Widespread Giant motor creaking problem - time for a recall?

[Ron from BC]

Well honestly I felt nothing as I hadn't noticed any symptoms and it's not something I would check during any minor maintenance like chain/drive train cleaning. I will now hahaha....

I've put >4K kms on the bike now which, as I've read, is likely time for a new chain. It had life left in it however if I left it too long that condition would have excess wear on the cassette and front derailleur. On that note, I've looked up the cost of these consumable parts like pads, cassette, chain and derailleur and the identical part or certainly compatible Shimano models are available on Amazon much cheaper. The replacement of these parts isn't rocket science with no end of YouTube how-to's even if you had to grab a couple of tools, again from Amazon.....like chain breaker etc, its still much cheaper. No, I don't work for or have shares in Amazon...haha.

On a side note Dave, I looked for year end sales at the Giant stores across Western Canada this past fall and was amazed that they were non existent, at least the deep discounts like the previous year. These things have really taken off and locally the shops have trouble keeping many of the models in stock. The sales here were $100 off as opposed to $1K off.

How's the Fathom?

 

[DaveMatthews]

Well honestly I felt nothing as I hadn't noticed any symptoms and it's not something I would check during any minor maintenance like chain/drive train cleaning. I will now hahaha....

I've put >4K kms on the bike now which, as I've read, is likely time for a new chain. It had life left in it however if I left it too long that condition would have excess wear on the cassette and front derailleur. On that note, I've looked up the cost of these consumable parts like pads, cassette, chain and derailleur and the identical part or certainly compatible Shimano models are available on Amazon much cheaper. The replacement of these parts isn't rocket science with no end of YouTube how-to's even if you had to grab a couple of tools, again from Amazon.....like chain breaker etc, its still much cheaper. No, I don't work for or have shares in Amazon...haha.

On a side note Dave, I looked for year end sales at the Giant stores across Western Canada this past fall and was amazed that they were non existent, at least the deep discounts like the previous year. These things have really taken off and locally the shops have trouble keeping many of the models in stock. The sales here were $100 off as opposed to $1K off.

How's the Fathom?

Good to know! I'll keep an eye on mine.
I've only put about 1600kms on mine (stupid work), so I have a ways to go yet.
Fathom has been flawless so far, really enjoying it. Might get some Schwalbe Hurricane tires this year, not sure. They look great for hybrid road/trail use. The ones that came stock don't seem to want to wear out too fast though.

 

[Edventure]

I'm riding a 2020 Giant Fathom E+3, with a Yamaha SyncDrive Sport motor. After only maybe 50 miles of riding I started hearing the dreaded creaking on each pedal stroke (under moderate to high pedal torque). The Giant dealer shop mechanic suggested greasing and tightening the pedals - ha. I pulled the 3 engine mount bolts as suggested in this thread and applied a healthy amount of molygrease and tightened to 22 ftlbs. Creak gone - thank you Ukeedog (& others)! BTW, on my motor the 3 mounting bolts are all easily accessed and removed without having to take off any surrounding casing.

 

[Edventure]

Good to know! I'll keep an eye on mine.
I've only put about 1600kms on mine (stupid work), so I have a ways to go yet.
Fathom has been flawless so far, really enjoying it. Might get some Schwalbe Hurricane tires this year, not sure. They look great for hybrid road/trail use. The ones that came stock don't seem to want to wear out too fast though.

I removed my stock knobbys and replaced them with the Hurricanes. Bike rides much more smoothly, a bit faster, and much more quietly on the road. I've had it on a few trails and am surprised that I can climb and descend moderate slopes. Wouldn't want to go anything steeper though. I LOVE these tires.

 

[DEMBONES]

My Quick E+ is on it's SECOND motor (under warranty) and the noise is starting again with less than 500miles. This will be my last Giant bike.

 

[Edventure]

My Quick E+ is on it's SECOND motor (under warranty) and the noise is starting again with less than 500miles. This will be my last Giant bike.

What noise - Grinding or creaking? What did the shop indicate is the issue?

 

[DEMBONES]

What noise - Grinding or creaking? What did the shop indicate is the issue?

Pretty much identical to the OP.

LBS thinks bad batch of motors from Yamaha. It continues to creak even with new motor. Giant told them to put shims between the motor and frame. The shop just tried that and it didn't solve the problem.

 

[DaveMatthews]

I removed my stock knobbys and replaced them with the Hurricanes. Bike rides much more smoothly, a bit faster, and much more quietly on the road. I've had it on a few trails and am surprised that I can climb and descend moderate slopes. Wouldn't want to go anything steeper though. I LOVE these tires.

Good to know, thanks for the feedback!

 

[Kiwi_Giant]

I'm riding a 2020 Giant Fathom E+3, with a Yamaha SyncDrive Sport motor. After only maybe 50 miles of riding I started hearing the dreaded creaking on each pedal stroke (under moderate to high pedal torque). The Giant dealer shop mechanic suggested greasing and tightening the pedals - ha. I pulled the 3 engine mount bolts as suggested in this thread and applied a healthy amount of molygrease and tightened to 22 ftlbs. Creak gone - thank you Ukeedog (& others)! BTW, on my motor the 3 mounting bolts are all easily accessed and removed without having to take off any surrounding casing.

