Trek Rail 5 - creaking noises

[Drewf]

Hi All, I have a new 2020 Trek Rail 5 and I have about 180 miles on it and I have had the bike less than 2 months. I have been hearing a creaking noise and at first I thought it was just the seat post and I greased up the seat post tube, but I am still hearing a creaking noise. My guess is its coming from the fork crown? Anyone else hearing this type of noise? I went over the whole bike and made sure bolts were snug and tight. The headset also seems nice and tight, not sure what else to check.
Thanks!

 

[Davidwylie]

Hi All, I have a new 2020 Trek Rail 5 and I have about 180 miles on it and I have had the bike less than 2 months. I have been hearing a creaking noise and at first I thought it was just the seat post and I greased up the seat post tube, but I am still hearing a creaking noise. My guess is its coming from the fork crown? Anyone else hearing this type of noise? I went over the whole bike and made sure bolts were snug and tight. The headset also seems nice and tight, not sure what else to check.
Thanks!

Drop the fork and grease the headset bearing .. My Rail 7 was seriously lacking in grease on that bearing and I was getting a creaking .. bit of grease and its sorted.

 

[Drewf]

I will give that a go...thanks for the reply!

 

[Drewf]

Update...I greased the headset bearings and went for a test drive, the bike is now silent. Creaking gone...thanks!

 

[BrentD]

Drop the fork and grease the headset bearing .. My Rail 7 was seriously lacking in grease on that bearing and I was getting a creaking .. bit of grease and its sorted.

That's a great tip for any Rail owner. My 9.8 was very dry there too.

 

[Russ2550]

I’m seriously considering selling/trading in my 19’ Decoy for a Trek Rail 5, or maybe a 7 very soon. But I keep hearing about various issues with the 5. I know the brakes are garage. But issues like the pivots, cranks, headsets, and other mystery noises are making me weary about it. Also, it says 170mm max fork. I have a new Fox E38-180mm that I would probably put on it. Can anything say why Trek says it can only goes to 170? Any input would be helpful on the bike would be great!

 

[folmonty]

Rail 7 with less than 10 rides all off road and the creaking definitely seems to be coming from the headset. Will address as per the suggestions here by @Davidwylie & @BrentD Thanks for posting reporting back @Drewf The creaking has been progressively getting louder. It's not motor or crank related. After the last long ride it was getting to be so noticeable had to start looking for answers.

 

[philuk]

Ive got a creaking after maybe 180miles aswell that i was pushing towards being headset related.

Glad im not the only one so will have to investigate more!

 

[folmonty]

Task done yesterday but only tested it around the house. Seems quiet so far. Kind of surprised at the size of the bearings. Was thinking maybe they'd be tapered and much larger. Often forget I'm working on a eMTB not a moto. Seems these bikes are going to take some regular attention to keep in top shape, which is fine by me. The fun factor is so damn high. Also wondering if some of the creaking might've been coming from the cables flapping against each other. Spent some time trying to route them a little cleaner. We'll see.....

 

[Ushtang]

Were you getting a creaking or clicking? I was getting a clicking noise. I cleaned and regressed bearings multiple times. I even replaced the bearings and the clicking still didn’t go away.

I finally realized the clicking was due to me having over tightened the headset.

 

[folmonty]

Were you getting a creaking or clicking? I was getting a clicking noise. I cleaned and regressed bearings multiple times. I even replaced the bearings and the clicking still didn’t go away.

I finally realized the clicking was due to me having over tightened the headset.

Thanks for mentioning that, as 4 nm is bit more than finger tight. Not use to thread-less steer tubes. These are so easy to take apart it's easy to think they need more torque to keep things together. Also nice that the torque values are printed on the part. Sure simplifies things.

 

[philuk]

So stripped back mine, It was a cracking/creaking noise. didn't happen all the time and the amount of gunge that came out was unreal!

We cleaned the bearings and the seating and the reinstalled it all and it seems fine now!

Obviously something im going to have to have to keep my eye on it!

 

[IanB-UK]

Just to add mine has been a lot better of late, but I’m not sure exactly what fixed it. Firstly, I dropped the forks out when I was upgrading my bars, Cleaned and greased it up. Secondly, had new brakes fitted so LBS stripped out battery and motor to fit it all, been a lot better since those two things.

 

[IanB-UK]

Just wanted to add my experience with the creaking noises which has been a bit more recent. I bought a Trek Rail 5 in August 2021 and have had 2 or 3 episodes of pretty bad creaking since then. The first time the LBS fixed it after I complained to the online store I bought it from. They apparently only checked and tightened all the bolts on the bike, but it was much better when I got it back. It happened again a few months later and I took it to the bike shop again, they were doing some other work which onvolved removing the battery and motor so I think that fixed it that time as they would have tightened bolts etc.
The most recent episode was the worst, the creaking really got bad this time, to the point I was considering selling the bike. I decided to have a go at fixing it myself so started elliminating things. I started with the pivot bolts around the suspension, I removed, cleaned, greased and refitted them all. Also tightened up any other bold I could get to. Took the bike out and whilst it was a bit better, the noise quickly came back and was still getting worse. I did some research and came across a couple threads and a youtube video that mentioned the main pivot bearing - I had not removed this one yet. I once again spoke to the store I bought it from and they agreed to send me a new pivot kit from Trek. Before it arrived I decided to have another go myself at fixing the issue and also decided that it was about time I upgraded some worn out parts! I hadn't replaced a single item on the bike since new so I bought a new shifter, cables, chain, rear derailleur and cassette. I stripped and replaced all the parts and at the same time removed the main pivot. I will admit to some stupidity on my part here as I thought the bolt to remove it was on the chain side and that the crank needed removing to get to it, turns out it is on the other side so I could have done it sooner! When I removed it, not only was it bone dry, it was also not tightened anywhere near 40nm.
Anyway, cleaned it all up, greased it, tightened to 40nm and took the bike out yesterday and....

