I can only feel this "notchiness" when I take the crank out and put my finger in there and rotate the bearing. Can't feel any notchiness through the crank - the crank rotates smoothly. It's not a sharp tick nor anything, doesn't make noise, just feels notchy when moving the bearing with my finger.

It's a Deore external bearing, the kind that has a sealed bearing inside the assembly that screws into the frame, and has a warning "do not remove bearing" or something.



It's a couple years old, maybe 15,000 miles. It's possible I over tightened it - a year ago had a creak down there, took everything apart, cleaned and greased, then reassembled - fixed creak - I didn't remove the bearings from the housing that screws into the frame.

Is this notchiness, normal? Caused by overtightening? Normal wear?