Ultegra-10 BB sticking?

I have a question for the group. How many revolutions is a set of Ultegra
10 cranks supposed to sping freely if pushed with a moderate tap?

The last couple of days, I have been feeling it harder and harder to pedal my
road bike. Today was really frustrating so I undid the chain so the
cranks (with pedals) could rotate freely to figure out if it is some BB
issue. When I pushed with a weak tap, the cranks barely spun. Pushing a
little harder, the most I could get them to spin was about 3/4 - a full
revolution. I always thought they were supposed to spin more than that.
To compare, my Truvativ cranks on MTB spun almost forever with the same
amount of force. My track bike cranks (Dura-Ace w/ DA BB) also spun a few
revolutions with the same push. So did my winter fixie.

So my question is, are the cranks/BB on the Ultegra 10 designed to be
harder to turn or is something wrong with my equipment? If something is
indeed wrong, where do you suggest I start looking/fixing the problem?

Please reply to my email address.

Thank you,

Daniel

Daniel Mendoza wrote:

The last couple of days, I have been feeling it harder and harder to pedal my road bike. Today was really frustrating so I undid the chain so the cranks (with pedals) could rotate freely to figure out if it is some BB issue. When I pushed with a weak tap, the cranks barely spun. Pushing a little harder, the most I could get them to spin was about 3/4 - a full revolution.

Probably not a problem as long as you're not feeling roughness or
binding. The old cup and cone bearings had a lot less drag than the
newer cartridge bearings.

I doubt this has anything to do with the bike feeling hard to pedal.

Art Harris

Daniel Mendoza wrote:
I have a question for the group. How many revolutions is a set of Ultegra
10 cranks supposed to sping freely if pushed with a moderate tap?

The last couple of days, I have been feeling it harder and harder to pedal my
road bike. Today was really frustrating so I undid the chain so the
cranks (with pedals) could rotate freely to figure out if it is some BB
issue. When I pushed with a weak tap, the cranks barely spun. Pushing a
little harder, the most I could get them to spin was about 3/4 - a full
revolution. I always thought they were supposed to spin more than that.
To compare, my Truvativ cranks on MTB spun almost forever with the same
amount of force. My track bike cranks (Dura-Ace w/ DA BB) also spun a few
revolutions with the same push. So did my winter fixie.

So my question is, are the cranks/BB on the Ultegra 10 designed to be
harder to turn or is something wrong with my equipment? If something is
indeed wrong, where do you suggest I start looking/fixing the problem?

If smooth, then not a problem but these external bearing BBs are very
sensitive to BB width. If it's too wide, it will make these BB/crank
systems turn sluggishly. Check for an accurate 68 or 70mm, and also the
BB shell MUST be faced, another critical item for these BBs.

Please reply to my email address.

Thank you,

Daniel

Daniel Mendoza wrote:

I have a question for the group. How many revolutions is a set of Ultegra
10 cranks supposed to sping freely if pushed with a moderate tap?

If Doug Adams is to believed, the answer to this is 42.

http://snipurl.com/5y1d

;-)