# FSA Gossamer BB30 creak



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

Hi my crankset is creaking worse after doing a few climbs.

I read about the recall stuff but my crank arm starts with 10H..

so I found the PDF instructions here, with torque specs

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...8P2CCw&usg=AFQjCNEYO8vN3uGhD8yVbkbVFKj7Q4QG7A

That 10mm allen bolt on the non drive side is fairly lose, spec is 39-49nm and at first I tightened it to 29nm (meaning it wasn't even at that), still creaks, now at 44nm but doesn't seem to go away... As I tightened it felt like there is grease under the bolt. Should I take it out and reinstall the bolt with grease?

So does anyone know what's going on? Pretty sure the noise is coming from the crankset because I noticed a little bit of it at first and got worse after a few rides. Creaking is worse under load.

Do I bother tightening the chainring bolts?


Another thing.. I got a bag of reflectors and junk but there are a couple of shoft shims that says BB30 on it, are those extras or they forgot this and could this be causing my problem?


----------



## frdfandc (Nov 27, 2007)

What kind of bike?


----------



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

this 

http://www.realcyclist.com/litespeed-c3-carbon-bike


----------



## frdfandc (Nov 27, 2007)

Shims could be for anything. Headset, BB, etc. 

If the crank arm was loose, make sure its torqued to spec. There should be some grease on the threads of the fixing bolt. 

Check your chainring bolts, pedals (put some grease on the threads), seat post, seat post rails, skewers.


----------



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

chainring bolts are in spec, is there anything productive to take them out and grease the inside threads and the outside too and reinstall? 

I just added some lube to my chain..
I will check the pedals too and regrease them since I didn't install them myself

BTW how do you grease the skewers? Should there be grease under the clamp surface of the skewer?


----------



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

Hmm, the rest of the stuff doesn't seem to help

Do you know the part (10) in this picture how is it held in place? 
They call it M25 retaining nut.
It's got an arrow that spin counter clockwise and says "tighten"

part (8) is the one that has the hex, the hex bolt is right hand threaded right?


----------



## frdfandc (Nov 27, 2007)

Should have added, make sure the skewers are tight. 

I had a customer with a creak under load - climbing/sprinting. Customer swore it was a BB creak. Found a skewer that was damaged, not allowing the rear wheel to be tightened enough. New skewer, no noise.


For your picture, #10 screws into the crank arm. This piece is required to be there for removal of the crank arm. Its what the main retention bolt, #8, pushes against when unscrewing #8.

To tighten #10, you need a spanner wrench.


----------



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

Spanner wrench I see,
Will this work?

http://www.rei.com/product/546202

How about 
http://www.rei.com/product/546090


----------



## frdfandc (Nov 27, 2007)

Either one will work. But if going with the 2nd one, make sure its the Red handled. The pins are larger.


----------



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

great I saw the hex bolt says 45-55nm which is more than the PDF I found so I tightened it to 50
I got the park tool to turn counter clockwise it turned almost half a turn to hold it in place.


so,, what you said to my diagram above... in the future if I need to remove the hex bolt, I don't have to use the spanner to remove the retaining ring first? The whole arm will back out instead of the bolt backing out of the hole right. It's like a double nut kind of thing?


----------



## ultraman6970 (Aug 1, 2010)

PoorCyclist SInce you are using BB30 there is a big chance the noise is comming from one of the zillion pieces that u have in there but what i would do 1st is to change the quick releases in both wheels, new quick releases have plastic parts and as u mentioned u have to grease them. 

Darn carbon bikes transmit noises like crazy and that u have a sound in the BB does not means it is comming from there. In your case i would guess the noise is coming from the front quick release. Grease the plastic curved piece or just borrow an old metallic one from somebody if you do not have one. Campagnolo steel ones and old shimanos are made of metal, those last forever. All the new stuff has plastic parts and they SUCK!

Why save 5 to 10 grams if you have to buy new ones after a year or two when with a 100% metallic one you can use them for more than 20 years? 20 grams wont do a single difference anyways.


----------



## frdfandc (Nov 27, 2007)

Correct.


