General Cycling Discussion - Can my Bottom Bracket be bad already?

I have a Cannondale R600 triple, i noticed yesterday that the Bottom Bracket sounds like crap when spinning it. I have almost 600 miles on it since May. The rain in NY sucks. Can i easily swap it out for a ultegra Bottom Bracket and Ultegra Crankset? What tools will i need? Do i need a different chain or cassette?

What kind of bb is it?

Are you sure it is the bb? Take the chain off the ring and spin the crank. Does it still sound and feel bad?

Bottom brackets should last for at least 5k mi and more typically 10-20kmi.
A few will not and some crap out in less time. Their life span should exceed that of the chainrings. YMMV. It should be easy, though not cheap to swap out to Ultegra BB/crankset. Tools will include wrenches for each side of the BB, and a crank puller. You will have to look at the BB to see what kind: some are hex, some are splined, some have two holes for pins, some have castellated nuts. (Ultegra is splined). Most have flats on the R for a 32mm wrench. Worst case is two sets of tools, one to remove the present and another to install the new BB. Chain and cassette are the same for either system. I was able to repair a Phil Wood sealed BB vintage '73 by popping the seals off the bearings, cleaning and relubing and replacing the seal. Might be worth a look when you get the Cannondale BB out, assuming it is sealed bearings. If not sealed then it may just need cleaning and adjusting. Check the forum "Bicycle Mechanics" then the first listing for
Barnett's Manual and look at the heading for bottom bracket. Steve

Sounds like a warrentee job.

The Ultegra BB and Crank is about $140 or so. My BB is a Shimano 4 taper and the ultegra is a 8 spline so i guess i need a whole lot of tools if i change it.