My bottom bracket bearing has worn out again. It was only last installed in late March and I only rode that bike in April, May, June and August – so it’s effectively only lasted 4 months.

It’s a Race Face cinch 30mm PF30.

In the past I have always had to get my Bottom Bracket changed by the Local Bike Mechanic. It is a job that seems to come up regularly, so it would make a lot of sense if I could do this myself, as it comes up too often.

I don’t have any of the tools needed for this job. I have no tools needed to even remove the Cranks or Chain Rings to get to the bottom bracket and am wondering how much it would all cost. I also don’t have a torque wrench.

If anyone could let me know what tools I need to perform this task and provide links to the cheapest option, that would be great.

How long will a bottom bracket (that has play in it) last until it fails ? When is the deadline for getting this sorted ? I just need to know because I don’t want to end up stranded mid ride due to a Bottom bracket failure. Or the classic case of driving to a trailhead and back for nothing due to a bike failure. I know how unforgiving bikes can be and components don’t give you much chance or time once signs of wear begin.

Incidentally this has just come up just as I’ve got 10 days off work, and wanted to really do loads of biking.

BB30 has so far been pretty terrible in it’s execution, four months use is actually reasonably good going by the experiences of some.

The good news is that replacing a BB30 (in Specialized frames it’s a PF46 – I’ll come to this shortly) is pretty easy. There’s a Park tool to drift out the old bearings and a length of threaded bar with two large washers and bolts is good enough to press in new bearings. All in you could be looking at £35 for the tools to do the job yourself.

My Stumpjumper lunched it’s SRAM BB fairly quickly, when I came to replace the bearings themselves were reduced to a gritty ferrous pile. I fitted a Praxis works BB for Shimano (24mm) cranks and have been very happy ever since. FWIW it’s best to spend a bit of cash and get a Hope or Praxis BB fitted which will outlast the RaceFace/SRAM equivalent.

Don’t bother with ceramic bearings, go for stainless steel.

Oh, this is the Hope BB Hope

There’s a Park tool to drift out the old bearings and a length of threaded bar with two large washers and bolts is good enough to press in new bearings. All in you could be looking at £35 for the tools to do the job yourself.

What is the names of the tools as I would need to find them. Plus I believe I would need a tool to remove the Cranks and Chain ring ? Is a torque wrench required in addition to these tools ?

Can you tell me which cranks you’ve fitted? I assume either RaceFace or SRAM?

I might provoke the ire of the STW massive, but in fifteen years of changing BBs, I’ve never once needed a torque wrench. Normal allen keys do the job perfectly.

We are running a mixture of SRAM and Hope ones on our Specializeds, oldest is on a 2013 Carbon Stumpjumper. Not had a SRAM one fail on the bikes we have but on any new frame builds have fitted the Hope ones for ease of service at a later date.
If you go for the Hope one it needs a special tool for fitting and make sure you order the right bottom bracket as it needs to fit flushish with the frame. All our cranks are SRAM and only had to use a big hex key.

Here’s the Park tool for a BB30. It also includes the push in adaptors to refit bearings – simply use threaded bar, washers and nuts to push them in.

BB30 Park tool

I had one of these fitted to my orbea. Didn’t last long. Pretty easy to swap out using normal tools. Take the cranks off and tap out each bearing from opposite side, Press new ones in with two flat plates and some threaded bar. Swapped mine for a hope one so hopefully won’t be doing it again any time soon!.

RF Cinch BBs use weenie bearings and poor seals that simply mean they don’t last – plus they’re quite difficult to clean / repack or replace the bearings (no/tiny inside lip to engage with a tool). After a couple of years of persevering / regular swaps and replaced with a Wheels Manufacturing one which has bigger bearings and better seals

Can you tell me which cranks you’ve fitted? I assume either RaceFace or SRAM?

Yes they’re raceface fitted by the local bike technician in late March the same time he fitted the bottom bracket as well

Here’s the Park tool for a BB30. It also includes the push in adaptors to refit bearings – simply use threaded bar, washers and nuts to push them in.

Thanks

So once I’ve got that, all I need is a tool to remove the cranks plus the Bearing cartridge itself ?

Yes they’re raceface fitted by the local bike technician in late March the same time he fitted the bottom bracket as well

I’m going to need a little more than that to be able to help I’m afraid. I’m in the realms of guesswork here, but you’ll be able to verify this by seeing which allen key fits.

RaceFace crank fitting instructions

Chances are, your cranks will be Bastard Tight if they’ve been fitted correctly. You may need to slide a metal pole over an 8mm allen key to loosen. I don’t know if your cranks will have a captive bolt or not, if they do then leave it well alone (it’s 10mm on the RF cranks I’ve used).

IME RaceFace bottom brackets are made of cheese, there’s a reason why I refuse to fit anything RaceFace containing bearings.

So once I’ve got that, all I need is a tool to remove the cranks plus the Bearing cartridge itself ?

I’ve covered the cranks above. Once these are off (no need to remove the chainring unless it needs replacing), then all you need to do is drift out the bearings with the tool and a hammer and remove the plastic bearing carrier.

There’s a YouTube video here. Make sure to watch it a few times until you feel happy tackling the job in hand.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmOSu8JGJks[/video]

Best thing that I ever did was a one day bike maintenance course. It was bought as a Christmas present for me.

https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/info/cycle-maintenance-and-wheel-building-classes/#intensive

I did one of these at their Leeds branch, I took my own bike so I knew what I would be doing afterwards. Never looked back and now do most of the maintenance myself.

You may well benifit in the long run.