Bicycle Mechanics - Bottom Bracket Explanation And Related Help Please

Hi, as you can tell by my number of postings, im really really new to all of this. I've been riding a MTB since I was 8 with no idea how it works. I've been researching fiendishly on different parts of a bike (primarly a fixie so i can just know the basics) but i cannot wrap my head around the concept of a BB.

How does a BB work? How can you tell what BB fits with what crankset. Can a phil wood fit to a shimano crankset? and vice versa? Whats the difference with campy and shimano? I checked the glossary on Sheldon Browns website and wiki BB's but i still dont understand them. Any help would be greatly appreciated though! :thumb:

Honestly the best way to figure this out is by taking one apart. Hunt garage sales on Saturdays, buy a cheap 5 dollar, rusted, x-mart bike (even a kids bike, those go for 3 dollars). Take a wrench to it, remove all the parts, and see how it works.

That being said, cheap ones work like this: You have a single crank arm (these connect to your pedals). The crank arm has threading on the axil that holds two cones (one on each side facing inwards towards the middle of the BB). The cone pushes up against the ball bearings and the ball bearings push up against the ball bearing cup. That's it.

Now, go take one apart and see for yourself.

Concerning BB sizes, etc. They don't all intermix (found that out tonight actually.... and heck, they were both Huffy's...). Check the specs to see what matches with what.

ahaha i ordered a windsor hour about 3 days ago. I'll take apart the BB first chance i get. I heard i need to replace them asap anyways.