Originally Posted by John E
The clockwise thread on the drive side is a modest manufacturing cost-saver and a significant engineering blunder. The French belatedly figured this out in the late 1970s, when Motobecane, and then Peugeot, switched over to Swiss threading.
I ALWAYS use BLUE (soft-setting) LocTite on my two self-loosening BBs: the UO-8 and the Bianchi. Neither has given me any trouble, but the BBs on my previous Bianchi and Peugeot DID come loose a couple of times while I rode. Fortunately, the Capo and the Schwinn are English/ISO-threaded, and the PKN-10 is Swiss-threaded.
Having said all that, cartridge bearings should ameliorate the situation by eliminating the direct epicyclic action of the ball bearings against the cup. Also, the one good thing I can say for French or Italian BB threading is that one can microadjust the chainline by using an adjustable cup and lockring on the drive side, as well as on the left.
John E-We corresponded on this topic some time ago. My Concorde has an It. BB. and is prone to loosening. I think that the problem now is compounded by the fact that the alloy holes that the tapered ends come through on the cups have been damaged by the loosening action over the years. I am now about to order a new BB, and was going towards Phil Woods. I would order to the exact spindle length of the present Edco BB, and I think they have one that has a right offset to match the present specs. Will the Phil Woods BB help to solve the loosenig problem by the nature of the ring method, or are the rings that Phil Woods uses just adjustable cups in another form?
I notice tha Phil Woods recommends blue loctite for the installation of their BB's in frames of certain materials. I had a loosening problem prior to loctite on the drive side only, and used blue on that side and tightened heavily. It did not come loose. But, since going fixed with this bike, I had loosening on the left side.
You are correct on the value of micro-adjusting of the right side on Italian BB's. On mine I moved the BB way to the left to get a proper chainline. Possibly the loosening of the left side cup had to do with the reverse speed tempering of the crank pedal action in braking effect, I do not know, but it seems to me that fixed riding must put more stress on the BB in general than non-fixed riding.