2020 Civante Creaks like a rocking chair

[Drwhitenack]

I bought my Civante November 2020 and 6 months latter I have 1200 miles. I’m under 150 lbs and carry about 10 lbs of stuff on my daily commute to work. I average 18 mph per ride and have a daily cumulative climb of about 1000 feet. My bike has developed an unidentified creaking sound that correlates with the pressure / power applied to the drivetrain. When the battery power is off, creaking is minimal. When I add battery power and or climb a hill, the creaking becomes loud. It seems to be coming from the area of the motor. The sound is similar to the sound of seat tube or handle bars that are not tight in their mounts.
Any solutions or similar experiences would be appreciated.

 

[EMGX]

The pw-se motor in my gravel bike developed a creak when the mounting bolts needed to be re-torqued, it was on a bike without a warranty so I did it myself. Yamaha has a great warranty backed by a excellent company (including all components unlike some other premium brands). Why not just take it to the bike shop you bought it from and have them figure it out and fix it?

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Same story here. Tightening the motor bolts fixed it. For a few days it sounded like I was killing cats wheeling it in and out of the garage.

 

[PedalUma]

Retorqueing the motor mounts, chainring and crank arms is normal with break in. The local bike shop will know exactly what to do.
When I build eBikes I uses greased shims inside the bottom bracket shell and red thread lock on the fasteners, carefully using a tightening pattern to pull it all together to help prevent this. Here is one I just made and put on the saddle late yesterday to finish the job.

 

[Drwhitenack]

Same story here. Tightening the motor bolts fixed it. For a few days it sounded like I was killing cats wheeling it in and out of the garage.

Thanks for your reply. A special thanks also for your April post on alternative mount strategy for the Civante controller and cell phone

 

[Drwhitenack]

The pw-se motor in my gravel bike developed a creak when the mounting bolts needed to be re-torqued, it was on a bike without a warranty so I did it myself. Yamaha has a great warranty backed by a excellent company (including all components unlike some other premium brands). Why not just take it to the bike shop you bought it from and have them figure it out and fix it?

Sounds like the right diagnosis and solution. Thanks

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Re the mounting stuff, you’re quite welcome! That’s all working out very well. I very much like having the RideWithGPS stuff out front there on the phone. The turn by turn stuff particularly is far better than any bike computer I know of… the animations flow without any jerkiness and the voice prompts work very well. I really, really like that QuadLock mount, which I would not have found if it wasn’t for this outfit and the denizens herein.

 

[jabberwocky]

Drivetrain creaking is usually the bottom bracket/chainring bolts. On an ebike that’s also the motor mounts and everything in that area. Make sure it’s all properly tight. I know all my non-ebikes with threaded bottom brackets eventually creak, especially if ridden through water or in the rain. Usually solved by pulling the BB and cleaning everything and then assembling with fresh grease.

Ive also had drivetrain creaking come from pedals (pedal bearings or spindle threads at the crank arm) or cassette (loose lock ring). Sometimes what I would swear with compete certainty is the drivetrain ended up being something like the seat post. Sound travels through bike frames strangely.

 

[Oski1997]

I bought my Civante November 2020 and 6 months latter I have 1200 miles. I’m under 150 lbs and carry about 10 lbs of stuff on my daily commute to work. I average 18 mph per ride and have a daily cumulative climb of about 1000 feet. My bike has developed an unidentified creaking sound that correlates with the pressure / power applied to the drivetrain. When the battery power is off, creaking is minimal. When I add battery power and or climb a hill, the creaking becomes loud. It seems to be coming from the area of the motor. The sound is similar to the sound of seat tube or handle bars that are not tight in their mounts.
Any solutions or similar experiences would be appreciated.

Have you tried replacing the chain? After I replaced mine with Shimano’s ebike specific chain CN-E6090-10, the motor operated like a well tuned BMW, instead of a car that needs a tune-up (Lol). My chain needed to be replaced after just 1,000 miles (for preventative measures. I could’ve used it another 500 miles but causing unnecessary wear and tear on the sprockets - so my mechanic says. Chains are inexpensive so I don’t mind. My bike now feels GREAT.

I also have squeaking noises. But mine seem to be is coming from the bike headset spacers. My mechanic is going to look at it later this week (removing and cleaning the area mostly). Thank you for making this post. I’m sure it will be useful to many more Civante owners.

 

[Oski1997]

Same story here. Tightening the motor bolts fixed it. For a few days it sounded like I was killing cats wheeling it in and out of the garage.

