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Old 09-28-11 | 08:57 PM
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matimeo
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 808
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From: Beaverton, OR

Bikes: It's the motor, not the bike, right?

FSA External Bearing Crank Adjustment

My new bike has the following crank: FSA Gossamer MegaEXO External Bearing

Bike came from bikes direct. I've never played with one of these before so I didn't disassemble when I put the bike together (didn't have the tool). When I was at the LBS I bought the tool to remove it. I noticed a lot of clicking the last few days when riding that I had a hunch was coming from the BB (only happening when on the bike, mostly when pumping harder). I took it all apart tonight on a whim, regreased and reassembled. (By the way, it was mostly greased ok, but the bearing cups had cheap greenish lube that seemed flaky and dry- maybe that's what it's supposed to look like, but I didn't think so).

After reassembling while the chain was still off, I spun the crank arms. With a good throw they would spin around a couple of times (2-3) and stop. I thought maybe they should spin a little more freely than that. They didn't bind at all or feel like there was any noticeable resistance, but didn't seem to spin completely freely. So my question I guess is if I might have tightened the bearing cups too tight? I cranked down on them fairly hard, but not more than once they didn't move with a decent effort (sorry for the terrible description) I noticed the one on the left seemed a tad loose when I disassembled. The instructions that came with the bike for the crank said to tighten to 355-445 in. lbs., which seems like a lot. Can anybody with more experience than me on this give me some feedback? Buy a torque wrench or not that big of a deal? I just rode it around the neighborhood and didn't hear any clicking.

Thanks,
M
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