Nice video, very clear on all fronts. We did notice that you are pressing on the inner race of the bearing rather than the outer race. We believe it is best to interface with the outer race only, as it is not part of the rotating assembly. When pressing against the inner race the inner race engages the ball bearings and pushes them into a bind against the outer race. This action frequently puts indentations in the races that lead to premature failure and if severe enough, an indexed "feel" to the bearings right after the install is done. Love those purple cranks!
Thanks for the feedback. After having done this a couple times, I'm thinking of going with your product. This fix seems to wear out after a few weeks, especially if any rides are wet. I'll let you know!
We'd be stoked if you rode our product. I was hesitant to comment on your vid because everything else you did was spot on if one is sticking with running the bike in a stock set up, bearings in frame, all that. Whenever someone posts a technical explanation/process vid on RU-vid there's a great deal of courage involved as the techno trolls invariably crawl out of the woodwork to correct the slightest thing. We salute you.
Man. I'm disappointed. I just talked to my local bike shop, and the mechanic told me BBInfinite was a tough fit for C-dale Slates because of the internal cable routing through the bottom bracket. Tough problem. I hope you guys can come up with a solution. Thanks again for reaching out.
Yeah, the Slate's internal hydraulic cable makes it a very tough fit. You'd have to pull the line, install the bb, then fish the line back through, bleed it, and go. We do it all the time but for some people it's just too much work.
Since people wonder, here's some history on press-fit BBs, from what I can find. They were developed by Cannondale in 2006 when CAD and computerized specs reached a level they felt was high enough to prevent error (yes, many people will tell you they were dead wrong). The advantages of a PFBB is that they are lighter than a threaded BB assembly because of the elimination of separate bearing cups, and stiffer due to a 30 mm diameter spindle. They also have more room in the bottom bracket area to attach larger down tubes, seat tubes, and chain stays; and because the shell and spindle increase in diameter and not width, the cranks can be made to provide more heel clearance. I don't have ledgers in front of me, but I believe they are cheaper to manufacture as well. In 2010 Cervélo changed things by creating their BBright, an asymmetric bottom bracket system, adding another layer of complexity. Around this time, the vast majority of all bike manufactures adopted PFBB's. The negatives of PFBBs are because they demand that the opening on the frame must be absolutely precise, and most PFBB's contain plastic parts, they are prone to leaking, creaking, and wearing out. Some third party manufactures such as Chris King and Legit Engineering jumped on this and made metal PFBB's that eliminated the creaking (for the most part), but that still relies on the frame being incredibly precise. Plus being all metal, adds weight. They are also harder to service, and replace than a threaded BB.
After checking my bike thoroughly I still had a creak, eventually traced it to the bolts for the cleats on my shoes. I put on some grease and tightened the bolts, creak gone‼️👍
Unless your bearing fits very loosely in the frame, the Loctite adhesive really doesn't address what causes BB30's to creak. From my experience, it's the spindle to bearing interface that creaks, not the bearing to frame interface. Look at any spindle that's been used for a period of time. There's always witness marks on the spindle where it walks around within the bearings. Yours is visible about the 6:47 point in the video. The best solution I've found is to ditch the wavy washer and stack just the right amount of spacer shims in it's place. I made a video on how to do so. Sometimes the spider (or in your case the 1 piece chainring) bolted to the crank arm can creak as a seperate issue. The Loctite 641 works really well on the spider splines and the lockring to keep this area quiet.
I use a spoon full of penetrating oil inside the housing. Keeps everything lubricated better than grease. Simple, you wouldnt put a motor cycle together without oil in the crankcase.
Thank you so much for posting. I was going crazy trying to figure out where the creak was coming from on my Cannondale Slate Ultegra. Worked like a charm.
Nice video. Lots of good comments (must use correct press adaptors that rest on outer race) and lots of inappropriate comments (since is BB30 the shell is aluminium, so the comments about PF30 / carbon shell, don’t apply here). Point is, original BB30 is already a machined metal tube. The later PF30 versions are the ones that have the most problems. That said, maintain all press fit BBs at least annually and keep them clean or suffer the creak
You may have damaged the bearing by pressing on inner race, you should have pressed on the outer race. Beside that BB30 is a POS. Who was engineer who designed this scrap?
I worked at FSA for two and a half years. While there myself and a coworker experimented with different compounds to see what lasted the longest in preventing the creaking from coming back. We found that Locktite 480 worked excellent and lasted longer. It has a holding capacity almost identical to 242 but has components in it that make it feel like rubber when dry and it actually expands. So it does not break free as soon as the 242. Also when used with a press fit plastic cup in a carbon frame it expands and forms into a rubbery material to fill voids between the bearing case and frame as carbon layups are not perfect. It does not hold so great as to be a detriment when trying to remove a worn out bearing.
Excellent video Sir Double Arrow, made all the necessary relevant points. Doing the best you can with a compromised situation. Robert Trageser below says it best, his comment is spot on. We the consumers need to stop buying the manufactures crap no matter how tempting. And twosence fromcleveland you're gonna have to keep shopping for the frame that meets your needs and has a threaded BB to boot, or perpetuate this irresponsible manufacturing mayhem. You can spend 5 G's on a frame and it's very foundation is compromised from the beginning, ludicrous! It's not the spindle interface that is the issue, (Joey Mesa). If the interface between the frame and BB bearings were correct, (proper materials used, concentricity, and bearing clearances) the spindle interface becomes a non-issue. It's rocket science!
