Other New Trek E-Caliber / Fazua RIDE 50 creaking

[uberamd]

Long story short I found a new e-caliber for $2500 at a shop thats a 20 hour round trip away from my house, and bought it. The bike itself rides great, or at least it did.

Holy hell did this develop an annoying creak after 14 miles of use. The creak:

• doesn't come from the suspension, I can jump around on the bike while stationary and its quiet
• happens even when I'm not seated so its not the seatpost
• happens even when going straight so it doesn't seem like a headset issue
• seems to come from both pedaling and coasting along with level pedals
• happens even when the battery and motor are removed and the blanking plate is put in its place

So my thought is the noise is coming from the interface between the frame and the BB gearbox that the RIDE 50 system has. The gearbox has 4 tabs that secure to the frame and its a metal on metal interface.

On one hand I understand that metal on metal will reduce friction and thus keep things stable. But I also understand that I'm a tall 210lb guy geared up and those 4 bolts at 8.5nm torque might not be holding the gearbox snug enough to prevent small movement between the BB gearbox and frame and thus: creak. So I greased those surfaces that come into contact with one another and it sounds like, well, a no-longer-creaking bike. Though I haven't confirmed it on the trail yet, just on my local streets.

My question is 2 fold:

1. Did I just mess up big time by greasing these surfaces? Do they need to be dry and should I just bring the bike in to my local Trek dealer to have them figure out whats up? I did call my local Trek shop before doing this and they more or less advised a similar thing I can try before bringing it in.
2. Have any of you had this issue with the E-Caliber / Fazua RIDE 50 specifically?

And bonus for those who are more knowledgable about Trek and their relationship with Trek dealer local bike shops: is something like this covered by ANY Trek dealer and Trek, the companies, expense because it was a new bike that has issues out the gate or is it likely only covered if its handled by the shop that sold me the bike? Because I have little desire to drive 20 hours to drop the bike off at the original shop that sold it to me.

 

[notfamouschrisbrown]

Maybe heat related?