So during a muni ride on the Brad Freeman trail complex at Lake Oroville, CA, my smart-ass son makes some comment about how he knows I’m old, but didn’t realize I was so creaky already. Well, of course it was my 06 KH24 doing the creaking. I know these are rather famous for their noise, and so I removed the cranks and cleaned/greased them before reinstalling. But when I hopped on, hoping for some silence, the same creaking remains. It sounded a little like it might’ve been coming from my seat, so I tightened everything up there, too. That reduced some of the creaking, but there’s still some going on.
Is your seat plastic?..Cuz it could still be the seat…You may have broken you stiffener plate and now its the plastic creaking.
Or it could be in the wheel, if your spokes arent tight enough then they may rub together and creak…Mine do that. SO try tightening your spokes up or depending on how long the wheel has been around maybe try and get a whole new wheel built.
If it is a creaking coming from your spokes it helps to turn your cranks a bit. I normally move my cranks eight notches forward on a thirtysix spline axle after every couple of big rides, and that is to even the load on the spokes and rim.
If you are the one creaking then try codliver oil…
Plastic doesn’t creak… the creaking that comes from a broken stiffener plate comes from the two metal pieces (on either side of the break) rubbing together.
Hi, Jim from Socal. My '06 KH creaked a lot. I lubed where the spokes cross each other with bicycle chain lube and that cured it for a while. Grease the seat rails also.
I’m planning to get up to Chico this summer so be ready!!
Jim
Another thought, take wheel to LBS and have it tightened/trued.
I’m suspicious that my problem might be in the seat. I’ll lube up the rails (which I didn’t think to do before–great tip!), and check to see that I haven’t broken anything on the inside of it, either. I probably ought to go CF.
I had the wheel tensioned/trued not too long ago, and the spokes all still “sing” at about the same pitch, so I don’t think it needs tensioning, but some of the creaking may be coming from the spoke interfaces. I’ll put a little Phil’s waterproof grease in where the spokes cross and see if that makes a difference.
Jim–has the creaking ceased with the Moment wheel?
Well, I didn’t count the splines, but I did reinstall the cranks about a quarter-turn off from where they’d been. I was thinking of tire wear, not wheel stress, but it makes sense. Thanks!
just because they sing at the same pitch doesn’t mean they are tight enough
I wouldn’t remove the cranks repeatedly bucause eventually it won’t go back on as well. if your spokes are creaking it means you need to tighten them not rotate the cranks.
The creaking is a common problem with the KH uni’s, according to unicycl.com its the crank set up, the shims that the bearing fit over aren’t the best of fits so they tend to slip and shake a bit causing the creaking, its not a big thing I was told but if you take em apart give them a good clean every now and again it stops the worst of it. If you watch quite a few videos many folk have creaky cranks, its more annoying than owt else.
So I found the big problem: my seatpost and collar (Salsa flip-lock). The seatpost was covered with dried mud, and the collar was completely bereft of grease. Lubed up both seatpost and collar, and the squeaks are gone. Should’ve checked that before. D’oh!
