Crank Making Noise - Help!

[Old_Dude]

I have a Trek 4500 which has only about 40 miles of rugged trail use. The crank is making a noise.

Is this just because it's a cheap piece of trash, or can I fix this problem by tightening something?

I figure either the bottom bracket axle's bearings are already shot, or the crank arms need tightening.

Life with a cheap bike kinda sucks sometimes, ya know?

Any comments or suggestions are most welcome.

[KonaDude]

...trying tightening the crank arm onto the BB. Often creaking can be caused by the crank moving a bit on the spindle. Don't ride it if you can avoid it 'till you tighten this up, as the crank may be loose and that could destroy it.

[RideMonkey]

Ugh the dreaded mystery creak.

Start by tightening the crank bolts, then the chainring bolts. If that doesnt work its time to take the cranks off and inspect the BB and determine the bearing condition.

[oldfart]

If its a new bike you should bring it back to the shop for a look see. But if you want to do it yourself then check all the fasteners. You might want to remove them all and grease them up because they are not usually done from the shop. Current thinking on the square bb's is to "lightly" grease the flats. Splined are greased too. Anti-seize is better. Check to make sure the pedal threads were greased too. And if all that does not do it, pull out the bb and grease that up.

[gravity]

disassemble, degrease, regrease and reassemble everything TIGHTLY and chances are you've fixed it. if not, something is screwed. "everything" means pedals, BB, crank arms, chain, cassette, derailleur and anything else on the drivetrain other than rims, spokes n tyres. although i doubt its your hubs somehow, check em anyway.

[thatoneguy]

Grease everything. That way youll know its right. Another thing you might check is your pedals to see if they are bent...

[Brian HCM#1]

I would check the cranks first, but from my experence its probably the BB shell was installed without any grease in the threads. That will creek everytime.