Originally Posted by
desastar
You may want to get the bike shop to check the BB anyway. I happened to have removed the cranks of my wife's as new B and found the BB to be very stiff, you could hardly turn with your fingers. The serial number was just before the range being recalled, so I decided to replace with a Shimano one. But surprisingly, once out of the frame, it spins fine but not when installed. I suspect the non drive side cup cannot be tightened fully as it compresses on the bearing? Thats the only explanation I can come up with. Anyway, the Shimano one is better quality.
Difficulty to turn a mounted BB with fingers grabbing the axle is very normal as fingers cannot deliver much torque. Even a slight push of the cup against the bearing or axle can make rotation with fingers difficult. For pedaling this is completely irrelevant as pedaling legs deliver humongous torque by comparison.