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My backpack creaks

Bacon

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
April 2013
Hello,

This Easter I will start my camino, now I am practising long walks. I am really enjoying this, but in the silence of the forest I can hear my backpack, an Osprey Atmos 50.

The sound is very irritating to me. Every step I hear it behind me, probably coming somewhere from where the frame is covered by the cloth. Squeak, creak, squeak.

I have covered the aluminium frame (where you can come when you open the zipper inside the backpack) with rubber tape and I have sprayed teflon spray. I suspected the friction was causing the sound. No luck...

So, does anyone recognize this problem? I would be really gratefull with any advice!

Thanks,

Fabian
 
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Our packs can creak if they are off-centre loaded. Checking how it is packed might help. Terry also put a piece of foam rubber between the frame and the pack where the friction point was. That cured it! You might need a walking companion to identify exactly where the creak is situated.

As you say - very annoying
 
It's not unusual. I have a couple of packs that do this, and have done so for years. I think any framed pack will be at risk because there are two surfaces that can move relative to each other.

I have never found it that annoying. I might check the harness when I stop to check to see if an adjustment has altered, but otherwise don't let the sound worry me.

Regards
 
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I almost bought an Exos 34 but the salesperson warned me that this model had a lot of returns due to the creaking. I ended up buying a Stratos 34 and so far no noise problems!

The creaking seems to be a known issue for some Osprey ventilated models so I think it might be somehow associated with their frame design. Have you contacted Osprey customer service? If they cannot fix it, they should replace the pack under their legendary guarantee.

As someone else suggested, get another person to walk alongside you to identify exactly which component is causing the noise. I would be careful how you use the Teflon spray as these often use hydrocarbon solvents that may damage the pack fabric. A safer alternative is good old talcum powder applied with a brush. I have also read of using plastic drinking straws to 'sheath' the frame rods where they rub against the fabric.

I hope you solve your problem as I know how annoying that creaking sound can be mile after mile!
 
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Bacon said:
Thank you all for responding.

I have succeeded in locating the mouse: it was in the frame, where the top-part is connected to the lower part. A thin pin connects the two parts and a little grease resolved my issue.
Click to expand...

If it was only so easy to do the same thing for our aging bodies

:lol:
 
I took my trusty Aura out to prepare us both for the walk in September, and she creaks something awful! I can't remember her ever doing that in the six weeks I walked in 2012, and I'd only given her a gentle bath in the tub to rinse off dust and sweat and let her dry properly before I put her away. But the creak made me seriously think that I had to bring another bag because it was so annoying - I would never be able to enjoy the silence in the woods with that thing on my back!

So I contacted Osprey, in the interest of getting an answer for myself and possibly others who have the same problem. The answer I got was that This sound is sometimes caused by the material (under tension) moving against the frame. In order to resolve it I would advise that you spray the corners and sides of the frame (through the fabric) with silicone spray. Once it has been sprayed you should find that the creaking noise stops. So there we have it. I will get some silicon spray and let you know whether it works.
 

Learn to love that sound Fabian. With luck, like me, you will find someone who has the same problem and it will become the sound of friendship.

Buen Camino
 
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Train on the 4-day Catalina Camino
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Oh, well, I have now been outside spraying my poor creaking Aura. All four corners, along the frame, even twisted it this way and that and sprayed into the back system for the horizontal struts to get some. Along the top and along the bottom. And she still creaks. It wasn't just a quick dusting either, I did spray it enough to soak the material. So I guess that didn't help. I leave for Spain on the 15th of September and only have six weeks to get into roadworthy shape and get used to carrying the weight on my back. Asked the Osprey guy if he had any other suggestions and am waiting for a reply.

Update: She will now be going to pack hospital for them to have a look at her. Apparently silicone spray should work, so there could be something wrong with the frame. Hope she gets well soon so I can go training! (Looks like the Gregory Jade I got for free and tried but failed to sell was a gift from the Camino?)
 
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your pack is not creaking, its singing to you! a quiet rucksack is an unhappy rucksack! i know when mine fits and we are in union that creak puts a smile on my face!

yours aye,

the malingerer.
 
This news just in: The lovely man at Osprey's customer service (or was it Warranty dept?) has tried this that and the other without being able to find or fix the creak, and admits that neither he nor his colleagues have ever heard a more loudly creaking pack ... So I am getting a replacement sent out. He even pointed out that I have forgotten to remove one of the stitched-on patches and offered to unpick it and stick it with the new pack! Applause and praise from me. Now I'm just hoping it will be here this week so I can pack a bit! Four weeks to go!
 
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hahaha - alas, the music of the trail. can't speak to this issue as the pack's not in front of me but i did have a similar experience once. out of the blue! loud knocking from deep inside my pack! ?? unpacked, repacked, began walking... knock knock knock... over and over again. i was just about to get an exorcism for poltergeist when i realized it was the bar of soap, in the exact upright position, knocking like a bell hammer in its little plastic box. i realize this is useless to you, but i thought it funny
 
Jimtim's "music of the trail" comment reminds me of how quiet the Camino Frances was in February, in Navarra and La Rioja, when fields were dormant and cities and towns distant. I walked for hours that day without hearing a sound not made by me, another animal or bird, or the wind -- until the path became bordered on one side by a metal guard rail -- when I heard an unnatural "ping ... ping". The sound was the morning sun warming the metal, causing it to expand against its fasteners ...
 
jimtim, I imagined a small pilgrim poltergeist then ... I have had the same thing happen to me with the shampoo bar getting a bit smaller day by day and rattling away in there - allergic to rattling or other annoying sounds I have learned to take a strip of bubblewrap. Wrap it around the bar once to begin with, then fold it over after a bit, then fold it again ... anything to stop the noise!
 
