I just installed my first crankset with external bearings. It's a FSA compact crankset that came with the bearing cups. It turns out I even had the right socket style tool to tighten them down. What's somewhat disturbing is the cranks are exhibiting a high degree of resistance to turning. I've noticed that the newer cartridge style BB are a much stiffer than the old style (e.g. silky smooth Campy) but this setup is easily double the resistance of even a cartridge. I doubt I could get the crank to spin freely more than one revolution.

What should I check on the install to verify it's working correctly?

Thanks!

Check the torque you applied to the external-bearings you istalled. Check with your manual of ask FSA what the correct torque is. And use a torque-wrench. Most people install these at 1/3rd to 1/2 the correct torque. And check the rest of the crankset as well.

Other than this - external-bearings are often tight at first. They will loosen up in time as you ride.

Another possibility is alignment. External bearing cranks are very sensitive and the bottom bracket shell ends must be parallel and in line to very tight tolerances. You might have to have the shell faced.

Most people don't tighten them enough? I haven't had a torque wrench for years. The cups only tightened down 1/2 turn or so from hand tight.

It's the same torque as you would need when installing a shimano cartridge square taper bb - 30, 35nm. The first thing you need to check is if the bottom bracket is faced. If it isn't, don't even bother troubleshooting torque yet. It's a complete waste of time.

"bottom bracket is faced" - how is that checked? The frame is a 2009 Ritchey Breakaway steel frame and seems to be of good quality. The cups installed much smoother than any other new frame I've encountered.

THIS

Also, were there any shims installed on the crank axle? I'm not familiar with that particular installation but, you might have to leave out a shim if installing the arms is what is causing the binding. Does the ales spin freely with no arms installed? If so, it's a shim issue, if not, you probably need to face the bottom bracket shell.

Visually inspect the shell face. You'll need to back the cups out at least a little to see this. If you don't know what proper facing looks like, take a picture and post it

Operator is correct regarding the fact that the proper installation of any bottom bracket with flanges, cups, bearing cartridges, etc., that tighten against the faces of the frame's bottom bracket shell requires the bottom bracket to be faced (By a mechanic skilled in the use of a bottom bracket facing tool). However in my experience, eyeballing the shell will not suffice - checking the shell requires that the tool be installed and the cutters lightly rotated on both faces.

I disagree, 99% of the cases out there it will be easily apparent whether or not the shell has been faced or it hasn't.

I just saw a SRAM/Trutativ installation video [mine are FSA]. Two things are apparent. First, I was much too stingy on the grease. Second, the cranks will have a lot of resistance initially. They showed a newly installed crank being given a good initial spin. It stopped in less than two complete turns. That matches what I've seen. I'm planning to remove the cranks and apply some more grease.

And this, if you look at what these cost, is why facing a BB is rather uncommon these days. But with the popularity of the external-bearings, facing has come back with avengence:

https://www.biketoolsetc.com/index.cg...&tc=Facer-Sets

Watching your cranks spin without load is useless. The external bearing cranks won't spin as freely as some other designs, true, but it doesn't mean much.

+1 True. But they do tend to spin easier after a bit of use. But even new, they may spin slowly with a feeling of binding somewhere. But they do spin smoothly. At least the ones I've dealt with. While many Octalinks I've encountered feel like they are inside an ice-cream churn.