Help- Ultegra 6600 crank install
 

I had my LBS put the BB in properly first. I greased the axle part of the 2-piece crank
and installed it in the BB. It feels like theres too much resistance when I turn the cranks.

Did I use too much grease? What could be the problem?

No they are quite tight when you first install them, there's nothing you can do wrong in this respect, unless you have overtightened the left hand crank arm cover. The rating is for 4Nm but this varies with each crank. You need to feel when the crank is getting harder to turn. That's when you should back the cap off a bit. Don't worry about it falling off though, the two pinch bolts will secure it. The cap is merely a bearing adjuster. To give you an example, my Ultegra cranks turn 2 or 3 revolutions max. with well over two thousand miles on them.

Hope this helps.

Check if the LBS Faced the BB Shell, and if they didn't if they have the tools to do so. Depending on the starting quality of the frame this operation could yield an improvement in the smoothness of the crank's spin.

They did face it- theyre a top notch shop

Just checking to be sure. At this point I'd say +1 to the doublechecking of pretension on the bearings. You don't need much! Also no matter what they will not spin quite as freely as, say, Truvativ GigaXPipe cranks due to the fact the bearings are spacered to the correct size. If this really bothers you Enduro sells some better fitting bearings but that's more cash.

My general rule of thumb is if the spindle-holding arm is the only one in the bike, and falls down to 6-o-clock, then the bearings are OK. After that point it's all up to the Preload cap being adjusted properly.

Yep, I'd agree with that. It's hard to describe the amount of movement you should get but that's pretty well spot on. If you're expecting the sort of movement you used to get out of conventional BB bearings like the Octalinks and such like then you may as well give up now. My cranks are nowhere near that free. Which I think is good because they're so much less flexy in the power transfer. Buttery smooth is what you're after, silent operation and TO11MTM's assessment is bob on for my money.

Thanks all- I thought these cranks (off the chain) would spin freely for many rotations.
It is true, they are 'buttery smooth'. Thanks for the info.

'Buttery smooth' - technical term. Right though!