A customer swore by using a zip tie to fix a creaky bottom bracket

This guy came into the shop last Tuesday saying he'd fixed a creak on his gravel bike by putting a small zip tie around the frame where the BB shell meets the down tube. I thought it was total nonsense, just masking a real problem. But he was so sure, I tried it on a noisy old beater we had in the stand. Tightened it down, spun the cranks, and the creak was totally gone. I've now done it on three bikes with press-fit BBs and it's worked every time. Has anyone else found a weird hack like this that actually holds up?

3 comments

3 Comments

evand652mo ago

Reminds me of how often a simple, cheap fix beats the fancy solution. My old car door rattled for years until I wedged a bit of folded cardboard in the gap, better than any dealer visit. Or how a dab of soap on a sticky window seal works when special lubricant fails. It feels like we overcomplicate things, looking for the "right" tool when the thing already on your workbench does the job.

lucas9722mo agoTop Commenter

Isn't it funny how we'll buy a specialty product when the free fix is right in the kitchen?

miles_jackson95d ago

My uncle was a huge "buy the right tool" guy and I totally bought into that mindset for years. He fixed everything with some expensive specialty socket or a special spray, and I thought that was just how it worked. Then my washing machine started shaking like crazy during the spin cycle and I was about to drop 40 bucks on some special vibration dampening pads. My neighbor just laughed, handed me a grocery bag, and showed me how to stuff it under one of the legs to level it out. That simple trick worked perfectly, the machine doesn't move an inch now, and it's been over a year. It honestly rattled my brain a bit, now I always try the dumbest, cheapest thing first before reaching for my wallet.