Just advertised and sold my Boardman CX bike on the classifieds. It was just over a year old but had done about 40 miles tops, all on road.

After agreeing to sell I went over the bike to make sure it was all in working order, only to find the bb had seized up. It hadn’t been ridden for 7 months, and the last time was in the alps by my mate up a hill in the rain…but even so…40 miles???? 6 rides old?

Its meand to be a cx bike for ffs…

Anyway arranged a discount with seller who is wisely going to fit an adapter and screw in BB, but I’m still a bit miffed. Are all BB30s as bad? Or did I just get a dud?

I’m sure most bearings that are used in the rain and then are left to sit for 7 months are going to be fairly unhappy.

Got wet then sat unused. Used to see external bbs do the same when they were more common.

yeah I did wonder that…but then again it didn’t affect any of the other bits! And i’ve left many a wet bike unridden for longer without any issue..how on earth do you dry out a bb? Its not as if you can lube it like a chain

but yeah..fair point..

🙂

Its pants basically. The bearings should be better sealed and the frame also should not allow water in. A bike will always get wet if you use it in the UK, so it should be built with components to suit.

Water runs down seattube and collects in BB, leaving bearings immersed in water – common problem with most bikes but the bearings pressed into the shell is the killer

simondbarnes – Member

I’m sure most bearings that are used in the rain and then are left to sit for 7 months are going to be fairly unhappy.

TBH we have 100+ bog standard electric motors that have no special sealing of bearings that have been running for over 20 years on and off each day sometimes sat for weeks at a time in damp/wet/driving rain conditions close to the sea and then baked in summer sun yet very few have failed due to bearings.

The big difference is most run at either 1400 or 2900rpm and are filled with grease accordingly, the same amount of grease is usually put in the bearings we use on our bikes where they spin at 100rpm or thereabouts.
Our sadly departed slightly sweary Scottish STW member Kaesae was right about the amount of grease required in bike bearings.

I love BB30 on my CAAD10 but it never see’s wet weather. Great transfer but $hit sealing against wet weather.

My CX bike is the current Boardman with Rival.

Love it as my winter road/gravel bike with 32 mm slicks.

3 bad wet rides on road and the PF30 is clicking.

Not fit for purpose to be honest.

Move to California?

I may consider adapter for next winter.

My next bike, I’m considering the crankset first. Will not buy a CAAD12 for that reason.

When I worked at halfords I did a constant stream of bb30 replacements often on bikes less than a month old. The only long term fixes are an adapter- I got good results with Praxis, or the ceramic version. Which is £200… And yes, I did these as a warranty replacement on several bikes.

By Boardman CX frame has an adaptor for an Ultegra bottom bracket. It is excellent. I won’t buy a BB30 bike again, and I have two.

On the flip side I’ve never had a problem with them on the bikes inc cx race bike and winter road (both Boardman).

The secret is to pop the seals and pack them with grease. They’re standard industrial bearings filled with enough grease for medium fast rotation applications, not slow low load bike applications. Pack them as full as you can!

Water runs down seattube and collects in BB, leaving bearings immersed in water – common problem with most bikes but the bearings pressed into the shell is the killer

Fwiw my Boardman bikes have drain holes as standard in the bottom of the shell.

Not had any issue with mine over 1,000 miles either, and it’s been out in grim weather. Seems odd that some fail so quickly and some don’t.

Could be down to inconsistent greasing in the factory, opened up a Shimano BB were one cup was greased the other virtually dry, it had not been near any water.

If only it was easier to get top hats out without breaking them.

Exactly why I won’t buy a bike with one. Not fit for purpose.

Can’t quite believe what a backward step bottom bracket design has taken.

matlockmeat – I used to get years out of octalink and square taper sealed units – and my road bike is still running on cup and cone that must be over 30 years old! Stripped a bike the other day with a shimano external BB less than a year old – bearings have gone – and it was fitted properly without side loading

Move to California?

That’s where most of these bikes were designed to be ridden, not wet old Britain.

I think they’re a fundamentally poor design. The exposed ally and wavy washer visible between the L crank and the BB on my Cannondale looks half-finished.

That said, it’s still working fine after about 1000 miles.

Had a dry BB on my older board man CX, as above I’ve heard stories about many BB failures on boardman bikes, probably the next most common problem after the cracking frame.

Conversely my Merida with all it’s modern design features has a nice old fashioned 68mm threaded BB.

Why are BB30s more prone to fail than other press fit standards? I have a bike with a BB86 and while certainly not perfect has lasted reasonably long – so far

My Boardman CX is the ’14 model, and has suffered from a ‘clicky’ BB- or so it seems. In fact, the BB is fine- whats happening is that the cranks occasionally migrate away a mm or so from where they should be; up tight against the bearings.

The fix on mine is just to remove the cranks, BB, put some more grease in while I’m there, tighten up again. This seems to last for about 6 months until needing done again. BB is the original, and the bike has seen a lot of use in all weathers.

Some day I will fit an adaptor, but I’m waiting until the BB actually fails.

I think the bb on my cx bike is about goosed. But after 2000km in all weathers I’m surprised a cheap plastic sram bb has lasted so long. Hope will replace it the same as my mtb.

I don’t know much about bottom brackets but…..

the the shimano BB86 has been on my Giant TCR for 7.5 years now. It’s my only road bike and ridden a lot in all weathers. Thousands of miles a year. It’s still absolutely fine.

I don’t know if this means anything at all.

BB30 requires a very stiff crankset axle to work properly; most aren’t stiff enough and you get microscopic fretting where the axle sits inside the bearings, which causes creaking and clicking. Most mechanics think this is the bearings moving in the shell but it’s not; a smear of bearing fit compound on the insides of the inner races solves the problem until you next dismantle the crankset.

Interesting that people are getting creaking and clicking from elsewhere. I say mine is fine… It was making some horrendous noises the other week while pedalling. Something which gradually got worse over a number of weeks until it sounded like it was crunching. And given the reputation of BB30, I naturally assumed it had reached the end of its life…

So I took it home, washed my bike… And it was fine after that. Still don’t really know what caused it.

For comparison the bottom of the 2014 Boardman range (the hybrid sport) has a square taper BB.

Mine did over 2k miles with no maintenance, including UK winters and Singapore rain, and it was neglected for 6 months to rust at 30c/90% humidity without seizing up.

It’s heavy af though, and the drive train never shifted cleanly even when new, so there you go.

The frame is now back in the UK and has been fitted with a surplus hydraulic Ultegra group set and drop bars. Looks very wrong, goes very fast 😀

butcher – failed bearings now lubricted with water?

My bikes are all BB30. I like mine. 6 mtbs. Chuck a bike in a shed and ignore it for months and you get what you deserve.

I can change mine in less than 5mins.

6mtbs and 1 road bike

C

butcher – failed bearings now lubricted with water?

Possibly…

Yep, i like them too.

I have a 2011 Bianchi that came with poor quality bearings poorly installed but after changing these in the first month its done 30,000km with just one new drive side bearing.

They just need fitting correctly and maintaining afterwards the design makes yhemnvery easy to service.

The alternatives each have their problems too as anyone whose had a put a scaffold pole on a square taper will testify.

Bottom line I suspect is if you look after them and know what your doing (sorry op) they can be as good as anything else.