----------



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

ultraman6970 said:


> PoorCyclist SInce you are using BB30 there is a big chance the noise is comming from one of the zillion pieces that u have in there but what i would do 1st is to change the quick releases in both wheels, new quick releases have plastic parts and as u mentioned u have to grease them.
> 
> Darn carbon bikes transmit noises like crazy and that u have a sound in the BB does not means it is comming from there. In your case i would guess the noise is coming from the front quick release. Grease the plastic curved piece or just borrow an old metallic one from somebody if you do not have one. Campagnolo steel ones and old shimanos are made of metal, those last forever. All the new stuff has plastic parts and they SUCK!
> 
> Why save 5 to 10 grams if you have to buy new ones after a year or two when with a 100% metallic one you can use them for more than 20 years? 20 grams wont do a single difference anyways.


Here is the stuff I did no change. The creaking happens even when pedals coasting off (to rule out cleats / pedals) and I turn sway the wheel left and right it will creak.. Seem to quiet down if I take my hands off the handle bar.. but some bumps will still make it creak, I am thinking the headset is making noise but it's so hard to pin point where the sound is when riding.. It don't make any sound when the bike is not moving I steer and press down on the handle bars etc.

- torqued BB30 crank bolt to spec.. 
- drop of lube where each wheel spoke crosses
- checked chain ring bolts all tight 10nm, within spec
- Put grease on skewer, it had no grease.
- I think headset was slightly loose, tightened about 1/4 turn with stem loosened, feel better but still didn't change the sound.
- greased stem bolts all 6, all torqued evenly... they had no grease and just a section of thread had blue loctite.
- put grease on drop outs, axle and all QR mating surfaces.. I heard they can help sometimes.
found RD pulley 2 tiny screws are barely loose, tightened, screwdriver tight.
- greased pedal threads, torqued to FSA spec (look Keo easy pedals new)
QR lever leaves an imprint on my palm.
- removed water bottle cages
- looked all over the frame can't see any cracks.


YES the skewers have plastic on each side. It's worth a shot getting a metal one just as an upgrade. wow these are nice ones
http://www.realcyclist.com/zipp-speed-weaponry-stainless-steel-aero-quick-release-skewer-pair



I read the FSA BB30 is notorious for creaks, I saw some posts are putting locktite and such to make up for the bearing interference to eliminate creaking. Yikes. 

But I think it is caused by the BB or the headset, I am going to work with the shop LBS to swap out the wheels and check the headset bearings.



say, if I "upgrade" to ultegra crank with adapters how much Q factor will be increased?


Do bikes arrive at retailers with the crankset already installed? I found it strange the crank bolt had a torque of almost just half of the spec (it says on the bolt), could riding with the slightly loose crank bolt damaged something inside?
I have noticed the creaking from beginning only when climing on lower gears now it's doing all the damn time and over bumps or hard steer.

Any help is appraciated.


----------



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

BTW any problem putting grease on to the carbon drop outs.. I am using silicon (clear type) grease by super lube it should be completely inert. But saw some myths about it may cause problems


----------



## NJgreyhead (Jun 27, 2009)

"I read the FSA BB30 is notorious for creaks"

Yep, FSA Gossamers have the rep (and I found it is deserved) of a BB lockring loosening up, which will cause a creak that progresses into a bullfrog mating croak.

The right wrench is cheap enough, and you'll use it more than once. Tighten the lockrings (esp the non-drive side in my case) until they FEEL tight (without standing on the wrench, e.g.).

After a few hundred miles, do it again, as needed.

HTH.


----------



## illlili (Jul 14, 2010)

Must add that my 2011 supersix with the fsa Gossamer crank has started creaking too. The creaks started on the left side between 12 and 1 o clock and now on both sides after load.. URG!


----------



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

At this point I think it is not the gossamer creaking as I can have the bike coasting, pedals unclipped, and steer the bike left and right to reproduce the creak.. sounds like maybe one of the cable ferrules to me..

did you tried to tighten your crank bolt?


----------



## backinthesaddle (Nov 22, 2006)

Check your headset and front skewer.
Also check the r/d hanger

Like was said before, carbon bikes transmit creaks through the hollow tubes and make them sound like more than they are...