I too own a 2020 Giant Fathom E+3 with 500 kms on the clock, and like you had started to hear a creaking sound under load. I removed each engine mount bolt individually and spayed each hole lightly with LPS3 (corrosion prevention) and lubed and reassembled each bolt with a smear of lithium based grease. I had a similar noise on my Specialized Crosstrail some years back which turned out to be the crank which I replaced and also I had a squeaky seat on my BMC road bike which I solved with some silicone spray, just in case I used some of the same on the Fathom's seat mounts.

Good news is that yesterday I had a completely quiet ride, just the wind and the tyre and motor hum. Great fix!

I'm almost sure that it was the motor mounts and as you say they are easily accessible, a T30 TorX bit is the only tool required as the nylock nut is captured in the engine casing.

 

[Hedgemonkey]

Had this issue with my 2017 QuickE. It went back after about 3months and the guy's regreased the mounting bolts. A year since and now the creaking has seriously returned, it seems fine when I start out but after an hour it starts creaking, tho I've noticed that if you turn the motor off and pedal underload it doesn't do it, I have now regreased all the mounting bolts, another thing I've noticed is it hasn't been out in the wet for awhile, since the creaking restarted. Will update after another test ride now....

 

[gorse]

Creaks don't typically come from inside motors, but mounting bolts, cranks, seatposts, seat rails, and headsets are common culprits.

 

[Ron from BC]

Creaks don't typically come from inside motors, but mounting bolts, cranks, seatposts, seat rails, and headsets are common culprits.

When my 'motor area' creaked it needed the factory shims. The problem presented in the cranks being loose which was a result of the motor mounting bolts. Giant acknowledged it was indeed the motor mounting bolts.

 

[Hedgemonkey]

Creaks don't typically come from inside motors, but mounting bolts, cranks, seatposts, seat rails, and headsets are common culprits.

It was a process of elimination, all the above were stripped cleaned and relubed/greased, but these creaks are definitely from BB/ motor mounts area, I have a high end Carbon Roadie that is an absolute nightmare for creaks, so much so it just hangs on the wall. So 15 miles of steep short climbs in all 3 modes this morning and so far no squeeks/creaks, fingers crossed. I've been riding, racing, building, repairing and destroying bikes of all descriptions for nigh on 45 years and still its the elusive creaks and squeeks that drives me nuts

 

[TomD]

I have 2 BH Rebel Lite bikes with Yamaha PW motor and both have minor issues with creaking. When I really crank on the pedals I can hear creaking. I lubed and tightened up the bolts which did help (more the tightening, lube didn't seem to make any real difference). I'm not sure if he motor bolts are same design as on the Giant version of the motor but on mine the bolts are full length threaded screws and there is play (makes sense to leave some play, otherwise you would have to jimmy the bolts to get them out). I almost think shimming them with a wrap of electrical tape in a couple strategic spots might work better than grease. The creaking isn't annoying enough to worry about at this point though.

 

[Hedgemonkey]

Had this issue with my 2017 QuickE. It went back after about 3months and the guy's regreased the mounting bolts. A year since and now the creaking has seriously returned, it seems fine when I start out but after an hour it starts creaking, tho I've noticed that if you turn the motor off and pedal underload it doesn't do it, I have now regreased all the mounting bolts, another thing I've noticed is it hasn't been out in the wet for awhile, since the creaking restarted. Will update after another test ride now....

Sorted... after some gentle 50km rides no creaking so I went out on the hilliest steepest local ride that I know and did some serious out of the saddle in normal mode honking and still no creaking..

 

[new_ebiker]

I took a bolt out one at a time. I sprayed lithium grease into the bolt hole while covering the other end with a finger so most of the grease stayed in the hole. I also have some thicker molybdenum paste used for motorcycle drive splines which is quite thick. I pasted that onto the entire bolt including washer and lock washer and threads then put all back together. Very quiet now . How long will it last ? Have to wait and see. It seem to come from the back two bolts, which are also the easiest to get out. The front bolt I had to take out the battery and loosen 4 screws at its base and then remove 3 screws for the side plate to get to the 3rd bolt. It’s for sure the cause of the creaks. As I said in a post above that there must some some minor movement that can’t be fixed by tightening and the grease allows the parts that creak to move without noise. If this doesn’t fix it then I’d consider it a manufactures defect and they should fix it.

for those two 30torx bolts, was it loose when you discover the creak? I have a Giant Explore e3 2019 model. I checked the 3 bolts, and they are super tight (i would have to use electric screw driver to unscrew it), but it makes the creaking sounds whenever i pedal using a lot of torque (especially acceleration at a higher gear)

 

[Amazer98]

By the way – not this that this will necessarily solve the problems of anybody on this thread – but I had a creaking problem for a while on my ebike, which is not a Giant.

I was convinced that the creaking was coming from the chain ring area, but it turned out that my saddle just need to be tightened up a bit on the seatpost.

I was really amazed that it was the saddle creaking— it sure sounded like the source was down below!

 

[ruffruff]

I wonder if this is a Yamaha problem and not a Giant problem.
A couple of use guys have BH bikes with Yamaha motors and we are dealing with this noise as well.

I've tried everything and was working towards taking out the bolts and lubing them.
I went to the hardware store today and picked up new m8 nylock nuts.

I'm going to pull the bolts, clean and lube. Reinstall with grease, blue loctite and new nylock nuts.

 

[lucmorneau]

This is it. The problem come from those 3 nuts holding the motor. 2019 Explore. Grease them and it's gone.

 

[Karm]

Has anyone recorded the sound to share?