First of all, Fnaaaar…

Hi all. I am building up my Stage 5 and when offering up the Hope bb it hooks up nicely and is smooth for a few turns before it becomes difficult to turn. This happens either side and also is I try a spare XT bb I have. I had exactly the same problem when I fitted the Hope to my Segment and spoiled the finish of my shiney new bb due to the force required to fit it so does anyone have any tips on what I can do to make fitting easier? Nothing is cross threaded from what I can tell.

For reference the Stage is new, the Segment wasn’t when I fitted the new Hope bb (which is now used) if that makes sense?

I had decided to let my LBS either fit a new one or put the Hope in but they have a lead time of 4 weeks and want to clear the backlog before committing to more work.

Tips for a tight bottom bracket?

First of all, Fnaaaar…

Pelvic floor excercises. You’ll find some on YouTube I’m sure.

Put plastic over BB (like one sheet of a ziploc bag, as opposed to a shopping bag) fit tool over it, stops the finish getting marked.

Aside from that, cleaning the threads on both BB and frame with a pick and then greasing is all you can do really, unless you have a tap set.

A big breaker bar for extra leverage

Decent BB tool helps as well.

Ideally one that cups around the whole shell, not just 3/4 of it.

HTH

it hooks up nicely and is smooth for a few turns before it becomes difficult to turn

I’d say honourablegeorge’s advice is probably best. FWIW I had the same difficulties reinstalling my XT BB a few weeks back – basically I hadn’t been meticulous enough in cleaning the threads of both frame and cups, and I could hear single bits of grit grating as I turned it. So I unthreaded it, tried again. Did that a few times and the final time it went in fine.

I may or may not have completely rethreaded my BB though…

Do you know anyone with a BB tap? Or Do you have an old steel BB cup that you could modify as a thread chaser by cutting some slots in the threads? LBS might give you an old cup of you don’t have one.

My Stage 6 BB was very tight to fit, and has been reluctant to come out again too.

Stage 4 not so bad as I remember, but it does seem to be an Orange “feature”.

Bit disappointing considering the pricing.

Both mine were secondhand BTW

3 hours too late. Damn.

send the frame to that Hambini geezer and he can add orange to his little chart

I’ve found that the “tighten a bit” (like an 1/8 or 1/4 turn) and then “back it off” followed again by “tighten a bit” can help. Make sure every things greased well.

Cheers all, some food for thought and also reassurance that I shouldn’t be about to stuff my frame if I give it a bit of pillock. Sound advice about the tool as well, I bought a proper one after the mess I made last time!

Hope BB dont normally come with thread lock on them like some Shimano etc, so should just thread in fully by hand.

If it were me I would ensure the frame is clean, then run a BB tap through to clean up/straighten any damaged threads.

To prevent damaging the BB finish when torquing up I put something between the bb and the socket tool, masking tape, paper towel, thin bag etc.