Originally Posted by
ryanwood
I must admit that I have no idea what it means to "face" the bb shell. I will ask the guys at the shop if they checked to make sure it was square.
"Facing" the shell is usually done immediately after tapping/chasing the threads. Either a pilot sleeve or the taps themselves are used to align a cutting tool than ensures that the outer edges ("faces") of the BB shell are precisely perpendicular to the BB thread axis. If this is not done, the BB bearings will either bind or be loose at some point in the rotation cycle.