The worst thing ever… stripped the BB on my brand new race frame :(

Hello,

Was putting together the new XCpro3 this afternoon, non-drive side cup went in fine, a little copper grease and slow gentle turning. The Drive side started off fine, about two threads in i noticed it wasn't straight, so immediately backed it off, and tried again a few times – but no luck at all, it was at the wrong angle completely. I inserted the BB plastic connection insert to use as a guide to see if i could aling the mis-aligned thread, but still no joy.

Then, the non-drive side cup was incredibly stiff to remove, and took away some of the threads with it.

I've fitted countless BBs, all very carefully, with no ham-fistedness at all.

It's an Aluminium frame too, I'm going to pop to my friend's at some point to chase the threads – but am i screwed?

And does anyone know the warranty situation if the threads weren't correct to start with? I know i should have just chased them before fitting, but every new frame I've had has been fine to just put in a BB without.

Big unhappy face 🙁

Take it back to the shop and get them to sort it out.

I have just built up the same frame, but i a bike shop. Luckily looked at the bb threads before I put the bottom bracket in, as they were awful, and had to be tapped, so it may be a fault with many of the frames.
Sorry to hear about your frame
!:(
Will

Depends on how badly you've threaded it or how much metal has come out.

I would get someone with a proper tool (Campag/Park) to chase/re-thread and re-fit. Doesn't sound like you've put the bb all the way in by swinging off a tool (which I have seen before). Gut feeling is that it will be ok. Seen some horror BB shell's in the past and still been able to sort.

Doubt the threads weren't correct but sometimes paint etc just stops the correct thread biting – hence why you should chase out.

As stated….think you'll be ok as long as you don't bodge the re-thread/chase.

I almost had to swing off my bb tool to remove the non-drive side, which i find incredible – as it was fine going in, hardly any resistence and as true.

I'm even more gutted as i take such care with bottom brackets, because of the horror stories i've heard. I'm never putting in a bb without chasing first now.

And it was only a few shavings that came out from the non-drive side, hardly anything from the drive side. but the non-drive side does look shiny now – and the bb cup itself looks very stripped – i think that took the worst of the damage.

My Rockhopper frame has just gone off to BETD for the exact same reason. If your local bike shop can't rechase the threads, BETD can insert a sleeve and thread that for £45 plus postage. Their turnaround time is two to three weeks at the moment.

Definitely get the threads retapped before attempting to fit another BB.
Race Face do a downhill BB with longer threads than standard. They're not the longest lasting bearings, but they can help if the outer threads are damaged by engaging on good threads further in.

I had exactly the samething happen on my crosslight fiveT, went in ok to start with and then was an absolute sh*t to come out, like you i have fitted loads of bb's over the years so was pretty confident it wasn't my fault. Took the frame back to the shop and the threads were chased and it is now fine no problems. Needless to say when i got my xc pro3 the first thing my mechanic did was chase the threads. If my memory serves me right Martin did say that the threads were a bit shitty on it. So im not getting at Kinesis but i suspect the bb threads are not the best from scratch. It probably is best practise to get it done as standard.

Gordymac

i had this once but it was with a steel frame. i had an old steel bb in the shed and i carefully ran that into it and it recut the threads enough to let me fit the bb .

if it is fekked dont worry the betd job is as good as new and is fairly cheap.
i had the drive side cup on my yeti come loose during a race, i just cracked on thinking it would be reet however it was completely threaded when i took it out.
the boys at betd chucked a helicoil in it and you just would never know it had ever happened.

Mods: Please save this thread for the next time someone asks "why chase & face a BB shell?"

I had this with my brand new Cotic Soul earlier this year, thought it was the BB cup so tried a different one, it took me 2 hours to get the thread to engage and then when it did it was hideously tight
I think I might have a job getting it out when I need to, but when I do I'll take it to the shop and get it retapped
.
actually, can you replace the bearings on a Shimano HTII BB without taking it out of the frame?

Druidh – i agree. I even popped into my LBS and asked "is it worth facing the BB shell?" and stupidly didnt ask for a chase. IDIOT.

