Brand new bike – hooray!

Creaking bb30A bottom bracket – not so great.

I’ve just got a new Caad 12 and was pretty delighted with it for the first 5 miles until the bottom bracket started creaking. Any suggestions for how to fix it? It’s a hollowgram crank so I take it that there are special tools required?

What does the ‘a’ stand for? Is it an attempt to improve on bb30?

I think it stands for Aaaaarrrgghh

*** watches with interest *** (I have one on order)

Which model did you go for WiThurso?

I have a 2017 Ultegra version on order, standard BB and crank though I imagine

What does the ‘a’ stand for? Is it an attempt to improve on bb30?

They’ve added 5mm to the driveside bb shell, made the crank axle longer and modified the NDS crank to keep Q-Factor the same.

Our CAAD8 has an endemic creak. I’ll never buy another BB30 bike. Remove and bond in an adapter. It will never stop.

Mine was creaking like **** when I got it, thought it was the bb but I tried tightening the rear wheel skewer and it disappeared. Creaking a bit again now though, need to investigate this weekend. Great bike otherwise!

Yes it’s a great bike. So light and ultra smooth yet responsive. I was loving it until the creaking. I got the 2017 ultegra version to use the frame for my dura ace parts and carbon wheels so I’ll be selling the wheels and ultegra groupset. Due to the bba 30 bottom bracket I’m keeping the hollowgram cranks but this creaking is frustrating to say the least.

I’ve removed a bb30 previously on my Caad X and bonded in an adapter and probably would have done the same here too but I think the extra width might mean shimano cranks are not compatible.

The ridge in the middle of the Cannondale BB shell doesn’t help with adapters either.

Strip and refit with plenty of grease helped mine loads – CADDX.

I’d get it back to the shop to sort. It should take at least 6 months for creaking to happen!
Options are-
Learn to fix this yourself for future.
Get mechanic to use loctite 609 or 641.
Get an adapter from wheels manufacturing or c-bear.
Get used to it.
BB30 is a far from perfect solution to a problem that wasn’t really there.
The “a” means asymmetric – it’s 5mm wider on the non drive side.

Don’t listen to all the horror story’s mine went on my supersix. Since then around this time of year I remove the chainset pull the seal out of the bearing and regrease. In 3 years the creak has never come back and I use it In all weather. You do need to buy a hollowgram removal tool which can be bought cheaply. Hope this helps.

I probably would take it back to the shop if it weren’t in Germany. I have emailed them to see what they advise.

New bearings is not difficult. ”Tis annoying their more expensive than an XT HTII BB, but…

Thanks for the reassurance. I’ll have a look into getting one of those tools but maybe bike24 will offer to send me one at a discounted rate. I’ll see what they say first.

I thought that the BB30A on my CAAD12 was creaking on its second ride but it turned out to be the seat clamp. I’d go around and grease every bolt and interface before going to the effort of trying to re-install the BB.

Having said that it might still be the BB. Nobody likes BB30 and it’s the one thing that made me think twice about buying a Cannondale.

Nobody likes BB30 and it’s the one thing that made me think twice about buying a Cannondale.

This is so true. I love the look of them but no way will o buy a bike with BB30, no way at all.

I once thought ‘surely BB30 can’t be as bad as people make out’. I now have 1 bike with BB30 – it creaks obviously.

Got a good response from bike24. They gave me some advice on what to do if I decided to buy the crank removal tool and also offered to pay 30 euros for a cannondale dealer to have a look at it so I reckon that’s pretty decent service.

I’ve tried the tips about tightening the skewer and greasing the seatpost clamp and after a quick spin the creak seemed to be gone but I’ve not pedalled with cleats yet to give it a proper try so will see what it’s like tomorrow.

My CAAD10 ate a BB in a year. My Synapse died before the BB did. CAAD10 built from parts by LBS, Synapse by Cannondale. BB30 isn’t evil or wrong, just lazy mechanics are shit at sorting them.

The perils of buying online to get something cheaper. A proper cannondale dealer would have checked this in the PDi

Disassemble and grease the cups, reinstall cups & bearings would be the first thing to do

Bought online to get something available in my size otherwise I’d have bought from Edinburgh bikes cheaper. I’m pretty sure the mechanics who assemble the bikes are as capable as many others, it’s just one of those things and they’ve been fair about helping to sort out the problem.

You dont need special removal tool see here

remove my cranks every 2/3 months remove bearing shields and re grease on my super six evo.

Well having tightened up the rear skewer and greased the seatpost clamp I stomped up all the hills on a 20 mile blast today without a single hint of a creak. I’m assuming it must have been the rear wheel as the creak was happening while out of the saddle too. Thanks for the advice guys!