Campag4life

You seem to struggle with it but others don't.

Hypno Toad

Thanks, I got it; bikes with BB30s should be kept under glass only brought out for the most perfectly dry and clean conditions. God forbid one would expose this delicate machine to any harsh dust or an abusive drop of water. Only the gods of wrenching can ride a 'real' bike, the rest must ride rusty Walmart bikes.

Ok, I'm done with the snark and sarcasm. I've given you your point - BB30 isn't all crap. But you struggle to understand many people do have issue, so we're all idiots with crappy LBSs? Get over your blind arrogance. You've given me nothing I can't find in a 5 second Google search. If you can't get over yourself, you can refrain from posting replies to my questions.

rpenmanparker 

You are being intentionally difficult and dense. No one said anything like what you are concluding. BB30 systems are not sensitive to weather and environment as you continue to suggest. It is all about using Locitite and only about that. You do it right and the BB30 behaves like any other. You don't and you RISK an early failure. Not only that but the job is easy not hard. If it is not done right, it isn't because it is hard to do or special skill is needed. All that is needed is to follow the best practice, which any mechanic including an amateur can do if he isn't too stubborn to follow the direction. You don't want to believe the demonstrated truth, that's fine. Only you lose.

Campag4life

My personal experience is the strongest riders are more mechanically clueless. People have different talents. The problem arises when people that aren't technical like you make sweeping accusations against a given design without foundation. You of course are entitled to your opinion based upon your single data point when since the whole industry of the best race bikes on the planet are BB30, you are overruled...lol.

No not all that struggle with BB30 are idiots...far from it. I suppose you could play the guitar like Hendrix and struggle with BB30...or write poetry...or be a grommet cook...or an opera singer....or a great writer. BB30 is about as simple a BB that has been devised and is dead reliable if installed properly and greased and much more cost effective than other BB solutions is all. People have all kinds of weird ideas.

dleccord

My 2005 Cannondale Six13 is BB30.

Still works fine and creak-free till this day.

e_guevara

My 2011 CAAD 10 is BB30. After bringing it home from the LBS, I reinstalled the bearings along with a new crankset. Didn't use Loctite with the bearings.

4500 km (2800 mi) of group rides, sprints, and climbs later it is still creak free. The bike has been ridden in the rain several times as well. The only cleaning I do on the BB is flossing out the grit and grime near crank/spindle with a rag.

Proper installation is key to getting it creak-free. I guess was also lucky to have a good BB shell and properly fitting bearings.

Campag4life

If you have a favorable press tolerance which is a statistical lottery and you aren't a 2000 watt rider, then your BB30 bearings may stay quiet. Also depends how well seated the bearings were upon installation and how well adjusted crank preload is. Loctite somewhat 'desensitizes' the design to creaking but if BB30 bearings have insufficient grease or too much lateral play aka insufficient preload, like any BB, it can still creak. Some simple steps assures success...and half way decent bearings. Bearings can be bad right from the factory also. Higher class bearings are just that and will last longer and have reduced rotating friction.

rpenmanparker 

I think what you are calling a favorable press tolerance/statistical lottery is another way of saying that multiple anecdotes do not constitute a valid data set. Like the guy who drinks a quart of whiskey a day and lives to be 110. Trouble is most folks have no idea what you are talking about. If something works the one time they care about, it must be right. There is no cure for it.

Campag4life

If you think about it, both sides are represented here. One guy does is wrong and BB30 creaks. A second member said he installed his bearings with only grease aka he did it wrong and no creaking. Btw, doing it wrong and having it work properly is referred to as design robustness which is the resilence of the design to work in unfavorable circumstances. This is the dynamic often complained about with BB30. Most times, if you install BB30 wrong, it will creak. People don't like that.

elcruxio

I would like to point out that not all BB30 creaks are in the bearing itself. Two times I have had the BB30 develop a horrible ticking creak and two times I have taken off the crankset, cleaned everything off properly (man was that it dirty...) and added a generous amount of grease in the assembly. The NDS crank spindle interface in FSA cranksets is critical and needs to be greased well or creaks may occur, and you can break your crankset while torquing it down if you assemble it dry as well.

Did not need to take off bearings (phew, I don't really want to do that since loctite 609 is darn expensive), just the crank and everything is running quiet and smooth as butter. I have noticed that the bearings in my 2011 crux comp were assembled with green loctite so that has probably kept them creak free and in perfect working order until to this day.

Campag4life

Good point and some cranks are more sensitive to left arm creak than others where the left crank arm attaches to the spindle. Shimano are about the best in this regard because of double pinch bolt and straight spline.

