Bottom bracket installation - HELP!
 

Hi, so I broke my relatively new bottom bracket about a month ago, and have installed a new one yet again. The previous post about this is at the bottom of this post (different forum).
Now I've got my new bottom bracket in and installed, it's making a bit of a creaking noise (or it could be something else maybe!). I just want to confirm I am getting this right - as I am fairly sure the previous bottom bracket I broke was due to installation error! I have a sonder camino gravel bike with an sram 1x rival crankset and I am using the bottom bracket here (I bought the road version):

https://www.uberbikecomponents.com/v...3mm-Compatible

And it has instructions here:
https://www.uberbikecomponents.com/d...ttingGuide.pdf

You can see the instructions are only for road 2x or 3x, but I am on 1x! I followed the instructions for the 2x set up for road with the spacers as described. Was I supposed to set up it up as the MTB instructions? I am baffled, as I read somewhere I should buy the SRAM GXP Road bottom bracket and I am trying to follow the instructions - and I am guessing that the MTB instructions are for a 1x? I have read so many different things about different GXP bottom brackets with different spacers, I'm confused!

Thanks in advance!

----Post from ~ 1 month ago, elsewhere:

Hi,

I've got an SRAM 1x rival groupset. I was cycling up a steep hill today and heard a loud crack as I was putting force on the pedals. After that point, the crank arm was a little wobbly, particularly on the drive side. I limped home.

At home I removed the crank arm. The side with the chainring had the "cartridge" of the bottom bracket stuck to the spindle. I spent some time prying it off with a flat head screwdriver. It seems that the cartridge came out of the bottom bracket, and that was the sound of the crack. I tried to push the cartridge back into the bottom bracket but no look, it didn't fit. I then used a rubber mallet to see if it just needed some forcing, but still no luck. After prying it off the spindle, I know I must have damaged it - I was just hammering it in to see if it would fit in again.

Is this an installation error or a faulty bottom bracket. I recently changed it (i've since done probably around 300+ miles on it) and it seemed fine - no sound that I was concerned about - this is the one I used: "Uberbike GXP Bottom Bracket - Black. Truvativ SRAM GXP MTB/Road 68/73mm Compatible". I had tightened the bolt on the none drive side crank arm as tight as I could when I installed (it's supposed to be ~50 Nm and I don't have a torque wrench for that!), and it was still very tight when I got home today and loosened it to remove it.

I've attached some photos:

https://imgur.com/a/YLhzwPK

A bit baffled and concerned as to how this happened. I'm going to get a new BB and install it (properly this time?) but this was the first time I'd replaced the BB on this bike.

Thanks in advance!

i have NEVER seen a Bottom bracket break like you describe... and i've NEVER bought an "uber" brand bottom bracket.
see the correlation there?

Solution: buy an Actual, Genuine SRAM/Truvativ GXP Bottom Bracket..

I would have, only I am part of a facebook group with fellow sonder bike owners and they all recommended uber, hence my choice. All I've read is good things, apparently higher quality then the genuine BB from SRAM (and I actually think more expensive?!).

I'm just assuming I am installing it wrong..

and what are you assuming that you did that was "wrong?"

the things screw into threads, and even if you get the cups cross-threaded, that still won't make them crack and fail.

and now you're clinging to advice from a small group of customers that bought an odd brand of bikes, over the advice of a professional mechanic...?

suit yourself.
i just surfed Uber's site... the UberParts store is in between a chinese restaurant, an exercycle location, and some business named "Play-World Explorers", and a couple other small cafes... in a small strip mall building.

interestingly... a few of their smaller parts feature a "Made in Sheffield" sub-branding... the Bottom Brackets aren't included on that page.
i'd guess that they order rebranded parts from chinese manufacturers, then jack up the price to you, the end customer... and you bought substandard chinese alloy that fails easily..

lots of pretty anodized colors to choose between fits that guess to a tee.

and the 1-2-3x thing you've mentioned is irrelevant.

“For bearings, we have selected to use carbon steel over standard chrome steel bearings for their superior hardness and increased load capacity, offering a higher (what does “higher” mean?) life cycle which makes them an ideal choice for mountain and road bike bottom brackets (so the fact carbon steel rusts much more easily isn’t a bit of a downer for said application?), with the 2 rubber seals acting as a barrier to help lock out dirt and ingress (of what?), whilst keeping the lubrication trapped inside. (I think they mean lubricant)”

A bit fishy.

The only thing that could cause your problem, imvho, is that NDS (8mm iirc?) bolt being way less than 40Nm. And to be fair, with no torque wrench, 40Nm is hard to judge, it’s a lot.

But if the bearing has siezed up, maybe that could cause a similar issue.

Who installed the original BB which failed and what manufacturer was that?

