• This topic has 45 replies, 27 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by DezB.
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  • BB30 experiences?
  • DezB
    Free Member

    So this bike I’ve got has a FSA BB30.
    I’ve done probably 100-150miles on the bike and last couple of rides, under hard pedaling there’s a “crack” noise… can’t find anything else obvious it could be, so could the BB30 be the problem already?
    Haven’t tried to remove it to check, are they easy enough to remove?
    thanks

    rOcKeTdOg
    Full Member

    Same thing happening on my OH’s road bike, you need 2 separate tools to remove/ refit one, much like a headset and the tools ain’t cheap. I found the crank works loose too somehow, re tightening stops the noise for a while. Even deore level HTII is amazingly better imho, whoever thought up these BB30 etc needs some of Ton’s fist pie

    DezB
    Free Member

    I’ll give tightening a go then – cheers for that.
    I couldn’t find tools on Park’s site, so presumed they were easy. (ie. one allen key!)
    Looks like you need a bearing press type-thing.

    [edit] – I was thinking more of getting the cranks off – thats the easy bit, isn’t it?

    DezB
    Free Member

    No-one gonna say “can’t be your BB30, they’re fab!”?

    tomatoevousparlour
    Free Member

    Mine require regular stripping and cleaning to keep them from creaking,looking into a praxis conversion kit to go back to HT2

    coatesy
    Free Member

    Most of the BB30 equipped bikes we get in for repair seem to have this click, CSG are now recommending knocking out the bearings, and refitting them using a bearing retaining compound.

    fasthaggis
    Full Member

    No-one gonna say “can’t be your BB30, they’re fab!”?

    I would doubt it matey.

    Full Speed Stop Ahead 🙁

    DezB
    Free Member

    Interesting… back to the shop with it then.
    cheers for info.

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    Dez, from my recent excursions in the bike trade, people I’ve talked to don’t regard them too highly, it has to be said.
    As RD says, they need certain tools to fit as well. Personally I wouldn’t buy on going on what I’ve heard in the last couple of months.

    DezB
    Free Member

    I tried to avoid it – but the bike I wanted.. well, you know.

    So maybe – http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/BBSRBB30GXP/sram_bb30_to_bsa_adaptor_kit

    peteimpreza
    Full Member

    “No-one gonna say “can’t be your BB30, they’re fab!”?”

    OK, I will then.

    The one in my road bike has been fine for over 6 years. Spinning freely on the original bearings.

    Waderider
    Free Member

    And the “Not cycling very far” award goes to peteimpreza, for six years of intensive staring at his road bike.

    Kuco
    Full Member

    My Cannondale kept creaking, took it back several times to the shop. It was fine for a few days then creak again so they replaced the bearings and its been okay so far.

    LLOYDSTEVENS
    Free Member

    Best tip with BB30 is to not buy cheap bearings off ebay, especially not chrome ones they last 5 mins. Get some good quality SKF (or Similar) stainless steel Bearings. As for creaking and improving the life of the bearings make sure to smear the inner face of the bearing with a good quality grease, especially if you do not have a fully enclosed carbon BB shell. The bearings in my Carbon Scalpel typically last around 6-9 months of racing.

    orangeboy
    Free Member

    The Spesh website recommends Useing a glue like substance to stick the cups into some on there bike to avoid creaking.

    But in my mtb I’ve had a proxis work BB and its been fine so far

    Maybe I’m thinking pf30

    DezB
    Free Member

    Waderider – Member
    And the “Not cycling very far” award goes to peteimpreza, for six years of intensive staring at his road bike.

    oh dear, another ‘lol’ moment 😆

    bowglie
    Full Member

    I’ve a couple of bikes with ’em. One bike is (touch wood) OK with no creaks or bearing noises, on the other bike the bearings lasted about 10 to 15 hours riding! The second bike now has an adapter and HT2 type BB.

    p.s. IME, the following is definately good advice

    Best tip with BB30 is to not buy cheap bearings off ebay, especially not chrome ones they last 5 mins. Get some good quality SKF (or Similar) stainless steel Bearings. As for creaking and improving the life of the bearings make sure to smear the inner face of the bearing with a good quality grease, especially if you do not have a fully enclosed carbon BB shell.

    julianwilson
    Free Member

    Thought I would resurrect this year-old thread rather than start a new one. BB30 virgin here. I have a 400-mile-old cannondale caadx with a bb30 that sounds like a tiny man with a tiny hammer is trying to break out of the bb area when the cranks turn, even with the chain off and spinning either crank arm (not the pedal) with a finger. Occasionally the noise stops and then starts a while later (like for the first half a mile of yesterday’s ride, where afterwards it became so loud that pedestrians were turning round to see what the noise was.) There is no play in the cranks and it does seem to still spin fine but I am conditioned to believe that noise is the precursor to proper failure. I don’t fancy seized bearings chewing up the bb shell 20 miles away from home.