Not to critique you but some advice...honestly, you should have greased the bearings when you had your crank off to clean the NDS arm interface. This is common practice. Some pre-emptively remove the inner seal on BB30 bearings and regrease the bearings from the inside upon service. If bearings are double sealed and no seals are perfect to prevent contamination and can trap water and dirt if depleted in grease in particular, then removal of at least the outboard seal, clean and regrease...can use a tooth brush and mineral spirits is in order if you want good bearing life moving forward. This is no different than the practice used on road wheel cartridge bearings...or roller blade bearings which normally use lightweight oil. Do not remove the bearings i.e. break the Loctite bond to clean the bearings. You service the bearings installed in the BB shell. Easy. Just need to know the right moves.
HTH

Hypno Toad

I would like to thank most of the people posting, most posts are giving positive and encouraging feedback and are helping me build some faith in the BB30. When I made my first post on Monday, I was frustrated and most of you have helped me get some perspective. I was in my shop last night with a different bike (dirt-bag stole the rear wheel off my daughter's bike) ... and talked about the Felt, I'm giving the BB30 another chance before making any major changes. I hope it will be years and thousands of miles before I have any updates to post here.

What is not helpful:
You just met me and you're kicking my shop under the bus. Plus, I can find this information with the very top result from Google - Park Tool Co. » ParkTool Blog » BB30 Bearing System Service

or

Well, OK it's helpful to ID the 'know-it-all' in the forum. The simplest and most cost effective BB is threaded (you've said this) and the stiffness and weight improvements of the BB30 are imperceptible to nearly every rider (you've acknowledged this).

There are over 135 posts in this tread: "Okay....so why is BB30 such crap?" and it started in November 2011; or this thread started in September 2011: https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/772048-new-cannondale-bb30-crap.html with 337 posts. I am not going to take the time to dig any deeper in to the forums, but I'm sure these aren't the only one talking about issue with the BB30. I (& my mechanic) are not the only people having issues with this BB and these issues are not new this year.

Now, I'm going to post my thoughts about helmets, this is less likely to see people get their undies in a massive bunch.

rpenmanparker 

Do I understand you recommend PERMANENTLY removing in inboard seal? That way grease can be applied from the opposite side of the BB shell when the crank is pulled but balls are still fairly well protected from dirt and water entry by the seal that faces out. If that is what you are saying, that is pretty neat.

WhyFi

To this day, some BB30 installation guides specify only grease and don't mention loctite, so maybe easing up a bit is in order.

Bob Dopolina 

Tres olde school.

I used to do this with all my hubs that had injection ports. In fact, I even drilled out some of the early Specialized sealed bearing threaded hubs so that I could blow through solvent and then oil.

Campag4life

When you say guides, WhyFi...what do you mean? Do you have any frame manufacturer service manual references that spec grease only for BB30 bearing installation? If so, please post them with date of origin.

Campag4life

That's right. Its elective. You see most bearings come with a seal on both sides. But a completely sealed bearing is a two sided coin. Seals help keep ingression down but also will trap water and grit that gets in. Biggest reason for bearing failure is lack of grease. Water + grit displaces grease. Full of grease, no room for water + crud.
There is no such thing as perfectly sealed bearings and maintenance based upon riding conditions is key. For example, I choose to avoid rain riding but get caught once in a while and so my maintenance schedule doesn't have to be as frequent as those that ride through rain, crud and salt all the time.

Campag4life

fify

WhyFi

If you look at SRAMs service resources, use the checkbox to filter for Road products and BBs, neither the 2010 Technical Manual nor the 2012 Red Cranksets Users Manual (neither of which have been superseded) specifies anything other than grease.

Campag4life

How about bike manufacturers? I don't recall any that spec grease for BB30 bearings installation.
What frameset do you ride?

rpenmanparker 

I just noticed you only have 15 posts on bikeforums.net. If you had been around longer you would know that nobody here knows more about bottom brackets, esp. BB30 and other press fits, than Campag4life. You have a problem, and you have been given the most up-to-date and effective solution. But it is not good enough for you, because your main purpose is not to solve your problem but to complain about it. Your second purpose seems to defend the bike shop that despite its best efforts is not doing the job for you. What is the upside of that? You know what they say is the definition of crazy right? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Well, carry on.

WhyFi

Man, you're reaching. Look at the Cannondale Crankset Manuals, then.

redlude97

Maybe I missed it but doesn't the cannondale manual say to use loctite?

rpenmanparker 

I didn't see any reference there to BB30 systems. Did I just miss it? There is one instruction in Accessories to Loctiting the PF30 cups into a BB shell, but that is the closest I see to the topic here.

Lazyass

I'm on almost 3000 miles creak free using nothing but grease and the original bearings. You told me specifically that the way I did it was, quote, "very wrong". I know the arrogance on this forum is higher than on 99% of the internet, but this takes the cake. Locktiting your freaking bearings into the frame should be a last resort. If my cranks start creaking in two weeks then guess what, I'm fine with that. I have no problem servicing my bottom bracket every 3000 miles.