Creaking Cannondale CAAD3 ?

Steve Sr. wrote:
I have a 2000 Cannondale CAAD3 touring frame with a Shimano 952 XTR
tripple crank and bottom bracket. The bike has about 13,000 miles on
it and this crank and BB has about 6-8,000 miles of the total.

During a recent 500 mile week long tour it has developed a creaking
sound that is synchronous with pedal rotation. The sound is really
nasty sounding and is obviously resonating in the frame tubing which
gives it the annoying "tinny" sound

The sound is much more pronounced with light spinning pedal pressure
when I am seated on the saddle. With no pedal pressure the sound is
gone. It is also greatly reduced or eliminated by standing on the
pedals.

At first I thought that this was a problem with the seatpost or seat
since the sound seemed to go away when standing on the pedals. I have
since disassembled and greased the post, frame clamp, and saddle rails
and the creaking sound is still there.

My thoughts now are turning to the bottom bracket as a source of the
noise. While on the tour I had the support staff tighten the BB which
made no difference at all. So now I am begining to wonder if it is the
BB or something else. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone?

A cycling buddy that works at a bike shop suggested reinstalling the
BB with teflon tape to solve the problem. Does this sound like a good
idea? I would appreciate some feedback before tearing everything
apart.
I don't have a CAAD7, but the Teflon tape fixed the same problem with my
Trek aluminum ATB. It's not a difficult endeavor if you have a bottom
bracket tool.


Thanks,

Steve

Steve Sr. wrote in
:

I have a 2000 Cannondale CAAD3 touring frame with a Shimano 952 XTR
tripple crank and bottom bracket. The bike has about 13,000 miles on
it and this crank and BB has about 6-8,000 miles of the total.

During a recent 500 mile week long tour it has developed a creaking
sound that is synchronous with pedal rotation. The sound is really
nasty sounding and is obviously resonating in the frame tubing which
gives it the annoying "tinny" sound

The sound is much more pronounced with light spinning pedal pressure
when I am seated on the saddle. With no pedal pressure the sound is
gone. It is also greatly reduced or eliminated by standing on the
pedals.

At first I thought that this was a problem with the seatpost or seat
since the sound seemed to go away when standing on the pedals. I have
since disassembled and greased the post, frame clamp, and saddle rails
and the creaking sound is still there.

My thoughts now are turning to the bottom bracket as a source of the
noise. While on the tour I had the support staff tighten the BB which
made no difference at all. So now I am begining to wonder if it is the
BB or something else. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone?

A cycling buddy that works at a bike shop suggested reinstalling the
BB with teflon tape to solve the problem. Does this sound like a good
idea? I would appreciate some feedback before tearing everything
apart.


Thanks,

Steve

I'd try the teflon tape trick, but I've had 2 Cannondales and both
creaked to some extent or another- never could totally eliminate it. The
replaceable derailler hanger is another source of a creak (remove, grease
mating surfaces, replace). So are the skewers (a thin coat of grease on
the dropouts would fix this).

--
Mike DeMicco

Steve Sr. wrote:

I have a 2000 Cannondale CAAD3 touring frame with a Shimano 952 XTR
tripple crank and bottom bracket. The bike has about 13,000 miles on
it and this crank and BB has about 6-8,000 miles of the total.

During a recent 500 mile week long tour it has developed a creaking
sound that is synchronous with pedal rotation. The sound is really
nasty sounding and is obviously resonating in the frame tubing which
gives it the annoying "tinny" sound

The sound is much more pronounced with light spinning pedal pressure
when I am seated on the saddle. With no pedal pressure the sound is
gone. It is also greatly reduced or eliminated by standing on the
pedals.

At first I thought that this was a problem with the seatpost or seat
since the sound seemed to go away when standing on the pedals. I have
since disassembled and greased the post, frame clamp, and saddle rails
and the creaking sound is still there.

My thoughts now are turning to the bottom bracket as a source of the
noise. While on the tour I had the support staff tighten the BB which
made no difference at all. So now I am begining to wonder if it is the
BB or something else. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone?

