Help! Creaky Cranks!

Hi,

Having a problem with a mysterious creak in my cranks. It tends to happen when I'm standing on the pedals or going up hill and its driving me mad! It seems to have developed after I replaced my bb (the last one snapped!).

So far I've double checked and tightened:

My bb,
My cranks,
My chain rings,
My pedals,
My spd cleats.

But, I can't seem to shift the creak, any advice much appreciated...

Chainring bolts.
Chain.
Crank bolts.
BB shell.
Bearings.
Races.
Knees.
Feet.
Shoes (my Sidis creak).
Frame.

What kind of BB is it? The cranks can creak if you have the wrong square taper or if the crank's soft alloy is slightly damaged and isn't fitting properly against whatever pattern/taper the BB is. It's pretty easy to damage an alloy crank especially if it's something like an ISIS drive system.

What kind of BB is it? The cranks can creak if you have the wrong square taper or if the crank's soft alloy is slightly damaged and isn't fitting properly against whatever pattern/taper the BB is. It's pretty easy to damage an alloy crank especially if it's something like an ISIS drive system.

Its a standard cheapo shimano square taper bb. That's a really good point about the crank though, it might have taken a knock when I was getting the broken bit of the old bb out. Thing is, I think it creaks on both sides, although the chain side (side that snapped) is definitely worse.

It's probably water in the frame. It runs down the seat-tube, and then forms a small creek running between the BB and rear dropouts. The water molecules rub together between the BB threads and the shell, and the hydrogen in particular is known to give off a creaking sound. The word 'creak' actually comes from 'creek' - it was the Celts who first used the term to describe the noise when fishing for Salmon.

It's probably water in the frame. It runs down the seat-tube, and then forms a small creek running between the BB and rear dropouts. The water molecules rub together between the BB threads and the shell, and the hydrogen in particular is known to give off a creaking sound. The word 'creak' actually comes from 'creek' - it was the Celts who first used the term to describe the noise when fishing for Salmon.

Hmm. I'm not entirely sure I believe you...

Knees.
It's that water in knees that makes the creaking noise.

BMMF writes the truth.

I only deal in facts.

I only deal in facts.

In that case I take it all back and offer profuse apologies.

Has this been resolved yet? Kudos to BMMF for his thorough analysis of the probelem.