Check your BB's

[Cassie]

Last weekend, my chain dropped off due to some silly shift maneuvre....anyways, when I turned the crank I felt & heared this sort of grinding noise.

Almost like sandpaper moving over a surface.

 

Well, I thought - betetr inspect the BB (I did a bit of a clean & re-grease on the RH side previously, but never bothered witht eh LH side)

 

Well - well....when that jobbie came off and I unscrewed the BB...it looked almost totally dry! It did not turn smoothly like it should.

So i just took the plastic covering and lifted off the bearing cover as well....man o man...was that thing dirty!! Almost half the Sahara desert got washed out of there!! I cannot beleive that I could still have cycled with it - must have been very close to seizing.

 

So I washed it in parrafin till no more gunck camke out and applied grease liberally - forcing it inbetween the bearings, till it leaked out the other side....all this without removing the actual bearing from the cup.

 

It seemed to have worked well.

 

Now i'm in search of a replacement pair so that I can just swap out a clean bearing-cup and clean the old one at leisure.

 

Bottom line is - keep a check on those BB's!! I never thought they can get THAT dirty in such a short space of time...

[Face Plant]

very true Cassie

 

i have destroyed a bb in one very wet and muddy race so to do routine maintenence on it is a very good idea

[Dexter-morgan]

I checked my road bike's BB just the other day, it takes STD. 6002 bearings with intergrated seal, should cost you about R20 each from your nearest bearing man shop.

[Rydogg]

On a semi side note, I remove my BB caps the other day and there was a lot of water in the "hollowtube", despite my bike standing for 3 weeks. Turns out that water gets into my seat tube, makes its way down and ends up in the BB, with nowhere to go (coz its sealed).

 

It turns out that water degrades grease very well!!! (Unless you use marine grease

[AndreZA]

On a semi side note, I remove my BB caps the other day and there was a lot of water in the "hollowtube", despite my bike standing for 3 weeks. Turns out that water gets into my seat tube, makes its way down and ends up in the BB, with nowhere to go (coz its sealed).

 

It turns out that water degrades grease very well!!! (Unless you use marine grease

 

Drill a 5mm hole in the bottom of the BB shell. Just be warned, you will void your warrantee.

[ichnusa]

also drill a little hole (6mm) in the bottom of your BB shell to allow the water, that will inevitably collect there, to drain

[ichnusa]

HAHA! snap!

[Hairy]

I have seen somewhere that you can buy just the LH side Shimano external bearing and cup. It retailed at about R70.00.

[Rydogg]

Already done , but I would never actually recommend that to anyone I didn't know.

[Rydogg]

I have seen somewhere that you can buy just the LH side Shimano external bearing and cup. It retailed at about R70.00.

 

Sho, that would be cool, but I thought they were about R500 a set. Maybe they had a spare left side one lying around...

[Stretch]

HAHA! snap!

almost - although it seems there is a bit of contention about the size of the hole - you are both wrong - it should be 4.5763mm

Edited May 13, 2011 by Stretch

[Shift]

Warrantee!? Sorry for going off topic, but does bikes come with a warrentee?

 

I have bought 2 bikes from a well known bike shop, and was never informed of any warrentees...

[Thug]

That's why I like my Phil Wood BB. Reports of up to 50 000 miles without needing to be re-greased.

[MrJacques]

It will be a warranty on the frame usually. And by drilling a hole in it you will void it. E.g. Giant give a lifetime warranty on the frame for the original owner. So if you crack it, they replace it. Terms and conditions apply of course.

[andydude]

It will be a warranty on the frame usually. And by drilling a hole in it you will void it. E.g. Giant give a lifetime warranty on the frame for the original owner. So if you crack it, they replace it. Terms and conditions apply of course.

 

They won't replace it if you fall and crack it. The warrantee is only for a manufacturing fault. That is how I understand it.

[Brian Fantana]

That's why I like my Phil Wood BB. Reports of up to 50 000 miles without needing to be re-greased.

Square Taper?

I see many people use phil wood bb's with White Industries(ST) & Middleburn(ST & ISIS) cranksets.

Middleburn do have their new x-type crank available from crc. It runs with shimano hollowtech 2 bb.