Originally Posted by
scarleton
I, personally, didn't repack the bottom bracket, my LBS did. They have tightened it a number of times and each time I would ride about 2 miles and it would make sounds again and there is a lot of play in it, as well. I am assuming that it is just simply warn out.
The history is that I stopped riding it back around 2001 and only returned to cycling last year. I had the bike overhauled by one LBS last spring. It didn't take long for the bottom bracket to make noise and become loose. I rode all of last season that way, well over 1000 miles.
This spring I took it to another shop to get some drops put on it, they repacked it, too. Same thing, by the end of the first real ride it was loose and making noise. Twice they tightened it and both times within miles it was back to being loose.
Sounds to me like the people at the shops you've gone to don't know what they are doing.
I'd wager that the people who worked on your bike were born after cartridge bottom brackets were introduced and they don;t work on them much, and they don't know how to inspect, clean, lubricate, and adjust a bottom bracket properly. Did they change the bearings? I guessing that they didn't lubricate the bearings properly, and they probably did not adjust the bottom bracket properly when they were done. I'm guessing that they left it too loose, and did not replace the ball bearings.