BB - turn by hand?

Should a properly fitted BB be easily turned by hand? I took off the
cranks and its very stiff and I can only just turn the spindle by
hand. I think I know it should be easier than that! Which is a surprise
as its less than 2 years old and has probably done less than 3000 km.

What octalink BB would you recommend for a touring bike to replace it?

(thanks to the poster that said it was probably self extracting - it
was. Damn the LBS which sold me a Shimano crank extractor to get them
(Ritchey wcs cranks) off.)

On Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:30:49 +0200,
wrote:


Should a properly fitted BB be easily turned by hand? I took off the
cranks and its very stiff and I can only just turn the spindle by
hand. I think I know it should be easier than that! Which is a surprise
as its less than 2 years old and has probably done less than 3000 km.

What octalink BB would you recommend for a touring bike to replace it?

(thanks to the poster that said it was probably self extracting - it
was. Damn the LBS which sold me a Shimano crank extractor to get them
(Ritchey wcs cranks) off.)

Dear Penny,

Throw that crank away.

With the chain off and the crank level, three dimes are enough to push
the pedal down on an ordinary bottom bracket:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...974e0f4e045cb1

The three dimes provide only about 0.0074 ft-lbs, as Dave Lehnen
pointed out, not the grossly mistaken 0.1 ft-lbs that I first
miscalculated:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...b74cfbe0ef2f1f

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

writes:

On Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:30:49 +0200,
wrote:


Should a properly fitted BB be easily turned by hand? I took off the
cranks and its very stiff and I can only just turn the spindle by
hand. I think I know it should be easier than that! Which is a surprise
as its less than 2 years old and has probably done less than 3000 km.

What octalink BB would you recommend for a touring bike to replace it?

(thanks to the poster that said it was probably self extracting - it
was. Damn the LBS which sold me a Shimano crank extractor to get them
(Ritchey wcs cranks) off.)

Dear Penny,

Throw that crank away.

You mean throw away the BB? I am talking about turning the BB by
grasping the spindle by hand with the cranks off.


With the chain off and the crank level, three dimes are enough to push
the pedal down on an ordinary bottom bracket:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...974e0f4e045cb1

The three dimes provide only about 0.0074 ft-lbs, as Dave Lehnen
pointed out, not the grossly mistaken 0.1 ft-lbs that I first
miscalculated:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...b74cfbe0ef2f1f

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

--

On Sep 5, 4:03*pm, wrote:
writes:
On Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:30:49 +0200,
wrote:

Should a properly fitted BB be easily turned by hand? I took off the
cranks and its very stiff and I can only just turn the spindle by
hand. I think I know it should be easier than that! Which is a surprise
as its less than 2 years old and has probably done less than 3000 km.

What octalink BB would you recommend for a touring bike to replace it?

(thanks to the poster that said it was probably self extracting - it
was. Damn the LBS which sold me a Shimano crank extractor to get them
(Ritchey wcs cranks) off.)

Dear Penny,

Throw that crank away.

You mean throw away the BB? I am talking about turning the BB by
grasping the spindle by hand with the cranks off.


Yes, replace the BB. It should feel like a spatula in
frosting. You are at the oar in a sink full of dishes.

On Sep 5, 4:01 pm, wrote:
On Sep 5, 4:03 pm, wrote:



writes:
On Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:30:49 +0200,
wrote:

Should a properly fitted BB be easily turned by hand? I took off the
cranks and its very stiff and I can only just turn the spindle by
hand. I think I know it should be easier than that! Which is a surprise
as its less than 2 years old and has probably done less than 3000 km.

What octalink BB would you recommend for a touring bike to replace it?

(thanks to the poster that said it was probably self extracting - it
was. Damn the LBS which sold me a Shimano crank extractor to get them
(Ritchey wcs cranks) off.)

Dear Penny,

Throw that crank away.

You mean throw away the BB? I am talking about turning the BB by
grasping the spindle by hand with the cranks off.

Yes, replace the BB. It should feel like a spatula in
frosting. You are at the oar in a sink full of dishes.

Shall I compare it to a Summers day?
It is more stiff than

Never mind.

tf

In article ,
wrote:

On Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:30:49 +0200,
wrote:


Should a properly fitted BB be easily turned by hand? I took off the
cranks and its very stiff and I can only just turn the spindle by
hand. I think I know it should be easier than that! Which is a
surprise as its less than 2 years old and has probably done less
than 3000 km.

