Oh darn! I just bought a tube of loctite blue like 3 days ago and forgot that I had the little tube that came with my phil bb (unused). Oh well. Is anyone else using leaky liquid loctite? I assumed it was more of a paste, but what I used came out like water all over my fingers and the table.

It is hard to visualise, but here's what happens: When you pedal, you are pushing the cup in a clockwise direction around in the shell. Picture a small cylander (the fixed cup) inside a big ring (the BB shell) The cylander will rotate counter clockwise, causing it to loosen on an itallian threaded frame. Nothing to do with bearing friction, which is too small to make any difference.

That's what blue loctite is like. Surface tension makes it stick to the threads.

It does look like it should be a paste, what with the shape of the tube and all.

I guess I was just put off by the fact that I have seen bike-purpose bolts produced with a dry pasty blue threadlocking substance in a band near the tip of the bolt. I just assumed loctite would be the same kind of paste. Now I know!

It hardens anaerobically (in an absence of air) so store it on its side and it will last for a long time.

So you're saying that a cylinder rotating in a clockwise direction will put a counterclockwise force on the cylinder?

Loctite comes in a ton of variants, even within the same sub-category (ie: medium strength threadlockers). iirc, you can get "blue" strength loctite as a light-liquid, wicking liquid (will penetrate threads on installed hardware), paste stick, and dry powder. As was mentioned before, it cures anerobically, so if an OEM provided hardware with liquid loctite on it, it would just get all over the packaging. Afaik the dry stuff liquifies under pressure (threading) and then cures when all the air is forced out.

BTW: in order for the bond to be effective, you need one of the materials to be active or to use locking primer. I used to wonder why my aluminum bolts into an aluminum caliper adapter would keep coming out with wet loctite on them ;)

So, wait a sec. I am putting in a sealed Campy Italian threaded BB into my Ciocc, do I use loctite on both the drive and non-drive sides? Sorry if this is a stupid question, this is my first experience with a sealed cartridge BB, thanks.

*spokesperson*
Well, yes. this funny effect has a name that of course escapes me now... If you put a circular object (your finger) inside a cyclinder (your other fist closed loosely around the finger) and wiggle it around in circles, the friction forces it to turn inthe opposite direction... Which is why pedals are threaded just the opposite way you'd expect, and this is the way that keeps them from loosening. (Next time you change pedals, try holding the spindle of a pedal that's threaded into the arm most of the way, and turn the cranks forward... the pedal unthreads.)

torque induced precession

similar to torque free precession, which incidentally is why we have seasons (well, those of us who arent in florida or socal ;))

edit: i'm ********, the earth precesses, but that's not why we have seasons

Just the drive side. That side is threaded opposite of a normal (English) BB.

Coolio, thanks.

I did some research on precession, so I now understand it. Thanks for the tip. However, according to David Wilson in Bicycling Science, the reason for reverse threading on pedals dates back to the early days of toe clips and track racing. In the event that the pedal bearing froze (tolerances were pretty bad in the late 1800s) the pedal would unscrew rather than break the riders foot. The book seems pretty well researched, so I'm inclined to believe him.

Maybe a combination of both but I'll beleive precession first. Thinking back to memories of what it took to remove a stuck pedal, it'll easily break your foot/leg/spine before it comes off. That doesn't mean they didn't "invent" left threading with that safety reasoning, only that the bike industry is sticking with it because of precession.

I love BF
 

You guys are an amazing source of bike knowledge!