# Creaking when I turn handlebars



## ybgirnadnerb (Mar 15, 2012)

New CAAD10 4, ~month old. Haven't taken it back for the 2-week checkup @ LBS due to final exams. But when I turn the handlebar left or right the bike emits a sickly creaking sound, seems to come from the headset area but it's tough to isolate sounds. I can feel vibration in the top tube when this sound is emitted. Thoughts? Are there some short-term fixes I can make?


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## Wood Devil (Apr 30, 2011)

Happens to me as well. It's probably your cable housings in front of the bar rubbing against each other. Either that or there is grit where the cable ferrule meets the downtube; when you turn your bars left of right, it forces the ferrule to shift slightly in the attachment point.

Then again I'm probably wrong.


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## ybgirnadnerb (Mar 15, 2012)

interesting. i had thought that but i guess the idea of something more structural had sex appeal. thank you so much for using the word ferrule. one of my professors circled it an put a question mark around it once when i used it. just goes to show you how little exposure lawyers have to real-life problems like frayed cable ends.

your suggestion makes more sense than you know: i believe the creaking began after i made some cable adjustments or retaped the handlebars...

thanks!


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Touchy feely*



ybgirnadnerb said:


> New CAAD10 4, ~month old. Haven't taken it back for the 2-week checkup @ LBS due to final exams. But when I turn the handlebar left or right the bike emits a sickly creaking sound, seems to come from the headset area but it's tough to isolate sounds. I can feel vibration in the top tube when this sound is emitted. Thoughts? Are there some short-term fixes I can make?


Your instinct to feel the frame when the noise is manifest is a good one. Try a light touch with your fingers on different parts of the frame (like near the upper and lower headset) and on the cables. Another alternative is the shade tree mechanic trick of a piece of rubber tubing with a small funnel stuck in one end. Use it like a stethoscope to pinpoint the noise source.


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## ybgirnadnerb (Mar 15, 2012)

thanks for the tip. i'll look (listen?) into it later tonight if i ever finish reviewing this material.


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## EarleMosley (Feb 8, 2005)

Had exactly the same thing, creaking when turning the handlebars, took my bike to the bike shop expecting the headset to be adjusted or replaced(10 years old), turned out to be some grit between the metal brake ferrule and the stop on the the frame. Squirt of oil and it was fixed.l


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## ybgirnadnerb (Mar 15, 2012)

hmmm i don't think it's the ferrules. after closer investigation, the creaks are actually more of a pop that occurs at two points in the turn of the handlebars—11:30 and 12:30?— and when they occur i feel no vibrations whatsoever in either ferrule/holder. rather, the vibration/creak can be felt in the top tube and towards the headset. 

when i place my ear right up against the intersection of the head tube, top tube, and downtube (the frame is small enough and the tubes sufficiently oversized that these do interface), the click/pop sound definitely seems to come from within. how's that for unreliable observation-cum-speculation.

the noise persists even when i manually apply tension to the cables in the opposite direction, which stops them from moving when the handlebars turn. i applied pressure to each cable (derailleurs and brakes). if their movement was the source of the sound, i think that would prevent it, but it does not.

the noise was not as pronounced yesterday, when the humidity was much higher.

does this make sense to anyone? the bike is new; perhaps the headset was torqued wrong/underlubed or something? should i take that thing apart and reassemble?

my final exams are going to be over soon; maybe i just want an excuse to disassemble my headset


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## ybgirnadnerb (Mar 15, 2012)

*Solved*: the headset needed grease. Turns out whoever built the bike that day at the LBS applies less grease than other techs. Removed headset, applied grease, all was well. Just want this to be here in case another person has the same problem.

Now to identify the creaking that seems to be coming from my bottom bracket/wheels...


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## RacethendrinkBeer (Dec 9, 2010)

I also had this same problem on my 2010 CAAD9 4. Cleaned and reapplied grease to headset and it appears to have solved it for now.

Now I'm chasing a creak on NDS downstroke!


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