Ok so.

Had this ISIS BB for a few years now, but it’s knackred. Makes a horrible creaking noise and the cranks are a teeny bit wobbly so it needs replacing.

Thing is though, it’s a FSA Platinum Ti axled thing. They cost silly money. Now, I’m not going to replace it like for like. The first option is a Superstar one they’re meant to be quite good. But is there any way this could be ressurrected with some new bearings? I mean, there’s a right spensive chunk of titanium in there! Would be a shame to throw it away, and it won’t make a natty pen holder or vase or owt really.

The bearings seem to be held in place with steel sleeves which push onto the axle. Removing these would facilitate the removal of the bearings. Which I imagine could then be replaced.

How do-able is this? The sleeves would most likely have to be cut off as they’re proper tight on and I can’t see a way of getting them off without damaging them. No worries, I’m sure I can get a bit of steel tubing from somewhere like an engineering firm or wherever. Or just send it up to Cynic Al, the Bodge King. How best to remove the sleeves? Dremel tool cut them off?

Anyone got any experience of doing owt similar? And could it be sorted so’s the bearings can be changed easily in future? Then I can just buy umpteen bearings = BB for life.

Yes I know it’s ISIS and they’re crap blah blah blah. But the cranks are decent RF Turbines, and I don’t want and can’t afford to replace the whole crank and BB assembly. Plus I’ve seen nowt to indicate the longevity and durability of external BBs. I don’t just want to bung on another spensive yet soon to be obsolete and actually not really any better standard. In the meantime, an old XT square taper crank and UN53 are going to go on the bike, but it would be nice to be able to use this very lightweight BB again tbh.

Where’s MidlandGraham; he’d know how to sort it…?

I can’t see why not, just depends how much time you are willing to give it.

not suggesting this is the best solution (more of a last resort) I have seen fatbikers winterproof isis bbs by drilling a hole in the centre (as the photo is) and then packing the grease in. which should, hopefully, push the old grease out.

No I’ve bunged more grease in a couple of times; soothes it a bit, but they really are knackered so no point in doing it any more. They creak like an old gate, and the cranks are wobbling to the point where it’ll affect the smooth running of the bike.

Just wondering if anyone’s had experience with fitting new bearings to these things.

I hate the ‘chuck it away buy whole new type thing’ nature of the cycling industry. What happened to the notion of environmentally friendly sustainable transport? 😐

For the sake of two £5 bearings, I don’t want to throw away an otherwise nice light BB.

I’ve got his – RaceFace Signature one that has removeable bearings – think the ones on there now are pretty much new (it came with some cranks and I never used it)

yours for postage if it’s any use.

heat will expand the rings and allow you to remove them with no cutting. They should also go back on quite easily with a bit of grease and a good whack with a wood mallet.

But don’t wobbly arms mean they are worn out?

Should be do-able, as you say the trick will be getting the other cup off without damaging it too much.

hmm. with access to enough tools, materials, and know-how, you can make pretty much anything last a Very Long Time.
If you’re really determined to go down this route, and you don’t have much in the way of facilities yourself, then your best bet would be just to go to an engineering workshop and let some old boy clankers have a look.
this disposable culture you complain of is really just a trade off between how much time, effort and money is involved in refurbishing old, versus simply replacing a mass-produced item.
i suspect you know that already.
think you might also suspect that not all bearings cost a fiver…

maybe just buy a crank brothers one? they have a lifetime warranty i believe? mate has had one on his bike and every time it goes wonky he just pulls it and sends it back, they fix/replace, and return FOC.

maybe just buy a crank brothers one? they have a lifetime warranty i believe? mate has had one on his bike and every time it goes wonky he just pulls it and sends it back, they fix/replace, and return FOC.

would that be the same simian friend that grew so tired of the bearings in his cb bb lasting three rides that he now runs htii bb on all bikes ?

he’s right though, if you’re after another bb without changing your whole crankset the crank brothers thing with their never ending/5 year ? warranty is the way forward.

Tsk! Southerners! You don’t know you’re bloody born! You’ve had a bottom bracket that lasted more than 3 months? An ISIS one you say?

Just count yourself lucky, young fella me lad!!!

*wanders off mumbling about Peak District grinding paste*

he’s right though, if you’re after another bb without changing your whole crankset the crank brothers thing with their never ending/5 year ? warranty is the way forward.

This.

and buy two so you aren’t bikeless when the swapsies are going on.

Ooh din’t see that wwaswas! 😀

Is that two BBs? Or just the axle unit?

Can’t find CB BB. 😕

It’s one and a half. diff axle length but no bearings on second one.

I’ve got an fsa one http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff167/LukeBurstow/Stuff%20for%20sale/006.jpg and (I think) a CB one I coudl throw in for a fiver on top of postage. Not got any use for them here.

Well bloody hell mate, that seems very generous of you I must say. 🙂

Looking at this one, it does seem that trying to resurrect if will be quite a job. Sourcing bearings may be a little tricky. If only it had bin designed like the RF Signature one. 🙁
I remember old cup and cone BBs; they could be a right bugger to adjust, and needed special tools, but they just ran and ran and ran. Large ball bearings meant they lasted for bloody ages.

Mind, square taper BBs were fantastic; I’ve had them last 10, 15 years still going strong. Even the cheaper ones.

mail in profile, Elf.

Elf – \I bet yo can get it apart and the bearings are stock SKF ones. Post it to me and I’ll have a go if you want.

Was going to say got a FSA standard one if you wanted to try and undo that one as a trial

Well wwaswas has bin incredibly kind and good-spirited, so hpefully tthe cranks won’t be retired just yet. 😀

£250 worth of cranks, rings and BB. Don’t want to ditch them just yet.

ISIS isn’t nearly as good as Sq.T though; balls are too tiny. Not too bad for lightweight riders, but ultimately a flawed standard which shouduv bin researched more thoroughly imo.

And seems there’s loads of standards around now; CRC have some BB30 cranks for silly prices. Like £70 or something daft for £300+ chainsets. Is BB30 now dead or something? 😕

Not enough people appreciated Sq.T. Too many silly bike mag ‘journos’ and ‘freeriders’ riding downhill/jumpy stuff, demanding ‘stiffer’ and ‘stronger’ BBs. When in fact for the vast majority of us, Sq.T is fine.

If you actually going to chuck it in the bin then I’ll take it off your hands for postage. I have a project that it might be useful for. Ta

I’m going to keep it for now at least, see if I can’t bodge something with wwaswas’ bits ( 😯 😳 ).

Crank Brothers +1 Just got my 3rd under warranty so there must be some still kicking around. FYI I’m running a turbine too which I bought just before RF went external 🙄

Failing that just combine the ti with the ti from my broked SID compression cartridge and a few other bits and we could have ourselves a frame!

If you don’t manage to sort it out, I can vouch for the Superstar Isis BBs. I know a lot of their stuff is cheap n’ cheerful, but I’m on my second one, the first having lasted just shy of a year of constant use.

post it to me before TJ.

I’m going to see what I can do with the RF bits and pieces, must be able to cobble together something that works ok.

If you go to online bearing suppliers, you can buy suitable bearings for a fraction of the cost of bike kit retailers. Just as good too, if not better.

I’m thinking replace the steel collars with alloy ones made from slightly thicker tubing, with little grub screws to hold it in place. And not bother with the alloy sleeve in the middle; what does it do anyway? It’s not ‘structural’, is it? Ok to leave it off? Would make knocking bearings out easier.