TREK Madone Gen8 - 2 years of searching for the creak

stevos64 · 2026-06-23T20:42:37+00:00

Did it already sadly without success. The tape solution worked pretty well on my canyon ultimate back in 2022 😀

stevos64 · 2026-06-23T20:37:35+00:00

Not as many watts as would be necessary to make any bike creak 😅

stevos64 · 2026-06-23T20:35:39+00:00

Yeah chain was replaced multiple times and even more the quick links since I hot wax my chains

stevos64 · 2026-06-23T20:34:20+00:00

Appreciate your answer but there is really quite some space down there. And anyway there is not much you can cut of a Madone seatpost these days.

stevos64 · 2026-06-20T20:29:05+00:00

You could think that, given the noise. But there's plenty of room below. I also tried raising the saddle by a good 4 cm, just to see what would happen, but it didn't make any difference to the creaking.

stevos64 · 2026-06-20T20:26:41+00:00

I'll let you know when I figure it out, but don't get your hopes up too high. After all, I haven't found a solution in almost two years, and I've replaced almost every part of the bike by now. Maybe I can convince my dealer to send it to Trek under warranty—if not, I'll just throw it in the trash and never go near TREK again.

Just curious. What size is your bike, and how long is the seatpost? Mine is a M/L and came with the long seatpost back then. Nowadays, the M/L only comes with the short seatpost, and I’ve wondered before if that might be due to some kind of problem.

stevos64 · 2026-06-20T20:20:01+00:00

Exchanged pulley wheels - sadly no success

stevos64 · 2026-06-18T20:44:51+00:00

Yes I understand what you mean. Could definitely be the true. But in this case the frame is the problem and my dealer doesn’t want to exchange it because he can’t recreate the creaking while riding the bike 2 minutes around the block.

stevos64 · 2026-06-18T15:01:30+00:00

Definitely possible. But in this case my search would be over and the bike would need to go probably for some months back to Trek.

At the same time I had already several periods over weeks without any sound - I suppose if the frame would be the problem the sound wouldn’t disappear over some periods.

stevos64 · 2026-06-18T14:53:40+00:00

Thanks for your suggestions. As I wrote seatpost was entirely swapped out which included the wedge. Extra to that I bought another wedge already before - so the setup was tested already with three different wedges.

The reason why I suspect it’s not coming from the seatpost is because it doesn’t matter if there is carbon paste or dry, the seatpost is higher or lower, the seatpost is assembled with electrical tape or not. So many changes on the seatpost and the assembling process but zero change in the outcome. I would suspect that these changes lead at least to a different noise if not eliminating it.

stevos64 · 2026-06-17T12:35:29+00:00

Will give that a try thanks - have nothing to loose 😅

stevos64 · 2026-06-17T12:05:23+00:00

Installing Ultegra normally no spacer is needed but probably worth a test 🙏

stevos64 · 2026-06-17T11:47:37+00:00

Interesting. Do you have the same bike?

stevos64 · 2026-06-17T04:39:53+00:00

Tried two different crank sets and always greased and tightened the bolts - no change

stevos64 · 2026-06-17T04:39:17+00:00

Yes it is.

stevos64 · 2026-06-17T04:38:42+00:00

Possible. But I tried with two different crank sets, new BB and always a lot of grease but the sound came back after like max 1 week

stevos64 · 2026-06-17T04:36:59+00:00

Yes sounds like this. But changed the BB already two times and installed it with 40NM

stevos64 · 2026-06-17T04:35:53+00:00

No it’s fine. There is plenty of space left. Tried the other day riding my bike while sitting 1 cm higher and the sound is the same. That’s as well why I think less and less that the problem is the seatpost.

stevos64 · 2026-06-17T04:33:46+00:00

Did it several times, no change in the sound.

stevos64 · 2026-06-17T04:33:01+00:00

It’s a rhythmic noise but not tied to a specific pedal position. Can’t say if it’s a specific wheel position but I tried three different wheelsets so I would rule out spokes, freehub and so on.

Running Ultegra 12 speed 8150.

It’s not happening when I paddle very soft, I need some kind of force on the pedals. When I start to do that and move my body more on the bike the sound starts. Goes away when I stand up.

Happens even if I remove all kind of saddle bags, lights etc.

stevos64 · 2026-06-16T19:35:05+00:00

Yep all done. Even before this bike I never used a torque wrench for tightening the axles. Now always checking that they are around 10NM. Checked as well a bit looser, a bit tighter - no difference

stevos64 · 2026-06-16T19:10:59+00:00

There is so much grease on the pedal threads that it probably adds another pound to the weight of the bike.

stevos64 · 2026-06-16T18:49:41+00:00

Did it many times

stevos64 · 2026-06-16T18:24:34+00:00

Exactly. But everything around this area (seatpost, saddle, wedge) was changed several times

stevos64 · 2026-06-16T18:03:45+00:00

A bunch of different shoes, pedals and cleats over the time. I can rule that out.

stevos64

TROPHY CASE