What octalink BB would you recommend for a touring bike to replace
it?

(thanks to the poster that said it was probably self extracting - it
was. Damn the LBS which sold me a Shimano crank extractor to get
them (Ritchey wcs cranks) off.)

Dear Penny,

Throw that crank away.

That seems a bit drastic given that the problem seems to be with the BB.

I have seen cartridge style BBs which got overly preloaded when the
retaining rings were tightened down too enthusiastically. The first
thing I would check it this.

On Sep 5, 1:30*pm, wrote:
Should a properly fitted BB be easily turned by hand? I took off the
cranks and its very stiff and I can only just turn the spindle by
hand. I think I know it should be easier than that! Which is a surprise
as its less than 2 years old and has probably done less than 3000 km.

What octalink BB would you recommend for a touring bike to replace it?

(thanks to the poster that said it was probably self extracting - it
was. Damn the LBS which sold me a Shimano crank extractor to get them
(Ritchey wcs cranks) off.)

It should be smooth, but not effortless to turn, thanks to drag from
the seals. If you can only barely turn it by hand, it's toast.

Sounds like a good time to get that new crank, since you'll need a new
BB anyway. Don't bother replacing the current BB unless you've decided
to keep the Ritchey Crank. The cheapest you'll find a compatible BB
(the 105 BB-5500 Triple) is close to $50. Put that into your new crank.

"Tim McNamara" wrote in message
...
In article ,
wrote:

On Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:30:49 +0200,
wrote:


Should a properly fitted BB be easily turned by hand? I took off the
cranks and its very stiff and I can only just turn the spindle by
hand. I think I know it should be easier than that! Which is a
surprise as its less than 2 years old and has probably done less
than 3000 km.

What octalink BB would you recommend for a touring bike to replace
it?

(thanks to the poster that said it was probably self extracting - it
was. Damn the LBS which sold me a Shimano crank extractor to get
them (Ritchey wcs cranks) off.)

Dear Penny,

Throw that crank away.

That seems a bit drastic given that the problem seems to be with the BB.



Perhaps it is Carl's opinion of Octalink in general?

On Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:03:10 +0200,
wrote:

writes:

On Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:30:49 +0200,
wrote:


Should a properly fitted BB be easily turned by hand? I took off the
cranks and its very stiff and I can only just turn the spindle by
hand. I think I know it should be easier than that! Which is a surprise
as its less than 2 years old and has probably done less than 3000 km.

What octalink BB would you recommend for a touring bike to replace it?

(thanks to the poster that said it was probably self extracting - it
was. Damn the LBS which sold me a Shimano crank extractor to get them
(Ritchey wcs cranks) off.)

Dear Penny,

Throw that crank away.

You mean throw away the BB? I am talking about turning the BB by
grasping the spindle by hand with the cranks off.


With the chain off and the crank level, three dimes are enough to push
the pedal down on an ordinary bottom bracket:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...974e0f4e045cb1

The three dimes provide only about 0.0074 ft-lbs, as Dave Lehnen
pointed out, not the grossly mistaken 0.1 ft-lbs that I first
miscalculated:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...b74cfbe0ef2f1f

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Dear Penny,

Sorry for my carelessness--yes, toss the bottom bracket, keep the arms
and pedals.

You can check how easily a bottom bracket spindle turns by asking to
see a new one at a local bike shop.

The resistance of a few dozen oiled balls in polished bearing races
against the equally polished surface of the spindle is negligible. You
can twirl a normal bottom bracket with your thumb and fingers.

A slightly messier test is to drop the chain from a few handy bicycles
and see how easily the cranks spin. Your bottom bracket is probably
rusted, corroded, full of wrecked balls, over-tightened, and damaged.

If it's a sealed unit, you can't do much about it except replace it.
That's likely with Octalink.

If it's an Octalink that can be disassembled, you can take it apart,
clean it out, replace the bearings, re-adjust it, and hope that the
races and the spindle surfaces haven't been damaged, but replacement
is still likely to be the best solution if someone has actually been
stomping on a crank whose bearings are so bad that you can barely turn
the spindle with your hand.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

On 2008-09-05, Tim McNamara wrote:

I have seen cartridge style BBs which got overly preloaded when the
retaining rings were tightened down too enthusiastically. The first
thing I would check it this.

If it's been ridden for 2 years with that much preload, the bearings are
probably shot now anyway.

--

John )
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **