Dub Woes

Just moaning really but…

The Sram Dub threaded BB on my Scandal has lasted precisely 352km. I know the Peak isn’t the driest place in the world, but surely it’s not unreasonable to expect a little more service life?

Oh, and of course it has a different tool standard to all my other bikes, so 60 quid for a Nukeproof BB PLUS the almost-impossible-to-source-at-the-moment tool to go with it.

Oh, and I had to buy a half-inch drive 8mm Allen socket to use on the 800mm long torque wrench that I use to tighten the wheel bolts on the *car* in order to be able to loosen the crank bolt.

Pile of {insert choice words here}.

On the bright side, I love riding the Scandal – it’s awesome :)

Thanks for listening.

Still as bad as GXP for longevity then. changed my GXP to a Praxis equivalent, and at least you can replace the bearings on that one.

I honestly have come to the conclusion that bb wear is more to do with the tolerance of the frame than the bb…

Much to my surprise when I checked the wife’s dub bb on her bike, after over 2yrs of peak riding, it was still smooth as you like…
Frame bearings have just been done…

My bike, 3 bb’s (gpx) and 2 frame bearings swaps in about the same time, has been ridden a bit more than hers, and i am heavier than her….

Did have a nightmare removing the crank to check though and have now bought a great big f-off breaker bar to cause less offensive behaviour for the neighbours;-)

I honestly have come to the conclusion that bb wear is more to do with the tolerance of the frame than the bb…

Uh-oh, and can feel the dark lord (man child) of misaligned frames affecting bottom brackets being summoned…….

Hmm….I wonder how many BB’s I need to “not use” in order to justify the cost of a facing tool?

Does internal routing of cables affect water at the BB much? Only the wife’s summer road bike has internal cables in our fleet so it doesn’t really get wet and has lasted a good 5 years (PF30).

the almost-impossible-to-source-at-the-moment tool to go with it.

A pain to need yet another tool but not that hard to get.  One of these isn’t it?

https://www.merlincycles.com/icetoolz-12-tooth-external-bottom-bracket-tool-121875.html

that’s the very tool…and I purchased it from that very shop :)

Oh, and I had to buy a half-inch drive 8mm Allen socket to use on the 800mm long torque wrench that I use to tighten the wheel bolts on the *car* in order to be able to loosen the crank bolt.

Is this necessary. I am going to be faced with this problem at some point. My plan was to use a decent 8mm allen key with an old DH handlebar for leverage. What’s the need for a torque wrench and 1/2″ drive?

8mm allen key with an old DH handlebar for leverage

is sufficient with someone else on the pedals giving it the beans to oppose you giving it the beans on the bar.

Only used the torque wrench as it provided a very long handle for leverage, not for any torque measurement. My long torque wrench happens to be 1/2″ drive, hence the specification of the socket.

If I’d had an old set of bars or a bit of pipe lying around I’d have used that on an 8mm Allen key as you intend. But I didn’t. So SRAM cost me even more money ;(

Propped up the non-drive side crank in a horizontal position on a bit of wood as my wife wasn’t heavy enough standing on the drive side pedal. The bolt was TIGHT. Have fun!

Amazon has bb tools for dub from £10. Lots in stock.

Do yourself a massive favour and switch to shimano cranks and ht2 bottom bracket, Sram chainsets, gxp, dub suck balls and the world cup scene has had many a snapped sram carbon crank arm, and plenty people have had the pedal inserts fail, if I had to buy a bike with Sram drivetrain I would order shimano cranks at the same time so I could instantly swap and stick on ebay in unused condition.

After thinking I was never going to be able to release the bolt on a sram gxp crankset I ended up using an irwin quick clamp to squeeze the allen key against the crank arm. Worked a treat, nice and controlled and was on ridiculously tight.