Complete newby to pressfit BBs. I understand that a headset press is the best thing for installation, and I’d want one that can also do 1-1/8 and 1-1/2 Hs cups as well as being able to install various BBs. Any recommendations please?
Also, removal tools; is there one which can remove SRAM, shimano, hope etc and the different standards (BB30, BB92 etc etc which I do not understand at all yet)
Do I need a different tool to press the bearings in too?
Thanks!

BB30 is cannondale’s standard and is simply two bearings pressed direct into the frame. That’s it.
BB92 has the bearings sitting in plastic cups, so you press in / knock out the cup and bearing assembly.

I use a cheap cyclus headset press to fit them – works great, and just carefully bash them out with whatever. Should really get the proper tool (from park) to bash on, scoring the frame bb shell would be pretty bad for a bb92 set up. The tool would prob enable you to remove bb92 cups without damaging them, if you wanted to take them out for any other reason than replacement.

Thanks Garry, does the cyclus tool press in replacement bearings as well as the cups?

It does, but you need to use the flat side of the pressy things – (or at least one of them), you can’t use both ‘male’ sides at the same time. The threaded rod on the press is not threaded all the way down – there’s a smooth bit in the middle. This means there is a minimum width of shell it can accommodate.

Not sure if that makes any sense, but it’s not a problem in any case. I’ve not used other presses, so don’t know if they’re all like this.

Makes perfect sense, flip one of the pressy bits for bearing installation.
Perusing the park tools website now, it’s flipping dangerous!

Interested in this myself, I had considered just buying a big threaded rod from a hardware store and using a cunning combination of nuts and washers to create the pressing surfaces, any reason why that wouldn’t work?

I see FSA do a sort of screwdrivery shaped tool for drifting the bearings out, would probably buy that also…

You will need to get decent threaded bar and nuts, I tried to previously and the nut just kept jumping the threads as the tolerances were so poor.

13thfloormonk I did exactly that – biggest threaded rod I could find and some VERY big washers. All out of my local Homebase. Use to press my BB92 BB in. Dead cheap and easy.

That’s reassuring, thanks stimpy, hopefully the thicker the rod (fnar fnar etc. etc.) the less likely to experience the problems wrecker did.

Did you use any adapters between the washers and the bearing faces?

I’ve got a BB30A bike and shortly will also own a BB92 bike so I want to prepare myself for the inevitable!

I also had success using the ‘heath robinson’ approach just using stuff I had lying around:
Linky

i just used a threaded nut and big washers, worked fine with the shimano one
you need a special tool for the Hope one

and a hammer and a bit of wood to knock the old one out

easy peasy!

I got the park BB92 remover tool to get the old cups out. The tool came with adapters but needed big washers for the nut to press against. Could have done it with just big washers though.

Just one word of caution about using the washers directly on the Shimano cups. The inner bearing race has a raised plastic bit making it the highest part of the cup. If you use flat washers all the inserting force will be going on the inner bearing race instead of the surrounding cup.

The proper installation bushings which come with the Park set have a raised edge so they push against the cup rather than the bearing race. You can see that here…

And here’s the complete setup – Park extractor and inserting bushings, together with a home made cup press made from threaded rod & nuts from the hardware store…

Perth, will that press insert bearings as well as cups? How do you remove the bearings only?
Also, do you have the part numbers for the Park face plates and is that M12 threaded bar?

I don’t think you can just replace the bearings in Shimano PF cups – they are pretty fragile.

That said, as someone else above, i’ve never used anything more fancy than a punch, block of wood & hammer to fit them.

I have a Hope one now & that needs a special tool, so I gave it to the LBS to do.

Perth, will that press insert bearings as well as cups? How do you remove the bearings only?
Also, do you have the part numbers for the Park face plates and is that M12 threaded bar?

I assume by ‘bearings’ you mean PF30 where the bearings are pressed straight into the BB shell, instead of PF92 where the bearings are housed in plastic cups, which are then pressed into the BB shell. As Hob Nob says, you can’t separate the bearings from the cup in BB92, at least not the Shimano ones I use anyway.

The Park tools come as a set comprised of a removal tool and a pair of bushings to press the bearing/cup in, so I’m afraid I can’t give you just the bushings part number, but the BB30 set is BBT 30.3, and the BB92 set is BBT 90.3.

The BB30 and BB92 tools aren’t interchangeable – at least the Park ones aren’t. The BB92 bushings have the raised lip I mentioned above, and are wider diameter because the plastic cup overlaps the BB shell edge. The BB30 bushings are flat and smaller diameter because they need to fit inside the BB shell. Likewise the removal tools are quite different – see the photos below…

Park BB30 tool set (BBT 30.3):-

Park BB92 tool set (BBT 90.3)

The internal diameter of the Park BB92 bushings is 16mm. The rod I use is 5/8″ and is just right – a little bit of play but not too much. In metric you could try M16 but it may be too tight a fit in which case you’d have to go down to M14, but M12 would definitely be a bit on the loose side. Don’t know what the internal diameter of the Park BB30 bushings is, sorry.

Hope that answers your questions…

I’m a bit clueless to it all I’m afraid. Some research tells me I have a PF92 BB on the new bike. It has a SRAM BB in it, however the SRAM page only has BB30, PF30 or GXP. I have no idea which one is in there, which hope or shamino model I would need to run some M785 cranks or even if I can run those cranks in there. With all of the messing around with axle sizes, I’m absolutely lost.
I’m happy to spend a few quid on a press if it can also do 1-1/8 and 1-1/2 headsets.

I’m a bit clueless to it all I’m afraid. Some research tells me I have a PF92 BB on the new bike. It has a SRAM BB in it, however the SRAM page only has BB30, PF30 or GXP. I have no idea which one is in there, which hope or shamino model I would need to run some M785 cranks or even if I can run those cranks in there.

I’m not a SRAM man, so someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that if you currently have a PF92 frame with a SRAM BB in it, then it’ll be a GXP press-fit BB that fits into a PF92 BB shell. However, you won’t be able to put Shimano Hollotech II cranks in a GXP BB, so to fit your M785 cranks you’ll have to replace the GXP BB with a Shimano PF92 BB, such as the BB71 or BB94. Either will fit your cranks – they’re interchangeable, it’s just the BB94 is XTR level and supposedly a bit lighter and better sealed.

As perthmtb says – pressfit BB92 for SRAM is GXP (and is what I have in my bike). You’ll need a shimano pressfit GXP bottom bracket if you’re going to fit SRAM cranks which aren’t BB30 or PF30.

http://www.hargrovescycles.co.uk/truvative-gxp-team-press-fit-mtb-bb93.html?gclid=CjwKEAjwhdOwBRDFsYTfhvzX1hYSJAAfCUcLktaPQ68sDU5tYL7782KT6Ux2V3QiNLjRkpn1hSw-LRoCkVvw_wcB like that one.