Wow! Not since the day I rode the bike for the first time have I enjoyed it so much! The upgrades have really made a difference, the gear change is fast and slick and the biggest improvement is the bike is now completely silent! Its bliss!!

So, longer story that I hoped but if you have really noisy creaking, check the main pivot bolt is not tight but also clean and greased. It takes a battering down there and in warm dry weather, gets dried out quickly! I now have a spare pivot kit ready to be fitted next time the bike goes in for a service as I don't have any bearing presses.

 

[Gamer73]

I have had two kinds of creaking noise in my trail 5 2021.

The first was almost present from the get go when I bought the bike a few years ago. Damn I think this is my third summer with it

Anyways. I found that the noise came from the battery cover. I think it was between the cover and the frame interface. I applied some grease to that seam, both inside and partly outside. Applied a lot of it just to make sure. The noise was gone. And I have honestly never reapplied grease to that area so I guess it’s sort of settled, possible by micro-grinding of that surface/interface by the movement of the riding.

The second time it happened was last summer. So during the second summer of my bike. I located the noise to the headset. I did something I really did not want to do. I started to take the headset apart, by the advice of the local trek dealer. I found it quite dirty and also a little too dry, along with places that had some rusty Color. I again went to work with my grease. Greased it up and put it back together. The end result is zero noise from the headset.

By advice from the local trek dealer, I try to put some waterproof grease on the connections of the headset regularly.

 

[IanB-UK]

I have had two kinds of creaking noise in my trail 5 2021.

The first was almost present from the get go when I bought the bike a few years ago. Damn I think this is my third summer with it

Anyways. I found that the noise came from the battery cover. I think it was between the cover and the frame interface. I applied some grease to that seam, both inside and partly outside. Applied a lot of it just to make sure. The noise was gone. And I have honestly never reapplied grease to that area so I guess it’s sort of settled, possible by micro-grinding of that surface/interface by the movement of the riding.

The second time it happened was last summer. So during the second summer of my bike. I located the noise to the headset. I did something I really did not want to do. I started to take the headset apart, by the advice of the local trek dealer. I found it quite dirty and also a little too dry, along with places that had some rusty Color. I again went to work with my grease. Greased it up and put it back together. The end result is zero noise from the headset.

By advice from the local trek dealer, I try to put some waterproof grease on the connections of the headset regularly.

Thanks for this, I’ll look at both. I’ve not yet serviced the headset area so I’ll do that soon. I’ll also look at the battery cover, I do hear some minor noise from that area but assumed it was the seat post and derailleur cables. I’ve been enjoying the bike a lot more since eliminating the noises and upgrading the drive train

 

[bmx4343]

had this creaking issue on my Rail 9.8 for several months, kept getting worse. I chased every single pivot bolt, removed and lubed. relubed the headset, cranks, pedals, etc. even replaced the main bearings as i was sure that was it. nope. could not locate the creak to save my life. i was finally able to trace it to the area around the motor....and.....it was these two little mf'ers right here. both were a little rusty, and one had worked loose...lubed them up, problem fixed. hope this helps somebody fix their creak quicker than it took me. i never imagined such a small, meaningless screw would create so much havoc...

 

[IanB-UK]

had this creaking issue on my Rail 9.8 for several months, kept getting worse. I chased every single pivot bolt, removed and lubed. relubed the headset, cranks, pedals, etc. even replaced the main bearings as i was sure that was it. nope. could not locate the creak to save my life. i was finally able to trace it to the area around the motor....and.....it was these two little mf'ers right here. both were a little rusty, and one had worked loose...lubed them up, problem fixed. hope this helps somebody fix their creak quicker than it took me. i never imagined such a small, meaningless screw would create so much havoc...

View attachment 124083

Wow, that is for this!! Despite fixing the major creaks, I can still hear something so I will give these bolt a check over at the weekend! Would never have guessed they’d cause an audible creak!

 

[ezliven]

My 2020 Rail 9.7 had a creaking noise for some time. The creaking was minor at first but got progressively worse to the point others riding near me could hear it. I had taken all the pivot points apart and cleaned and retorqued them and cleaned seat post but still did not fix the creaking noise. Finally the only thing left was the motor mounting. I had noticed while holding the brake and stepping on the crank that the motor had a slight movement to it. I removed the motor and found the bolts for the motor mounting bracket were loose and one had broken off. I was able to remove the broken bolt. For some reason Bosch had installed them with tamper proof bolt heads and did not have any anti-seize on them. I removed the other 3 loose bolts and installed 4 new M5-18 X 16mm bolts with regular allen heads. Installed them with anti-seize and torqued them to 6 nm. Reinstalled them motor and have 2 rides for 40 miles and not more creaking. Bracket shown in the attachment.

 

[folmonty]

Those tamper proof bolts and the like are maddening! Nice work on getting it quiet.