The bike that was promoted to primary rider in dry months has cutouts in the BB shell.

Not problem in the 20th century as I would have used a sleeve in the shell and would have pulled the bearings for service frequently.

But, with a cartridge BB, there’s little reason to pull the BB.

Except, I did recently remove the BB while swapping cranks.

The shell was filled with road grit, pine needles, and other bits that are best left un described.

Shell was cleaned and is ready for the BB to be reinstalled.

In the future, so as to avoid carrying around a small landfill, I’d like to make sure the cutouts are at least semi closed.

I considered using duct tape, but that offends event my low aesthetic standards. Do I trim an old BB sleeve so it will fit? Use a playing card that will mimic the cut out? Or only ride the bike on Wednesdays, which is when trash gets moved around in my neighborhood?