    I stress that this is a 400-mile old bike bought brand new from a reputable cannondale dealer, that has been gently kept clean (“showery” non jet hosepipe just to get it wet, and brush to actually clean), has done maybe 20 of those 400 miles off road, 150 on wet-sh roads and 50 in the actual rain, (see strava is not just a training tool) and has for the last 200 of those miles sported a set of sks chromoplastics so is delightfully easy to keep clean.

    Bike is due it’s “service” at the shop now (so long since I bought a brand new bike but I am guessing that normally they would be looking at adjusting for cable stretch/housing compression, brake pad wear/clearances, play or binding in cassette/hubs/headset/bb and checking bolts still correctly torqued) -question is what should I expect the shop to do about the bb? Of course it is still under warranty and they are a big reputable shop with apparently excellent mechanics. If it was not under warranty I would be looking at bearings and re-packing with grease (my guess is they are dry if they are making that noise under no load whatsoever) but if that is just prolonging the life of already-on-their-way-out bearings is it reasonable to expect them to be replaced under warranty?

    thanks in advance for advice.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    Dez, from my recent excursions in the bike trade, people I’ve talked to don’t regard them too highly, it has to be said.

    Won’t have ’em in my shop – press-fit bottom brackets are a daft idea.

    Waderider
    Free Member

    I used to work in a high end road shop as a mechanic. Simple fact is BB30 is a flawed design because it cracks, creaks and generally groans. I suspect our wet and gritty roads don’t help.

    It is light and stiff though, look on the bright side. Fair play to C’dale for coming up with a new standard, but the industry really needs to man up and totally junk the standard.

    PF30 is better (for example), because the bearing sit in a plastic retainer. The bearing, frame and circlip metal to metal contact causes the problem I think.

    We tried everything to stop bikes returning, loctite, grease, clinical cleanliness. The only thing that seemed to work was never getting the bike wet and dirty, from new.

    Julianwilson – the shop should bend over backwards to fix your problem.

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    Creaking isn’t related to worn bearings.

    Tell the shop the problem, tell them your research shows you need them refitted properly, a decent shop will sort this.

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    bencooper – Member
    Dez, from my recent excursions in the bike trade, people I’ve talked to don’t regard them too highly, it has to be said.
    Won’t have ’em in my shop – press-fit bottom brackets are a daft idea

    Ant specific engineering reason there or just experience?

    2POC
    Full Member

    I’ve got two frames with bb30. Both creaked very early into their lives. I stripped, cleaned the bearings and shell. I then packed smeared every part with this stuff:

    http://road.cc/content/review/74612-motorex-bike-grease-2000

    18 months and many thousand miles later and both bikes have been fine.

    matlockmeat
    Free Member

    Threaded BB shell for the win. Don’t understand why they needed to develop another standard.

    Never had any problems with threaded BB shells and I’ve had some top end DH bikes. Always plenty stiff enough and easy to maintain. I won’t be going BB30 anytime soon.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    Ant specific engineering reason there or just experience?

    Threads like this 😉

    It just doesn’t seem clever to have press-fit bearings on something with such high cyclic loading. Headsets are different because the main loading is along the axis of the bearing, and industrial bearings are usually fine with press-fit because they’re usually high speed non-cyclic.

    Having a talking ape jumping on the end of a lever, hoping some loctite will hold the other end solid, just seems to be asking for trouble.

    And, from a Luddite point of view, there’s not much wrong with the threaded bottom brackets.

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    Interesting.

    Back in the day a number of frames had similar bbs – Fat Chance, Fisher – I don’t recall any similar issues, though not all were press fit.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    Yes, I know – and ironically I’m in the middle of building a tandem frame with an eccentric BB – they’re basically press-fit.

    I suppose it’s mostly me being a Luddite – and also wondering if saving a bit of weight is really worth making a whole new “standard” that isn’t compatible with anything else.

    It’s tricky making frames now – not so much the stuff I make, where threaded BBs, 1 1/8″ headsets and 135mm dropouts are standard – but if I was going to make a custom MTB frame, what should it be? Threaded, BB30, PF30 or whatever BB? 135x10mm, 135x12mm, 142x12mm dropouts, shadow or not? Tapered head tube?

    I know a touring frame I made 15 years ago is still being used, and is still compatible with modern components – will a MTB frame I make today still be compatible in 5 years?

    tortoisenothair
    Free Member

    I would think if you mention it strongly to them when you take first service they will strip it down and grease it for you (saving you the job and protecting your warrantee) it will also register with them that it may be a problem & if you need to go back with it in the future they will know you have had problems with it from the start.
    Although it may come back after a few rides anyway, I find a few creaks and groans from the bike can give it a bit of personality and take it from being a clinical collection of modern materials. I normally can’t hear much over my wheezing and coughing once I get going.
    Having spent hundreds of pound on these thing they should be right yes but there are degrees of right riding thought a wooded single track tough to man made surfaced bike park.
    Sorry if I have gone to fare of the plot ….. it’s this whole BB30 thing.

    mashiehood
    Free Member

    BB30 on my old flash 29er creaked like a ……
    PF30 on my scalpel 29er has been perfect.

    julianwilson
    Free Member

    I would think if you mention it strongly to them when you take first service they will strip it down and grease it for you (saving you the job and protecting your warrantee) it will also register with them that it may be a problem & if you need to go back with it in the future they will know you have had problems with it from the start.

