Originally Posted by
NukeouT
I actually had a critical (old style BB) faliure couple weeks ago when I fell in cleats. Fell once to the right, fell once to the left, opened up BB couple days later to find both bearing retainers were sheared open like flowers. Im just glad that they kept the bearings away from free floating in the middle, otherwise my crank would have siezed up in traffic. So yeah, now im moving up into the world of sealed BBs which are safer, more durable, and almost maitenence free.
those bearing retainers only help hold the bearings during installation.
in a cup and cone BB, the bearings are actually held in place by the bearing races (think about it for a second, it has to be this way to work...)
back in the 'good ol days', we would pull the bearing "cages" out, and toss in slightly larger ball bearings for increased durability.
In all likelihood, your bearing cages were screwed up for a long time before your falls. Those things always failed eventually.