----------



## dcl10 (Jul 2, 2010)

FSA, BB30, and it creaks! Are you sure? Maybe its your bar tape or cable ends, did you check those, because I could not imagine that setup creaking.


----------



## jinnjia (Jun 12, 2010)

creaks could coming from anywhere and tend to make you think its the BB, checked your seatpost ?

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=94305&highlight=seat+post+creak+carbon+grease


----------



## dualpivot (Oct 25, 2009)

PoorCyclist said:


> YES the skewers have plastic on each side. It's worth a shot getting a metal one just as an upgrade. wow these are nice ones
> http://www.realcyclist.com/zipp-speed-weaponry-stainless-steel-aero-quick-release-skewer-pair


Or get a skewer that'll outlast the bike at half the cost:
http://store.velo-orange.com/index....ms-hubs/skewers/vo-quick-release-skewers.html
Your screen name is _Poor_Cyclist after all


----------



## BeepBeepZipTang (Oct 8, 2009)

I had that annoying creak on my bike. I thought it was my Bottom bracket. Turned out to be my pedals. :idea:


----------



## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

PoorCyclist said:


> Hi my crankset is creaking worse after doing a few climbs.
> 
> I read about the recall stuff but my crank arm starts with 10H..
> 
> ...


Sounds like FSA still has an issue with Gossamer cranks creaking even after all of the "improvements" made to them. Maybe I'm overreacting, but I had the Gossamer crank 4 years ago on a Felt with the same issue.


----------



## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Check your spider where the arms intersect w the BB. Mine had a tiny little crack.


----------



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

Can I put carbon assembly paste between the RD hanger and carbon frame?
The 2 very tiny bolts do not hold their torque, although the RD hanger plate is mostly clamped tight by the skewer system, I would like to secure them better, maybe a little loctite on the bolts?

I took it to a shop where they tried different wheels, checked everything
the shop wants to replace the BB (bearings) but no guarantee. I read alot of people are putting loctite on the bearing outer race and the spline too.

The noise isn't bad I just want to figure it out.. creaks doesn't affect me I just want to know there isn't a crack somehwere..
I did a search and BB30 and carbon = noisy.


----------



## dcl10 (Jul 2, 2010)

carbon paste works great practically anywhere, and should not cause any problems. In any case the creak might never go away. I've had two bb30 bikes and both developed creaks. One went away after around 6k miles, the other never did. With any integrated BB design, if it was made out of spec even slightly there is not much you can do. You cant re-face it or just swap in some new cups like on a threaded system. After a while it just becomes white noise anyway.


----------



## 2cflyr (Apr 9, 2002)

just an FYI, but we've had at least a dozen BB30 equipped bikes come back with creaks. mostly cannondales but also some of the new felts. cranks have been FSA and Cannondale in make. 

In our wrenching experience it's been a lack of lube at the frame/bearing interface frmo the factory. 

our solution? knock out the bearings, clean everything, lube liberally, reinstall. also, make sure that all the threaded interfaces on the crank are lubed. yes, this includes the pedal threads.

each time, this has fixed the issue.

another place to check fro bottom bracket-ish creaks: seatpost. does it have any lube on it?


----------



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

Hey thanks guys for the suggestions

Are the BB30 bearings reusable after pressing in and out for greasing / loctite job?
since it's not exactly like an automobile at thousands of RPMs and the bearing integrity is resposible for some oil seal / shaft to hold in oil.. I would think it is OK to reuse the BB30 bearings. 

Unless the BB30 bearing is out of spec that is causing problem anyway.


----------



## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

Found a PDF from specialized on how to install their $500 SWorks BB30 crankset, revision jun 09.
interesting they called for loctite to seat the bearing. Just for reference.


----------



## texascyclist (May 10, 2005)

PoorCyclist said:


> Found a PDF from specialized on how to install their $500 SWorks BB30 crankset, revision jun 09.
> interesting they called for loctite to seat the bearing. Just for reference.


Loctite makes a product just for this application. It is called gap filler. It is for bearing interfaces. 

I am sure everyone is aware by now, but FSA has a recall on these cranks. 
http://***************/2010/11/fsa-gossamer-bb30-recall/


----------

