Levo Gen 2 CSU Creak & Warranty

[Wheelie_King]

I’m fairly sure my front end creaking is the well known, “CSU Creak” on my 18 month old Carbon Levo.

Two questions if you please:

1. The forks are now out of warranty but does the super duper @Specialized Rider Care cover me at all here?

2. If there’s no warranty coverage in the worst case scenario, does such creaking just get worse and worse until the fork is completely compromised, or is it repairable?

Thank you good eMTB folks!

 

[Wheelie_King]

@Zimmerframe “Wow” what? How I get a creaky CSU on the Fylde flat-lands ?

 

[Zimmerframe]

@Zimmerframe “Wow” what? How I get a creaky CSU on the Fylde flat-lands ?

You read my mind !! ... Maybe it's seized ??

 

[Norange]

Headset bearings OK?

 

[Wheelie_King]

Headset bearings OK?

Yes @Norange
Stripped cleaned and inspected today, all silky smooth, and put back together properly.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I'm going to say it ..... because it's amazing how often it is ....... seat tube ???

 

[Wheelie_King]

Ha ha I’d read that and thought “No way, not my respectable seat tube”
For you Zim I’ll check and if you’re right.... we’ll you’re right innit!?

 

[Wheelie_King]

Ok so I’ve removed, cleaned, reinserted the seat post with the correct carbon assembly goo and the creaking is still there ?

 

[Rusty]

Many of the FS bikes I hear creaking tend to be dry pivots.

 

[#lazy]

Seat tube creak test ; just stand up and ride then sit down , if creaks for both it ain’t the seat tube !
Fork csu test ; stand at right hand side of bike , hold front brake and lean to approx 90% , try to lift bike off the ground a few inches and drop on the front wheel. If you hear a loud creak it might be the csu !
you can also remove the fr wheel and twist the forks to check if they creak !

 

[Salespunk]

Did you grease cup before reinstalling the lower bearing or did you install it dry?

 

[Wheelie_King]

I used assembly grease on both upper and lower bearings.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Did you try @#lazy 's lazy test ?

Also try the holding the wheel between your knees and twising the bar to listen for it.

One of the old school solutions was to turn the bike upside down and dribble some gt85 (though I'd imagine just a ptfe lube would be better, with less degreaser in it) where the stanchions meet the crown. In theory the legs stanchions have de-bonded from the crown, so there's some tiny movement. Another option is to wheelie everywhere, then you shouldn't notice it.

A longer term fix seems to be similar in execution .. bike upside down (but with fork crown/stanchion interface perfectly level), dribble loctite 680 in - leave 24 hours I guess (though it has a 10 minute cure time) - and hope this re-bonds/fills the gap. Make sure you don't get it anywhere else and thoroughly clean afterwards !

FYI :

Loctite 680, Very High Strength Fast Cure Retaining Compound is a high strength, high viscosity room temperature curing adhesive used to join fitted cylindrical parts. It fixtures in 10 minutes and provides a shear strength of 4,000 psi. Capable of filling diametral gaps up to 0.015 in. (0.38 mm).

 

[Wheelie_King]

I did try the tests. It’s not the seat post.
I didn’t quite understand the tip it 90 degrees test. I lifted the back wheel into a super steep endo position and lifted and dropped the bike onto the folded under forks and couldn’t get it to do it.

Just fitted new front brake rotor and pads and ow the brakes are super strong I can reproduce under heavy braking nearly every time.

 

[Zimmerframe]

It’s. It the seat post.

 

[Wheelie_King]

Edited - not the seat post!

 

[Wheelie_King]

Going to take the forks out tonight and get them in a vice to test properly.

 

[cleoent]

FWIW my fork creak was my seat post. OP, I know you said you did the test and that's not it. I don't know how much help you'll get from warranty. :-/

Try reaching out to fox directly and see what they say.

 

[Wheelie_King]

So my workshop vice is more creaky than I ever realised so I haven’t been able to confirm the creak by this method.
Spoke to Fox who said they don’t endorse the loctite approach but do recommend applying some thin oil to try and quieten it down.
For reference if I wanted a new part from them it’d include the steerer, crown and legs and one unit and cost £215 for standard or £299 for Kashima.
So if I can’t quieten the creak, I’m now justified in a Kashima upgrade ?
Look out for my next post, “Is Kashima better than standard” ?

 

[Zimmerframe]

For reference if I wanted a new part from them it’d include the steerer, crown and legs and one unit and cost £215 for standard or £299 for Kashima.
So if I can’t quieten the creak, I’m now justified in a Kashima upgrade ?
Look out for my next post, “Is Kashima better than standard” ?

Lets see if you survive "Yes honey, that is a new 4 roll toilet roll holder and yes it did really cost £299 and no it doesn't look anything lke that creaky thing I took off my bike".

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

I found that I could replicate the creak by back brake on, front wheel up into 12/6 position above rear and bounce on the back wheel. (Fox 36).

It went back under warranty and was 'serviced'. Creak stopped for about 3 months then returned.

 

[Wheelie_King]

I'm trying to not focus on the creaking in order to forget about it but @Zimmerframe keeps tormenting me with Strava activity comments so I'm going to have to do something!
My bike shop mentioned that sometimes none OEM pads can shift in the calipers and be the creaking noise. I've never had that in years and years and many sets of pads across various bikes. Anybody else had the pads making noise in the calipers?

 

[Zimmerframe]

Are you riding over an old wooden floor ?

Take the battery out and try it (not riding over an old wooden floor, but try the bike to see if it creaks)

 

[Zimmerframe]

Did you ever fix this ????

I've just found a new fox creak and discovered that incredibly it can be caused by the steerer tube cap being too tight ?!?!?!?!? some weird creak reaction with the star nut when I did it up too tight. Loosened it and now I can't get it to creak ... ?!?! madness.

 

[Pdoz]

Did you ever fix this ????

I've just found a new fox creak and discovered that incredibly it can be caused by the steerer tube cap being too tight ?!?!?!?!? some weird creak reaction with the star nut when I did it up too tight. Loosened it and now I can't get it to creak ... ?!?! madness.

Take a really good look at your head tube, preferably with an xry machine to pick up those subtle carbon cracks before they become less subtle. Oh, and when the creak goes away stop riding.

Nah, just playing with your head. It's the seat tube

 

[fraatti]

Putting some grease here helped me.

 

[rodomotion]

my previous stumpy had the creak. specialized replaced it with another fork, that also developed the creak. then they changed the CSU, only to last 3 weeks and developing the creak too!!. finally contacted rockshox, told them the whole story and they upgraded my revelation to a Pike.