Italian threaded BB's are know to come loose. I found a very interesting solution by a user in an other forum. What do you think?


This is alfeng's solution to the problem:
-'I' have chosen to put the FIXED cup on the non-driveside & the ADJUSTABLE cup which has a lockring on the driveside ... thus, avoiding the problem of the driveside cup precessing while I pedal ...[*]this was originally a "Why not?" solution which I decided to try many years ago when I-was-left-to-my-own-devices. ...

-Yes, 'I' have found that my solution works very well ...

-When the ADJUSTABLE CUP is on the driveside, the LOCKRING prevents the cup from unscrewing (i.e., precessing as you pedal) ...
Without the lockring (as when the FIXED CUP is on the driveside of an Italian or French threaded BB), there is nothing to prevent the cup from unthreading unless something like Loctite is added to the threads OR if the cup was torqued on with what I would describe as excessive force.

It doesn't work that way. The precession will occur regardless; the lockring is no better at preventing this than the flange on the fixed cup. You just need to get the drive side cup in tight or use a thread adhesive. I suspect that the success this person had doing this was more due to being able to tighten the lockring more effectively than s/he could the fixed cup.

I've seen this 'solution' a couple times before during my wrenching my career. I have no idea if it works. Sometimes things that don't make sense in theory work in practice, which is why engineers are not always good mechanics, but I digress...

Anyhow the way to fix this is simple. Pull the cranks, pull and clean the BB cups, give the fixed cup a nice squirt of blue loctite, and screw it back in. Tighten really tight with a big wrench or vise. If you put them on tight enough they don't come loose even with grease instead of threadlocker.

Clean and repack your BB, put the cranks back on, and that's it.

P.S.
I don't care what Sheldon or anyone else says. Don't grease the tapers, but do grease the crankbolts.

That's why Campagnolo made this tool:

"blue loctite"

this.

This is how I get em really tight. Never, NEVER, had one loosen off, be it French, English or Italian...

This is interesting. But isnt the cup much thinner than the wrench? Wouldn't the proper tool do a better job?

Though I have never used the proper tool, I likely will never do so. Following the ancient proverb - "If it aint broke don't fix it!" I can't see any reason to replace what I have now, since it has never failed. And, yes, the fixed cup does have a narrow face for fitting the wrench but the system, or procedure does work perfectly - for me.

I might add that a wee bit of Loctite 242 is a good idea to ensure your assembly is secure. Again, my opinion, and, for what it is worth, the only reason I use Loctite is to coat the threads with plastic, thus inhibiting the formation of iron oxide, commonly referred to as rust...

I second the Campagnolo tool.
But I splurged long ago for a big tool kit. (VAR made a similar one that shows up on auction from time to time with an alternate dimension collar) sometimes they go cheap.

+1

VAR tool too!



If you shop around there are some similar tools that are less expensive than Campy or VAR.

Once you've used one of these BB tools, you'll never go back to chipping flint!



verktyg

Chas.

I have used a Sugino crank wrench to tighten BBs, and have also used a big adjustable wrench. Both work well enough. Yes, the secret is to get the DS cup TIGHT, as in TIGHT. Loctite might help but isn't necessarily necessary.

The VAR fixed cup tool is the hands down winner over Campagnolo. It's cheaper, has a much better finish, longer handles for more torque and has multiple interfaces to handle cups not made to the Campagnolo standard. The older version even has cushioned handles.

140$ on ebay! Wow, thats expensive!

It's expensive for a reason. They work.

I just use a big aluminum disc on the outside of a regular BB wrench. It has never failed to remove or tighten a fixed cup.

Yes... I should have stated that those style BB tools ARE expensive... But if you do 1 or 2 BBs a month then over time they're worth the investment.

They reduce the chance of a wrench slipping and damaging the paint on the BB (even the chain stay). You can also use a cheater bar to get a stuck cup out (carefully because you can bend a frame).

The best feature, they help start a fixed cup into a BB with so-so threads. It's easy to keep everything straight.

As I mentioned, you can find them for a lot less money. A bike shop that doesn't work on olde bikes any more may be willing to part with theirs!

verktyg

Chas.

Note to self: Self, buy a BB tool, soon, like before starting my Medici build, headed to ebay, and a few other places.

Thanks everyone, for the education.

Bill

I use a J.A. Stein fixed cup clamp along with a Park wrench for cup removal and it works fine except you need to keep the spindle in place. Michael Angelo's tool works in a similar manner and probably cost him a lot less! For installation, I use Loc-Tite and give the wrench a couple light raps with a dead blow hammer for Italian threads.

Ditto! I scored my Stein fixed-cup tool for cheap on eBay some years back. Essential piece of the arsenal.

I have seen folks use adjustable cups and lockrings on both sides of French or Italian BBs, to obtain adjustable chainlines.