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I've just bought a Trek 6300 and I'm getting a strange creaking coming from the crank/bottom bracket when I'm stand pedalling. It only happens when I'm stand pedalling, and only what appears to be on my right hand side. It's like a triple click on each downward motion on the right pedal. But again, only when stand pedaling?

Any ideas?

I didn't buy the bike brand new from a shop, I bought it off of one a friend of a friend who used it for a charity ride in January and hasn't used it since, hence he sold it. I just find it odd that the noise only happens on the right hand side. Could it be that the chain is catching the front derailer? I'm still relatively new to mountain bikes.

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    The sound could be coming from one side because the crank is loose on that side, or the pedal is defective on that side, or the chain catches on something when you torque it hard on that side. And a loose BB cartridge will sometimes only click on the one side. In fact, it's far more common to have the noise on one side than on both. Apr 6, 2012 at 20:21
  • And since you're relatively new to bikes, this is a good opportunity to "try out" on of your local bike shops, to see how they treat you. Apr 6, 2012 at 20:22
  • This is not an answer, perhaps it could be edited into the question? Apr 7, 2012 at 3:33

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If you only just bought it from a shop, take it back and get them to sort it, but do ask what the problem was.

If you want to fix it yourself, it's worth determining the frequency and type of noise that you're hearing. I used this site when I had an issue similar to yours and I tried taking pedals off, the crank arm off and eventually took it to a bike shop and it was the bottom bracket that was making the noise.

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Yep, if you just bought it, take it back!!! Even if you have to pay someone, this sort of thing should be fixed immediately, if not sooner, and avoid riding until you do, as the problem could be a loose crank, and, if so, riding it will destroy the crank and axle.

The other possibilities are a bad pedal, a loose BB cartridge, or misalignment of the derailer.

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  • I would think that any reputable shop would fix it no matter what if it was just purchased. The shop I used to work at would fix that pretty much any time if the user didn't damage the bike. Apr 6, 2012 at 16:35
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I've had a similar noise before and it would only appear when I'd really put a lot of pressure on the left crank. And it appeared right after fixing a puncture on my rear wheel.

It took me a while, but I realized that when putting my rear wheel and axle back in, I didn't tighten the quick release enough, and the lower part of the frame and chainstay would creak since the frame would twist and flex at every left crank push, making it feel like it was the BB (poor BB getting accused of every creak here and there).

Then again, if that doesn't work, I would definitely bring it back to the shop to get it sorted out. Lower frame creaks are very hard to diagnose as it can be so many things.

Hope that helps.

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I've had noise with my cranks when under pressure like yours in the best case it was just a loose crank in the worse case my bottom bracket must of had a crack as it later broke off when I was cranking through an insection and crashed hard. Tighten your cranks if the noise is still there take apart your cranks and inpect the spindle .

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    There's no such thing as "just a loose crank". Apr 7, 2012 at 3:09
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I have an almost identical situation, but I think I've narrowed it down to the pedal, actually. It seems that the pedal is worn out and creaks under pressure.

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