A cycling buddy that works at a bike shop suggested reinstalling the
BB with teflon tape to solve the problem. Does this sound like a good
idea? I would appreciate some feedback before tearing everything
apart.

The only cure is to take everything apart, check it for cracks, and
reassemble with grease (anti-seize is good for threads). Sod's Law
dictated that the similar creak on my touring bike was the BB moving
against the frame shell, which is the last and most difficult thing to
disassemble!

"Steve Sr." wrote in message
...
I have a 2000 Cannondale CAAD3 touring frame with a Shimano 952 XTR
tripple crank and bottom bracket. The bike has about 13,000 miles on
it and this crank and BB has about 6-8,000 miles of the total.

During a recent 500 mile week long tour it has developed a creaking
sound that is synchronous with pedal rotation. The sound is really
nasty sounding and is obviously resonating in the frame tubing which
gives it the annoying "tinny" sound

The sound is much more pronounced with light spinning pedal pressure
when I am seated on the saddle. With no pedal pressure the sound is
gone. It is also greatly reduced or eliminated by standing on the
pedals.

At first I thought that this was a problem with the seatpost or seat
since the sound seemed to go away when standing on the pedals. I have
since disassembled and greased the post, frame clamp, and saddle rails
and the creaking sound is still there.

My thoughts now are turning to the bottom bracket as a source of the
noise. While on the tour I had the support staff tighten the BB which
made no difference at all. So now I am begining to wonder if it is the
BB or something else. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone?

A cycling buddy that works at a bike shop suggested reinstalling the
BB with teflon tape to solve the problem. Does this sound like a good
idea? I would appreciate some feedback before tearing everything
apart.


Thanks,

Steve

To me, it sounds like you have narrowed it down to being a problem with the
interface of the crank and BB axle. If you do not tighten these cranks to
spec., after a while they will begin to have this problem. Most likely they
are already damaged and a good tightening will not correct the problem, but
you can try. If the damage is very slight, tightening will stop the
creaking. Of course, I have no way of knowing and the problem could be
elsewhere, but this same thing happened to me and this is what I discovered.
BTW, I don't have the torque specs on the crank bolts handy, but I can tell
you that a great deal of force is needed. You should install grease on the
crank bolt threads, too. Some people don't bother with this. I think the
shimano website still lists the install sheet for these cranks so this would
be a good place to start. I still really like these cranks from Shimano.
Good luck.

Dave

"Steve Sr." wrote in message
...
I have a 2000 Cannondale CAAD3 touring frame with a Shimano 952 XTR
tripple crank and bottom bracket. The bike has about 13,000 miles on
it and this crank and BB has about 6-8,000 miles of the total.

During a recent 500 mile week long tour it has developed a creaking
sound that is synchronous with pedal rotation. The sound is really
nasty sounding and is obviously resonating in the frame tubing which
gives it the annoying "tinny" sound

The sound is much more pronounced with light spinning pedal pressure
when I am seated on the saddle. With no pedal pressure the sound is
gone. It is also greatly reduced or eliminated by standing on the
pedals.

If it is the bottom bracket, remove it, clean it and the frame threads and
re-assemble using blue locktite on the threads, also look at the bearings in
your pedals and the seat where the rails enter the plastic seat housing,
especially if the CODA comfort seat used on touring bikes of this time.
I had this problem on a CAAd 3 road frame and tried all the tightening,
greasing, & Teflon tape, nothing solved the problem until I used Locktite.

One source of creaks in the Cannondale is the seat post. Pull your seatpost
clean it and the tube with clean cloth and regrease with a light coat of
grease. I chased a creak in my road bike for weeks before hitting upon this
one.

Guy

another source of creaking can be the cables in the cable stops...
remove all the ferrules, put in some ti "grease" and re-assemble. I
had that problem on my cannondale jekyll... sure sounded like a
crank/BB problem... replace the entire drive without eliminating the
problem... the cable stops were the problem in my case.

charlieb in ct