Thank you. You may be right and I've just misjudged this company! I've emailed them to see if they can give me any more info... I thought they were a well known brand (in the UK, at least...?) but I could be wrong.

That BB works with 68mm or 73mm shells so if your shell is 68mm you don't need any spacers but if it's 73mm you'll need to use the spacers as appropriate. If you're using road cranks on a 73mm shell the spindle will be too short. If you're using road cranks on a 68mm wheel but have installed the unnecessary spacers then your crank won't bolt up right enough (or loosen easily during riding). Not sure if you've got it right or not and also not sure if it has anything to do with you creaking.

Your previous failure is an odd one I've never seen it before nor have any idea what caused it. Could be related to what you're hearing now or could be independent.

Thanks. I have bought myself a torque wrench now and definitely hitting the 50Nm torque. The original BB was an SRAM GXP (original I think) and it was just creaking a lot and maybe a slightly wobble (can't remember for sure). I replaced it with an uberbike one, which then broke as in the images in my post (no torque wrench, tighten as tight as I can). So now I've replaced it again but this time using a torque wrench and some spacers.

Going to take it apart today and give it a clean/examine

Bilz don't believe everything (anything) you read on Face Book.

it's a mind virus. buy a real SRAM or other quality unit and keep on smiling.

Save yourself a lot of trouble.

/markp

I haven’t heard of them (I’m in the UK) but they look like maybe they’re more likely to be well known in the north of England, I’m south of London.

This is a MTB crank on a 73mm shell then is it? Hence the spacers? Edit: oh I see what you mean about the road crank spacers they say you should use. Smaller ones. Ok. Don’t know why they put specific 2x and 3x instructions since they’re the same. And even more concerning since the product page says “Note - not compatible with triple chainring chainsets.”
So do you have a road or mtb 1x crankset?

"well known" and "quality" can be two separate ratings.
a tiny store front in sheffield can't produce thousands of anodized Aluminum (Aluminium ;-) )parts.
the small round pieces labeled "Made in Sheffield" might very well be produced in Sheffield, but the majority of their parts aren't so labaled, and that tiny store front isn't where the round bits are spit out.

Looks like these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007057788225.html

daing! a dollar apiece?

yeah, but how much is Shipping?
don't answer that.

No warranty on the first set that failed?

Did you assemble with parts 4, 5 and 6 in the manner shown in the directions? The sleeve, spacer and o-ring?

So it is a 68mm shell and road cranks. 1x SRAM rival. When I put it side by side with the original SRAM GXP bottom bracket that came with the bike, I can see that the distance between the inside of the cups are different - unless I put the spacers in. So I am guessing that is why I need the spacer(s).

I am north England based and I am part of a Sonder Camino owners group on facebook - so that's where I got the referral. Now obviously questioning whether that was the right choice!

Sure looks similar. I didn't get a colourful one though. But then, aside from the colours, these all look pretty similar, right - regardless of which brand.

I'm not saying I didn't buy cheap chinese products from a UK supplier but if I did it would be nice to confirm it!

I did that exactly (this time round). Not the first time round because I was reading that you shouldn't need to use spacers for SRAM GXP. Given that I didn't do it the first time round though, I have tried this time. I also see that the distance between the inner of the cups differs a bit between the SRAM GXP bottom bracket and the uber bike bottom bracket, which is probably why I need the spacer.

I watched a hambini youtube video yesterday where he slated the design of SRAM GXP and he shows that on SRAM GXP the non drive side bearing floats and there was a bit of wiggle room. I wonder whether this is what caused by initial issue - too much wiggle because not enough spacers...

This was for GXP BBs - I see that your BB is not a true GXP BB so you'll need the spacers that you mentioned in the instructions. Don't worry about your crank being 1x - it has the same spindle length as SRAM GXP 2x. Good luck.

I think that’s why they normally use a wave washer. Assume this job is done by the o-ring on this BB.

You don't use a wave washer with GXP unless you have loosely pressed in bearings, like BB86. And then it is just to keep the right bearing in place.

The OP didn't assemble his BB correctly, ignoring the Uber directions in favor of SRAM directions. That's likely why it failed.

Aha yes my GXP is pressfit. Thanks for the correction.

Thanks! I did install following the road 2x instructions in the uberbike instructions this time round, so fingers crossed!

Funnily enough, I emailed uberbikes over the weekend and they responded today suggesting I install according to the MTB instructions, haha! I am not so confident about that... They left a phone number so I will call tomorrow and I will update!

I should add that, in case i didn't say this already, I can't be sure the creaking is from my BB. It's on and off, and in the past I've found the source elsewhere (loose thru axle "hangar", for example). This thread was to check that I am not missing something during installation. The creak could very well be coming from something else and I just haven't figured it out yet.

Did you grease everything? Threads, axles, etc?