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yes! haha
and the sound of the shorn hay as dew evaporates causing the stalks to shift and crackle! i, personally and with great relish, will never take a step on the camino with ear-phones -
 
Personally, its the click click of those walking sticks that does my head in. Why anyone uses them apart from people with problems I don't know but if they do then they should rubber tip them!
 
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backpack shoulder-straps squeaking,

the joyful song of all a man owns

singing right behind his ears
 
Here's an update on an Osprey squeaking pack. I have a 2017 Osprey Aether 70 AG. The pack fabric is under tremendous tension over the frame and in some packs, causes squeaking. I think the Atmos and others have also has this issue. The company is investigating whether a an electrostatically applied powder coating on the metal frame will solve the problem. I can vouch for the fact that it is not the answer. The company sent me a powder coated frame and I tried it during a 15 mile overnight backpacking trip. With some struggle, I switched out the frames on my pack and even sprinkled some dry white powder lubricant on the inside corners of te pack fabric before the final installation. The squeak started again after 1/2 mile. It seems to be a lower pitch squeak than before and it is not constant, but it happens frequently enough to be really irritating, especially when solo hiking.
A special tape company sent me some samples of a fiberglass teflon tape which, if applied over the notorious parts of the frame (corners), seems as though may solve the noisy rubbing of the fabric against the frame.
But what I think will really work long term, would be a small tubular section of Delrin plastic over the corners of the frame. This way the tubular sleeves would slide over the metal, back and forth, as it needs to and the pack fabric won't rub against the frame itself (at least in the crucial corner areas).
Let me know if this seems like a reasonable solution. Thanks!
 
Bacon said:
... but in the silence of the forest I can hear my backpack, an Osprey Atmos 50.

The sound is very irritating to me. Every step I hear it behind me, probably coming somewhere from where the frame is covered by the cloth. Squeak, creak, squeak.
Click to expand...

My Osprey Stratos 36 does the same thing, and it's not a matter of being loaded unevenly. Could it be something peculiar to the Osprey load-bearing system? Enquiring minds, and all that.
 
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Glenn Rowe said:
My Osprey Stratos 36 does the same thing, and it's not a matter of being loaded unevenly. Could it be something peculiar to the Osprey load-bearing system? Enquiring minds, and all that.
Click to expand...

It's the metal frame. The frame runs around the perimeter of the back of the pack. The solid, but flexible, round metal rod frame is about the diameter of a computer network cable (CAT5). From what I can tell the pack fabric on the Stratos 36, as it is on the Aether and Atmos, is under lots of tension around the frame, especially around the corners. This tension of the fabric against the metal frame causes friction and lots of times, a squeak. As much as I like Osprey, I don't understand why this hasn't been resolved yet, but I know they're working on it. At least on the Aether, it is very difficult to remove and replace the frame due the overlapping of the fabric on the frame and the amount of tension the fabric is under. I found it worse than changing a new bicycle tire. From what I can see on the Osprey website, the Stratos doesn't appear to be much different.
Sooo... I haven't tackled mine since the switch to the powder coated frame, but I am anxious to to try out the two methods I described above.

I'm also wondering if a drier climate would make a difference.
It'd be interesting to know if the squeaking would occur while hiking with the pack in let's say, Sedona, AZ as opposed to humid Arkansas, like where I was when the squeaking happened. If humidity does play a role, I hope that the people at Osprey's headquarters in Cortez, CO (where it's also dry) don't have a skewed experience. Then again, the packs are made in Vietnam, so I hope they also get tested there- in that high humid climate.

I'll post back if I find a solution.
 
drjbg said:
I'm also wondering if a drier climate would make a difference.
It'd be interesting to know if the squeaking would occur while hiking with the pack in let's say, Sedona, AZ as opposed to humid Arkansas, like where I was when the squeaking happened.
Click to expand...

I'm in Southern California, which is pretty dry. I have carried it here, and in Arizona and Utah. No difference in the squeak.

Hope this helps.
 
Sorry for joining in this old conversation, although I've never walked the caminodesantiago trail.
I thought I might share my experience with a noisy Osprey Stratos backpack and the final solution that resolved the problem.
I had a Osprey Stratos 34 backpack that would make a creaking sound with every step. The heavier it was loaded, the louder and more annoying the sound. The sound is generated by the fabric rubbing against the top part of the internal metal frame. I tried a few things but nothing helped.

Fortunately Osprey replaced it under warranty.

It's obvious that Osprey had done something about this type of problem because on the replacement pack the metal frame is now covered with some kind of hard slippery paint or teflon coating. See the before and after photo of the two backpack frames.

The pack is now silent!
It seems the only way to deal with this problem properly is to coat the frame with something durable and slippery.

The photo is also here: Osprey Stratos frame noise
 
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WD40. The best cure for anything that squeaks, grinds or rubs. Pure fish oil, with a few added chemicals, of course.
I know quite a few people who use it on knees and ankles.
But then again I know one person who swears by bee stings for his arthritic pains.
I have an Exos from 2015, I think, and must be the lucky one, never heard a squeak. Maybe it isn't loud enough to get through the tinnitus.
I wonder if graphite dry lubricant spray would work as a temporary measure, non oily but friction reducing?
 
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€46,-
Same pack, same squeak/creak, I got used to it and missed it when it wasn’t there. But, maybe it’s just me. I wish you good luck on your scheduled departure and always, Buen Camino Fabian.
 
I have found that creaking can be decreased or eliminated by adjusting the straps as well, often we tend to cinch things up tight, which increases pressure.
Found that trick when I was in the Army, and worked perfectly with my Camino pack (a Gregory) I treated myself to prior CF.
Sadly, same doesn’t apply to the creaks, pops, whining and generalized weakness that is my body, not the gear.
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
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