Originally Posted by Andrew R Stewart

A small rant or eye opening- Often we reply with advice that is based on what we would have done when the bike was bought or initially assembled. for BBs this is stuff like plenty of grease, good bearing preloading, well machined BB shell, corrosion resistant cup to shell prep. But the VAST majority of bike out in the real world don't have this attention to details when assembled or sold. The cost pressures to get the product out and the benefits of a best prepped bike are lost in the real world for, maybe, 9o%. That left over 10% sold through your LBS has only slightly more attention to out of box assembly, and believe me when i say that nearly no shops take apart already assembled aspects of a new bike.

In my world I see all types of issues that if had been better assembled, initially better addressed or after the miles racked up were serviced by a skilled wrench would never grow as quickly or be as much as a surprise as they seem to be by all the posts we read here. So, while our advice is more often good stuff we need to understand that very few bikes meet our personal standards. Disappointing, yes, but more and more cost of doing business rules over the right stuff. Andy