    Dropped it in this morning. Shop lads (as opposed to mechanics/manager) looked rather suprised at the noise it made (I do know of quite a few other mates’ bikes with bb30 which are just fine after 2 years and plenty of mud) and they have put this on the sheet to be looked at.

    Although it may come back after a few rides anyway, I find a few creaks and groans from the bike can give it a bit of personality and take it from being a clinical collection of modern materials. I normally can’t hear much over my wheezing and coughing once I get going.

    My yeti asr is a bit noisy in a largely friendly and comforting way. Cleat creaks in pedal, old saddle with creaky rails etc, On the other hand having replaced a seriously old and rattly front mech, my very old work/pub/shops bike (which features such technical innovations as the renowned for creak bel-air, square taper cranks, cup and cone hubs and 3×8 alivio gears) is absolutely silent!

    On the other hand again (in know, I am to 3 hands now) this bb30 is loud with the chain off spinning the cranks with your pinky, never mind under load or on anything less tarmaccy and more wodsy/rooty. It is so loud riding that if it was that noise pedalling a full suspension mountain bike, you would be looking for a broken linkage or destroyed shock innards crunching itself to bits, not a bearing needing regreasing.

    benji
    Free Member

    Got a Cannondale SuperX, replaced the BB30 bearings twice now, it’s a simple easy job. First ones were the ones that came with the bike, not the best quality, put a cheapish set in, which has managed a season of cross, and just put a nice INA set in, and these seem the best so far.

    As for loading on bearings, as was discussed earlier on, a headset bearing is a totally different bearing from the ones in a bottom bracket, it’s all about the angle in which the load is to be taken in, hence quality headset presses come with thrust bearings.

    emanuel
    Free Member

    I think maybe a press fit bb would work better in a metal frame
    you can have an interference ft without braking the plastic carbon.

    benji
    Free Member

    Mine is a carbon frame, with an aluminium shell bonded in to accept the bearings and circlips.

    IanW
    Free Member

    For balance; my Bianchi came with a creaky BB30 from new, it was fixed by stripping them out greasing everything and refitting. After about 2000 miles it started again and on removal the drive side appeared worn so I replaced them with SKF which have been silent and smooth running since.

    Given a choice I would have them over HT2 which are a ridiculous design( in shimano form anyway). BB30 bearings are easy to get in and out, requiring only a hammer, makeshift drift and a modicum of care and are a standard size available anywhere.

    The cranks are also a better design with just the one large hex bolt.

    emanuel
    Free Member

    that fixes the pressfit problems, but you (can)get galvanic corrosion and the glue tends to (one day) come unglued.

    julianwilson
    Free Member

    Bike shop have just rung: replaced bearings with new stainless ones under warranty, and the bike has only been there about 4 hours! fwiw he said they recently they have had a few fsa bearings give up very early on (they are a biiiiiig shop though that shifts a lot of road bikes, so ‘a few’ might be out of quite a lot of good ones.

    Top service, I will name and not-shame-at-all Certini in Saltash for this rather excellent bikeshoppery. 😀

    Del
    Full Member

    They have a good rep for sure.
    The BB30 on my roadie started making a god-awful noise after about 6-7 ‘proper’ rides, so maybe 5-600 miles? Set out on one ride and there was a click maybe every couple of revolutions. by the end of the ride this had turned in to such a ‘clang’ that i was actually looking down to see if the crank arm was hitting the ( steel ) frame. took it all apart, prised the seals off, cleaned the bearings and spaffed a load of grease in there, and it’s been fine since. No hose-pipe employed at any time and this was in the summer.

    benji
    Free Member

    that fixes the pressfit problems, but you (can)get galvanic corrosion and the glue tends to (one day) come unglued.

    And that would happen whether there is a pressfit bottom bracket in there or a threaded item, your point was again?

    bencooper
    Free Member

    Threaded BBs don’t need glue.

    The real reason for pressfit BBs is carbon – carbon frames are harder to make with small threaded inserts, it’s easier to have a large non-threaded BB shell.

    eshershore
    Free Member

    best advice for BB30?

    don’t use “grease” its for lubricating bearing races, not fitting metal parts to metal parts 😉

    clean shell with iso alcohol

    apply good smear of shimano anti-seize around inside of shell where bearing contacts shell, including the metal circlip the bearings sit against

    fit quality bearings using press fit tools. more anti-seize on the inside diameter of the bearing where the metal crank axle contacts the bearing

    anti-seize on the outside faces of the bearing where the shields sit, before installing crank with torque wrench

    for PF30 or OSBB we bond the plastic cups into the frame using low strength epoxy adhesive.

    this is after using loctite bearing retainer compound around the inside of the plastic cups where the bearings sit, and pressing the bearings into the plastic cup using correct tools.

    Entire assembly then pressed into frame, before epoxy dries fit the crank (using shimano anti-seize between bearings and crank axle, seals) and set to torque, left overnight for epoxy to cure properly.

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