Bottom Bracket life?
11-23-18, 05:46 PM
#1
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Bottom Bracket life?
I know this is dependent on riding styles and environmental factors, but after how many miles should a BB be changed out, or rather, how long of a life are you folks getting out of your BBs? Is just spinning it without hearing grinding or detecting friction good enough indicators? I'm interested in both road and mtb life info. Thanks.
EDIT: Upon reading the responses below, I should mention that I have cartridge type on all my bikes.
EDIT: Upon reading the responses below, I should mention that I have cartridge type on all my bikes.
Last edited by bikeme; 11-24-18 at 01:32 AM.
11-23-18, 06:26 PM
#2
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Bottom bracket lifespan? Indefinite if serviced at appropriate intervals. Like the Sugino cups and spindle on my 1973 Gitane. Fresh grease and balls roughly yearly.
OTOH, I've seen cartridge BBs fail after a few weeks, when the owner decided to wash his bike with a pressure washer, or drive in the rain at highway speeds with the bike on a rack. Or in the aftermath of a century charity ride in the rain.
Remember that although modern cartridge units keep water out better than the old-style cup and cone units, they also keep water in. And when water does get in, they are difficult to impossible to service.
OTOH, I've seen cartridge BBs fail after a few weeks, when the owner decided to wash his bike with a pressure washer, or drive in the rain at highway speeds with the bike on a rack. Or in the aftermath of a century charity ride in the rain.
Remember that although modern cartridge units keep water out better than the old-style cup and cone units, they also keep water in. And when water does get in, they are difficult to impossible to service.
11-23-18, 06:42 PM
#3
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There are like 10-15 different kinds/styles of bb types. My winter beater commuter bikes still work with the square taper cartridge shimano un 54 ( I think) Depends on miles. And such. Never kept track of miles on such things. I do not however, ride my mt bike in water over the bb. Just replace as needed.
11-23-18, 07:43 PM
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I've got 3 bikes from the 80's, one from 90. All with cup n' cone. Cleaned and replaced grease and balls 1-2 years , depending on mileage. Two of those bikes, have been up graded to cartridge and Hollowtech II, do to installing modern cranksets. Other bikes are newer, with Hollowtech II BB, so no data on those and can be replaced inexpensively and easily . KB
11-23-18, 07:47 PM
#5
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As far as sealed bearing/cartridge ones, my foul weather bike's bb goes for about 10,000 miles before it feels like a coffee grinder. I have a Campy record sealed unit that is around the 65,000 mile mark and is still spinning smooth.
11-24-18, 06:39 AM
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My old 1996 Novarra saw about 3000 miles a year for the 22 years I owned it. I changed the BB cartridge once, and that was preventively before one of the cross-country trips I took on it.
11-24-18, 07:14 AM
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I have cup and spindle BBs in use that are close to 50 years old and have many tens of thousands of miles behind them. There were only two reasons I have ever replaced a BB: 1) Cartridge unit that self destructed and 2) I wanted to change a cup and spindle unit from cottered to square taper. As convenient as the sealed cartridge units are, they are disposable like a lot of other things these days.
11-24-18, 07:23 AM
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Originally Posted by bikeme
I know this is dependent on riding styles and environmental factors, but after how many miles should a BB be changed out, or rather, how long of a life are you folks getting out of your BBs? Is just spinning it without hearing grinding or detecting friction good enough indicators? I'm interested in both road and mtb life info. Thanks.
EDIT: Upon reading the responses below, I should mention that I have cartridge type on all my bikes.
EDIT: Upon reading the responses below, I should mention that I have cartridge type on all my bikes.
I also see a lot of old bottom brackets at my local co-op and few of them are bad.
And, yes, for cartridge types, as long as they are smooth, they are good.
Originally Posted by Dave Mayer
Bottom bracket lifespan? Indefinite if serviced at appropriate intervals. Like the Sugino cups and spindle on my 1973 Gitane. Fresh grease and balls roughly yearly.
OTOH, I've seen cartridge BBs fail after a few weeks, when the owner decided to wash his bike with a pressure washer, or drive in the rain at highway speeds with the bike on a rack. Or in the aftermath of a century charity ride in the rain.
Remember that although modern cartridge units keep water out better than the old-style cup and cone units, they also keep water in. And when water does get in, they are difficult to impossible to service.
Most of the cartridge type bottom brackets aren’t meant to be serviced at all. If they seize, they are replaced. The difference is that it takes years of abuse to have one fail so their “disposability” compared to loose ball BB is quite low.
