Help Installing crank/bottom bracket
 

Yikes...

So I just got a brand new frame w/BB30. I sent builder bearing assembly and he pressed bearings in prior to delivery.

...frame looks great/bearings seem fine, but I can't for the life of me get the crank assembly through bearings. I tapped medium hard w/mallet, but I'm a bit chicken to really crank it.

How easy should it be to slide the deal together? It's a SRAM Red crankset with the integrated slide through portion on the drive side.

I'm sooo excited and a bit deflated to not be able to get the crank together.

Some cranks are harder than others to insert through the bearings. We discussed this somewhat recently with comments about how Shimano cranks have become harder to install. My most recently purchased Stronglight crank took a lot more force than expected to seat in the bearings. Make sure everything is lined up (that you aren't hitting the inner race of the far side bearing) and use a little more force would be my advice.

I can't come near getting it through the near side...seems very likely that I'll knock the bearings out of the far side on the way through...

Did you lube the axle?

why did't you send the spindle with the bearing to the builder?

Yes....

'cuz the bearing set was the size of a silver dollar and cost me 2.25 to send....the crankset is significantly larger and would have entailed a more involved operation. Also, the bearings require special tool which I don't have...crankset should have been easy with standard tools.

Are you following the install manual?

http://www.sram.com/_media/techdocs/95-6115-002-000.pdf

It's not lube, it's grease. Thin film of grease.

I thought grease was a lubricant?