Decoy Creak Solved - Lower Link Pivot

[Johnny Casino]

Lots of threads on creaky Decoys and lots of different solutions but I didn't come across this one and thought I'd share.

My 2020 Pro Race had a mysterious creak from day one that sounded like it was from the headset but everything felt smooth and solid so I just ignored it. It seemed to only be an issue when climbing with the seat raised. In the past couple of weeks the creak increased in volume and consistency to the point I could no longer ignore it.

I decided to start at the headset and work back. When I got to the lower link pivot I discovered the distance washer (#6 in the parts fiche) was installed on the non-drive side. All of the fiche diagrams show it on the drive side. Fascinating. I cleaned and greased the hardware and reinstalled with the distance washer on the drive side. The creak is gone.

Hopefully someone finds this info useful if troubleshooting a similar issue.

YT Decoy Technical Info

 

[bertschb]

I don't have my Decoy yet but I really appreciate you sharing this information. Might come in handy later.

 

[ebnash]

Thanks. I just just found my "from day 1 creak" on my 2021 29 Pro. Front shock bolt was bone dry and the same document you have above, shows the bolt shank as a greased point.

I had a couple other pivot points apart in the process of isolating where the noise was coming from and found those to be almost dry, so when I have time, I'm tearing the frame down to grease everything on the chart.

The one abnormal item I found in my searching was that the main pivot had two seals (item #9) on the drive side. Not sure if they got greased and stuck together or what??? Not a big deal as I just left 1 out when I reassembled the pivot.

Nice to have the bike, whisper quiet...

 

[seamarsh]

Lots of threads on creaky Decoys and lots of different solutions but I didn't come across this one and thought I'd share.

My 2020 Pro Race had a mysterious creak from day one that sounded like it was from the headset but everything felt smooth and solid so I just ignored it. It seemed to only be an issue when climbing with the seat raised. In the past couple of weeks the creak increased in volume and consistency to the point I could no longer ignore it.

I decided to start at the headset and work back. When I got to the lower link pivot I discovered the distance washer (#6 in the parts fiche) was installed on the non-drive side. All of the fiche diagrams show it on the drive side. Fascinating. I cleaned and greased the hardware and reinstalled with the distance washer on the drive side. The creak is gone.

Hopefully someone finds this info useful if troubleshooting a similar issue.

YT Decoy Technical Info

Hey, just a shout out to you just found the same thing on my decoy!! called yt and they confirmed fiche is correct! interestingly the bearing was shot on that side that was lacking the spacer.. wonder how many went out assembled incorrectly like this.

 

[James Reyes NY]

I have a 2021 decoy 29 core 4 with a creak! where do i start?