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Stuart Black
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Days of Wineless Roads. Bed and Breakfasting along the KATY
Twisting Down the Alley. Misadventures in tornado alley.
11-24-18, 11:29 AM
#9
Banned
specifics?
BITD there were zirk kits, grease in center, clean, pushed the contaminated grease out
for loose ball
but as a cartridge BB unstated is which one ?
UN26 lt gets tossed .. your time is not worth time and effort trying to pop it apart
and re grease it..
there are past posts showing how to overhaul and regrease those,
if your down time weighs on you.. and you need a challenge..
Preparatory rather than remedial?
I Put O rings on the spindles of my square taper campagnolo cartridge BB,,
a seal outside, so contamination wont go inside..
Phil Wood Co. now has dust / mud shields to go inside their mounting rings ,
and those can be O ring double sealed that way too..
.....
for loose ball
but as a cartridge BB unstated is which one ?
UN26 lt gets tossed .. your time is not worth time and effort trying to pop it apart
and re grease it..
there are past posts showing how to overhaul and regrease those,
if your down time weighs on you.. and you need a challenge..
Preparatory rather than remedial?
I Put O rings on the spindles of my square taper campagnolo cartridge BB,,
a seal outside, so contamination wont go inside..
Phil Wood Co. now has dust / mud shields to go inside their mounting rings ,
and those can be O ring double sealed that way too..
.....
11-24-18, 11:56 AM
#10
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I had a bb60 HollowTech go bad after 2500 miles. Knock, knock with every pedal stroke. That was surprising. My cartridge un55 & the like usually get gritty at 2500-5000 miles. I only had 1 that lasted 10,000 and is was so bad the crank arms actually had backlash side to side.
Ymmv.
Ymmv.
11-24-18, 01:23 PM
#11
Hello
Bearing (NTN I think) went bad on Phil Wood at about 75,000 miles. Replaced with over the counter cheap Chinese bearings. We will see how long they last, right now they have about 5,000.
11-24-18, 09:14 PM
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Originally Posted by bikeme
I know this is dependent on riding styles and environmental factors . . .
11-25-18, 11:10 AM
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A good way to tell if a BB needs replacing is to take the chain off the chainrings, lay your ear on the saddle, and spin the crankset. You'll either hear the bearings whirring smoothly, or you'll get snaps, crackles, and pops.
11-25-18, 01:38 PM
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Hint...if you ride in foul weather, your BB service life will be much longer with full-coverage fenders.
Short service life says more about how bad a weather/conditions you ride in rather than about the parts themselves....except for those crappy Campag AC-H units that were just junk.
Short service life says more about how bad a weather/conditions you ride in rather than about the parts themselves....except for those crappy Campag AC-H units that were just junk.
11-26-18, 04:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Dave Mayer
OTOH, I've seen cartridge BBs fail after a few weeks, when the owner decided to wash his bike with a pressure washer, or drive in the rain at highway speeds with the bike on a rack. Or in the aftermath of a century charity ride in the rain.
.
.
Highly dubious about a wet century as well. The bb baering would have had to have already been very compromised.
11-26-18, 10:22 AM
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Ride 'em until they wear out, and don't worry about them. Or replace them right before a big trip like @andrewclaus.
I replaced two in one year, one at about 30,000 and the other around 9,000 miles. LBS put in UN-52s they had in stock. The experience of doing without each bike while the penetrating oil worked was so upsetting I bought two more, expensive SKF kinds, figuring I'd put them in when those wore out and forget about it for a long while. That was about six years and 42,000 miles ago -- the SKF BBs are still sitting in the box waiting to go in.
I replaced two in one year, one at about 30,000 and the other around 9,000 miles. LBS put in UN-52s they had in stock. The experience of doing without each bike while the penetrating oil worked was so upsetting I bought two more, expensive SKF kinds, figuring I'd put them in when those wore out and forget about it for a long while. That was about six years and 42,000 miles ago -- the SKF BBs are still sitting in the box waiting to go in.
11-26-18, 10:37 AM
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Originally Posted by bikeme
EDIT: Upon reading the responses below, I should mention that I have cartridge type on all my bikes.
- Square taper cartridges: Last me about a decade.
- External bearing BB's: A couple years.
11-26-18, 08:08 PM
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Regular maintenance is all it takes. My one and only ride is 34 years old (bought it new) and it still looks and operates as well as it did on day one.
Jon
Jon
