Strange creaking noise when pedalling Scott/Bosch fs mtb.

D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
Hmmmm! can't say, really. if all else fails, Try greasing the splines. That was the advice from the MTB forum, and it worked - for a while.
 

Gubbins

Esteemed Pedelecer
Managed an hour out tonight and my noise is all but gone and as I tightened the pivot bolt by half a turn I am certain this is the culprit.
I am just not sure where to go from here.. On a long ride perhaps, but seriously..
Do I need to take this thing apart to lubricate?
If I take this bolt out will the bike spring apart like a wounded clock?
Is it something that needs a periodic tighten, or just shoddy checks by the supplying dealer.
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
15,973
6,292
you can remove and lube the pivot bolt as the sus will hold it in place so should just slide out lube and replace, my bike makes a squeaking sound when mine came loose and stopped when the blt fell off and noticed it was missing.

could not buy the bolt on its own and had to buy both for £25 so have a spare but not the bit that falls off lol

bolt now has lock tight ;)

same as all the other pivot points on the rear as if not they fall off as well thus the cable ties as there 40 quid each :mad:
 

Gubbins

Esteemed Pedelecer
you can remove and lube the pivot bolt as the sus will hold it in place so should just slide out lube and replace, my bike makes a squeaking sound when mine came loose and stopped when the blt fell off and noticed it was missing.

could not buy the bolt on its own and had to buy both for £25 so have a spare but not the bit that falls off lol

bolt now has lock tight ;)

same as all the other pivot points on the rear as if not they fall off as well thus the cable ties as there 40 quid each :mad:
Ah!.
As in the tv advert.. now the biting makes sense.[emoji56]
 

Chris A

Just Joined
Dec 8, 2017
2
0
66
Sheffield
Hi all,
I'm a pedelec newbie and have been fascinated by this thread! I bought 2018 Kalkhoff Agattu carbon belt drive, Shimano Nexus 8 speed hub gear with Impulse Evo motor. After only 40 miles from new I started getting nasty creaking noise under max pedal pressure which occurred with gradually lessening pedal pressure until, after 100 mile of use, it was happening most of the time. However, very hard to make it creak at all if pedalling with motor switched off.
By a process of exclusion I reckoned that it was coming from the motor and took bike back to LBS. They were puzzled but eventually cured it by greasing the motor bolts.
My wife bought a very similar Khalkoff pedelec (2017 model of Agattu) with identical drivetrain and motor and hers also started same creaking after approx 35 miles. Have just got it back from LBS after motor bolts being greased but not tried out yet due to cold and snow...

Now my bike has started creaking again after only another 70 miles....can't really be motor bolts needing greasing again? What will we do on a 300 mile tour??

Accept all the excellent clues above in the thread but wondered if anyone else has experience of creaking from Khalkoff Impulse 2 or Impulse Evo motors?
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,765
30,351
Now my bike has started creaking again after only another 70 miles....can't really be motor bolts needing greasing again? What will we do on a 300 mile tour??
Motor bolt creaking on crank drive units is very common and mostly a matter of them not being tight enough. It's the unit moving slightly within the frame mounts and I wouldn't advise greasing since that encourages the undesirable movement.

The reason it crops up early in a bike's life is the paint on the frame mounts compressed by the bolts and gradually squeezing away. Just retighten them, hopefully the grease will be squeezed away and dry off, allowing it to then remain stable and tight.
.
 

Chris A

Just Joined
Dec 8, 2017
2
0
66
Sheffield
Motor bolt creaking on crank drive units is very common and mostly a matter of them not being tight enough. It's the unit moving slightly within the frame mounts and I wouldn't advise greasing since that encourages the undesirable movement.

The reason it crops up early in a bike's life is the paint on the frame mounts compressed by the bolts and gradually squeezing away. Just retighten them, hopefully the grease will be squeezed away and dry off, allowing it to then remain stable and tight.
.
Thanks flecc,
All makes sense! I'll give it a try.
Chris
 

argoose

Pedelecer
Sep 24, 2017
247
113
south wales
Pedals
axels
seat rails are other culprits. next time you go for ride take a tin of WD40/GT85, when creak starts spray one area at a time to eliminate that area from your search. after spraying an area ride for 5 mins to give spray time to work in. If no change try a different area ride, repeat
 

Russelliow

Pedelecer
Apr 14, 2017
95
15
35
iom
My cx was creaking. There are about 3 or 4 big main bolts and one small bolt that holds the motor on. The small one was loose and creaking on my one.
 

georgehenry

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2015
1,426
1,251
Surrey
It can be very hard to locate the causes of these annoying noises, and easy to assume the worst that your main bearing is going.

Definitely do all the easy tightening of bolts first, seat bolts, etc.

Main bearings on a crank drive bike really should not go until you have covered quite a few thousand miles, though less thousands of miles than you may have hoped for when you bought it!

I also found that I got a creaking noise that was cured by nipping up the chainring attaching bolts.

I have just realized that this may not be helpful as my bike is Yamaha PU with full size chainring and yours is not. Sorry.
 
Last edited:

Tom Rae

Pedelecer
Jan 14, 2017
128
49
Edinburgh Scotland
When tightening the various pivot bolts on a full suss, it is worth investing in a small torque wrench and some loctite. The bolts can work loose and if removed and a wee drop of Loctite is applied to the threads and they are then torqued up to the correct value, that should fix it once and for all.
 

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