Dave, I want to replace all of my bolts with titanium bolts. I stripped the bolts holding down the display. I’ve been told using titanium bolts will prevent further stripping (so easily). Do you know how Civante owners can find out the sizes of the hex bolts on our bike? The manual only tells us how many torques to use when tightening but fail to state the bolt size (many of them seem to be 2mm and 4mm hex bolts).

 

[Oski1997]

Re the mounting stuff, you’re quite welcome! That’s all working out very well. I very much like having the RideWithGPS stuff out front there on the phone. The turn by turn stuff particularly is far better than any bike computer I know of… the animations flow without any jerkiness and the voice prompts work very well. I really, really like that QuadLock mount, which I would not have found if it wasn’t for this outfit and the denizens herein.

Dave, I recently bought myself the Karoo 2 bike computer as an early birthday present to myself =) I wasn’t able to get Power, Cadence and Speed recordings on any iPhone apps because the Civante only allows us to broadcast either the Speed/Cadence OR Power output. Not all 3 at the same time. However, with my Karoo 2 (btw - it has the best display color, response time, processor speed and highest PPI out of all the bike computers available including Garmin) I am able to record all three. The Karoo 2 also records my heart rate data from my Apple Watch using the HeartCast app. You have a pretty sweet setup. Does RideWithGPS allow you to record all 3: power, cadence, speed at the same time? I’ve only used the free version.

Some other useful data on the Karoo 2 are: Distance to Next Turn, Remaining Distance to End of Ride and Upcoming Elevation with a graph (for when I’m about to make a steep climb… time for a quick snack before the climb… GULP =)

Compare Karoo 2 - Hammerhead

www.hammerhead.io

 

[Drwhitenack]

I bought my Civante November 2020 and 6 months latter I have 1200 miles. I’m under 150 lbs and carry about 10 lbs of stuff on my daily commute to work. I average 18 mph per ride and have a daily cumulative climb of about 1000 feet. My bike has developed an unidentified creaking sound that correlates with the pressure / power applied to the drivetrain. When the battery power is off, creaking is minimal. When I add battery power and or climb a hill, the creaking becomes loud. It seems to be coming from the area of the motor. The sound is similar to the sound of seat tube or handle bars that are not tight in their mounts.
Any solutions or similar experiences would be appreciated.

Problem solved.
Based upon feedback that the creeking sound was related to the area where the motor is mounted to the frame, I turned the bike upside down and sprayed some white lithium grease around the motor mounts. The next morning everything was quiet again. Thanks everyone.

 

[Drwhitenack]

Civante motor mounts- Would those of you who have a Yamaha Civante, take a peak behind the small crank at about the 11 o’clock position. I appear to have a threaded opening there that would receive a bolt, but there is none. What do you see on your Civante?

 

[Oski1997]

Civante motor mounts- Would those of you who have a Yamaha Civante, take a peak behind the small crank at about the 11 o’clock position. I appear to have a threaded opening there that would receive a bolt, but there is none. What do you see on your Civante?

I see it, it looks like a hex, flat, bolt.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

I see it too, there’s a bolt in mine as well

 

[Drwhitenack]

I see it, it looks like a hex, flat, bolt.

 

[Drwhitenack]

Thanks to Saratoga Dave and Oski for coming to my rescue. I bet the return of my creaking noise is related to the missing motor Mount bolt. I don’t think I’m equipped to remove the crank and do it myself, but a trip to my Yamaha shop may take my bike off the road. Yuck.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Mine had the creaking for a while early on. I tightened down the bolts I could get at and that took care of it for the most part. Every now and then it’ll still give me a little groan, but it‘s minor and seldom.

I’ve got 2300 miles on it since buying it last August and I’ve really liked it. I have a gravel ebike also,and it’s great to be able to grab whichever suits my mood on any given day. I think Yamaha did a really good job with this bike… it really doesn’t seem to have a lot of direct competition given it’s capabilities for the cost. At some point I will upgrade the shifting, most likely to 105, but once I learned to back off the pedals for that second when I shift, it became much more pleasant, especially in higher assist levels where it would clunk when that torque hit it.

Actually, if I could put a 1X SRAM setup on it, the thing would be ideal. But no hurry, and I enjoy it every time I take it out.

 

[ruffruff]

Creaking in the PW-se is a common problem. I had a BH mountain bike that did it right out of the box.
People saying it's the motor mount bolts are correct. Keep them torqued to spec.
I also was getting a slight clicking noise and it was where the plastic shields fit together.

 

[Oski1997]

Thanks to Saratoga Dave and Oski for coming to my rescue. I bet the return of my creaking noise is related to the missing motor Mount bolt. I don’t think I’m equipped to remove the crank and do it myself, but a trip to my Yamaha shop may take my bike off the road. Yuck.

Did yiu ever get this figured out?