Had a noise from that area, today its gone worse, do I buy the tools needed and have a shot at it myself or take to shop, if so what are the tools I need, is it 8mm allen key, crank removal tool, what else would I need. Would I also be better replacing it or good clean grease etc and see how it is, its been in from new about 20 months.

it depends what sort of BB

Easy if the threads are not seized. You need the appropriate tool to undo the BB which depends on what type of BB it is. One side is a reverse thread and I can never remeber which side it is. Most modern bbs are not serviceable – throw it away and get a new one unless you can replace the bearings in it.

Square taper, ISIS or HT?

Shimano BB-UN-26E73/113mm bb.

This is the one, would you upgrade it, if so what to?

crank puller to remove cranks (quite easy)
BB tool for BB (dead easy to almost impossible) – I’m always reading about people with seized BBs, but mine have always come undone easily. One side is a left hand thread but I always forget which.

UN26 is sq. taper, currently £5.50, why pay more ?

Cheers everyone, is there no point upgrading on these, What are the benefits?

What are the benefits?

beats the hell out of me…

Square taper are more an old style with the newr isis, octalink or HT styles, the idea is that the newer styles have more contact points to spread the stresses on the crank arms, allowing lighter arms and the like, you can still get squaer taper and they do a good job (was the standard for many years) if you wanted to upgrade to one of the other types then you would have to change your chainset (£££) there are going to be different levels of square taper, tho not as many as their once was, they might be different due to bearing types(sealed, cartridge, loose) but generally i would say stick with it for the price and maybe if you get to the point of thinking of changing your chainset, then might be the point to considr upgrading..

stick with what you have already got

As long as the square taper cranks haven’t been overtightened onto the axle, you’ll be ok to go with the same BB again. If they have, you’ll never get the buggers to stay put

point to note – usually the tool needs to be turned by a large spanner/adjustable. it is MUCH easier to undo a bb with a tube ( 1m length or more ) over the end of the spanner for leverage. when you fit teh new one just use the length of the spanner.

dependant on the noise you are getting, the BB may just need a little tightening up

@ 20months i suspect its on its way out.