolate where specifically it's coming from on the bicycle.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I tightened my top cap and the creaking is gone!

I had my stem replaced at my local bike shop and I guess the top cap was just not tight enough, and the bump loosened it enough to creak?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If that's the case I would suggest loosening your top cap, then loosening your stem bolts, then tighten your top cap and then finally tighten your stem bolts. The top cap should only be taking up slack to tighten everything in the headtube. If it was loose and creaking then your stem was probably loose and/or slightly too high.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Yeah, that's the process I did, just cut out the parts about the stem bolts :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

If you were able to tighten the headset via topcat without loosening the stem first, the stem may be insufficiently tightened. Be sure to check that as a loose stem can cause the bars to turn without the wheel following suit.

Steps for tightening the headset would be:

  1. Loosen bolts on stem(usually two)
  2. tighten top cap until sufficient tension
  3. center bars over rim
  4. tighten bolts on stem