My virsa was actually fine, i'm going to pop to my LBS tomorrow and get them to chase it properly. There is still loads of threads left, the drive side looks fine tbh, its just the first few threads that dont pick up properly, the non-drive side also looks ok-ish, just not as high as the threads should be – they look a little 'flat'…

Bakes – i thin you can if you can knock out the bearings from the back… i've replaced mine – but i wouldn't do it against as the top hats are fragile to say the least. You should be able to push it out with a punch though i'd have thought.

I guess I'd just be putting off the inevitable, and I could damage the threads more banging the bearings out

"Worst thing ever" ??

do people on here lead such charmed lives that minor inconveniences are all they ever experience ?

thought you were banned?

thought you were banned?

it ended 🙂 Next question ?

Awesome, well – you try buying a new race frame, that you can barely afford, strip down two bikes, and start building it up – knowing you've got a race next weekend… only to do something so ridiculously stupid that you've mocked people in the past for doing it.

It's all about perspective, and point of reference. At that moment in time, it was the worst thing ever. I can now see that its not the end of the world, but at the time i finally got the bb cup out and saw the swarf fall out i almost cried…. almost… but i posted on STW instead.

Clumsy ****. 😉

Damn you Rob! I may see you tomorrow for a chase and face. I will not bring cake though, because of that comment. Maybe stale biscuits. But they will not be chocolate covered.

Had a very similar thing happen with my XCpro2

One of the cups crossed as it went in (despite me being careful). Sorted it in the end (ie got it in) but the BB has been in for two seasons now and I'll be crapping myself when it finally goes! 🙂

Just in case anyone was following this with bated breath…

Had the bb shell retapped and it was fine, a lot of swarf came out so the threads must have been really gash.

Never not chasing the threads again.

This is a ridiculous situation needing to chase out threads when you buy a frame .

I could understand it if the frame was a £50 item but when they cost £100s it should come ready to receive parts

Had this happen on a £2300 TT frame, wasn't the frame, was the BB, it had a dodgy thread on it which went in fine and came out only with lots of force and a whole load of swarf. Frame had been faced and chased prior to fitting and BB went in fine. Luckily after a further chase of the threads it was fine, but I didn't sleep very much that night.

This is a ridiculous situation needing to chase out threads when you buy a frame .

I could understand it if the frame was a £50 item but when they cost £100s it should come ready to receive parts

Very few new frames come faced/reamed/chased – even high end ones.

That's why you'd pay a pro to do it.

OP samething happened to me on a alu frame- mister hamfisted here who could shear wheel bolts on a car- most of the cups alu thread was left in the bb shell (the cup looked smooth/bare!) and thats what made it look 'bad'. Chased and it was fine. I think you'll be alright but I can understand our worry.

KEY THOUGH – say to the mechanic 'have you done this before'? If he says no but it should be easy or 'err yes' then get someone who has done this before.

trout – Member
This is a ridiculous situation needing to chase out threads when you buy a frame .

I could understand it if the frame was a £50 item but when they cost £100s it should come ready to receive parts

Buy it from a decent bike shop and mibbe they would do it for free…..

Yeah chevin cycles did my blue pig for free when I bought it also chased and faced the disc mount too and offered tea 😉

I'm with Trout here. It is frankly ridiculous that in many cases bicycle frames leave the factory without having all this done by the manufacturer.

I can't see why it's not done at manufacture, infact if the worst happened you could claim it was not fit for purpose

I got a sweat on when fitting the BB to my new PA frame last month. The drive side cup just wouldn't take. Eventually got it in after wiping away most of the copper grease I'd applied to the threads.

I had this with my brand new Cotic Soul earlier this year, thought it was the BB cup so tried a different one, it took me 2 hours to get the thread to engage and then when it did it was hideously tight

Had the same thing with my Trailstar last night and a Hope BB. Once engaged though they weren't *too* tight to finish. Was sweating a bit though!

Yeah chevin cycles did my blue pig for free when I bought it also chased and faced the disc mount too

But as others have said, it *shouldn't* need doing. You wouldn't expect to ream the head and seat tubes. Why should you have to finish off mounting surfaces?

trout – Member

This is a ridiculous situation needing to chase out threads when you buy a frame .

I could understand it if the frame was a £50 item but when they cost £100s it should come ready to receive parts

Surely this is just a simple reaction/solution to being competitive in a saturated market. I know, my frame doesn't have a usp, let's differentiate by dropping the price, now, how can we cut costs?