I have a new Supersix Evo, BB creak started 1 week after I got caught in the rain, isolated to BB by removing chain and notice as start to move crank, watched this video, decided to remove seat post and just poured a little engine oil down inside to allow to drip around the BB, angling the bike left then right whilst turning the cranks to allow penetrate and drip out slowly underneath onto a rag. Creak has stopped. Never tried or thought of doing this before but creak only came after the rain and this has done the job - was going to WD40 it inside but decided to try engine oil.
Love it. Will try it. Nothing to lose. Reminds me of old internal hub shift mechanisms that had an oil input cap. Used to squirt oil right in there. Method described here unsuccessful.
You never want to press a bearing in by pushing on the inner race. Good way to wreck the bearing. Use a drift that presses against the outer race. Cannondale also makes a tool that is specific to removing hollowgram cranks. It threads into the axle, then you can use a standard park crank puller for splined axles. You got away with some stuff there. Lucky nothing was damaged.
Go to hambini and order his bottom bracket. He can barely keep them in stock because they work so well. He is an aerospace engineer and knows what the hell he is talking about when it comes to bearings. Your welcome
If you have a creek on your BB30 bike, look for Hambini here on RU-vid. He’s an engineer that makes one piece bottom brackets for all bb30 systems and they’re manufactured to aerospace engineering tolerances. They make every and all creaks go away.
Very clear, concise, to the point. You are a very good communicator and knowledgeable of the trade, however from the engineering side, the designers and companies that allowed that bad joke called bb30 press fit in carbon, should be hang by their bb's
Put the crank spindle in the freezer for about an hour … it will contract and make it slide right on in. This will ensure the bearings are not disturbed while the loctite is curing
Wrong press = you damaged your bearings. You had to push the outer and inner rings at the same time to prevent damage to the inner surface. If you only push from the inner ring, the power you put on is transferred to the outer through the balls. This creates too much pressure on the contact of balls and races and causes eventually damaged points inside the race. Your bearing will then not run on a smooth surface and take more damage in every turn. This will lower your bearings lifetime and cost you watts.
Yes. my 2012 trek fuel has press-fit, but no creaking and good bb life. The 2016 Remedy, however is not so. The first set lasted 6 months and when I removed them, the left side pulled out easily with my fingers. The new unit dropped in so easily that I was compelled to use loctite. One year later? Creaking.
hi, i've tried with the green locktite for cylindric parts, put a little on the outer side of the bearing but also on the inner side of the bearing, instead of putting grease, i must say its a bit better but still creaking when i push verry hard. think i have to look furder for a better solution, thanks for the video!
You forgot the 2 shims that you took out. Im sticking to my Derosa’s old technology that still works,,, im not going to win the Tour de france anyway...
I’m replacing bb bearings on my 2012 Supersix Evo hi mod. It has a sram PF30 as stock when i got tge bike brand new. So i’m gonna replace it and use the same brand PF30. In this case carbon to plastic shell cup. What loctite should i use for this?
cannondale makes a bb30 to bsa conversion tube. Press this in with strong locktite and enjoy your creakfree bsa frame. btw bsa fits any crank yes even bb30 ones
I'm afraid you're wrong. The creaking is caused by the bb axle fretting inside the inner race, not by the bearings moving in the frame. Look for blueing of the grease on the axle as evidence as well as signs of wear where the axle sits inside the races. Simply refit the axle with a smear of bearing fit compound to cure the creak.
Thanks for being so detailed. So, what actually causes the creaking? Mine is so loud, it sounds like my bearings are being destroyed. Did you replace the bearing cases with new ones or did you just wipe things off and degrease things?
Nice video, really straight forward. Everythink clearly explained. Keep it up. One question though - what drivetrain setup do U use ? I mean how many cogs and theeths in rear hub and how many teethes in front crank arm ?
Oh yeah 😎. OR? Rent a "Blind Bearing Puller", from AutoZone. Used to remove the pilot Bearings or pilot Bushings from the Flywheel that transmission shaft Rests/rotates on allowing Flywheel and transmission to turn together. Insert one hook 🪝and hook the inside of Bearing/Bushing 🪝with the Bearing Puller and Jerk the slide Hammer 🔨 away from Bearing and pop that puppy 🐶 right out.😄
You want to eliminate that annoying creak get yourself some earbuds and listen to some good House music. You won't hear the creaking and the beat will help your cadence and motivate you to ride harder. It worked for me.
@@skcyclist Why not? Everybody using the roads drives distracted. I see people in group rides texting even. It's all a game of chance the way I see it. You truly want to be safe stick to the trails and off the roads. No matter if you're wearing earbuds or not, you are not safe on the roads.
@@charlesmansplaining it's not safe, that's true, but I want all my faculties tuned in to potential threats. You and others are welcome to do as they please.
I would never press a bearing in by the inner ring. I would think you're going to damage the new bearing. Sure bang out the old bearing from the inner ring...but I would only press the new bearing in from the outer ring. If I saw a shop do what you just did...I would walk out of there and never go back.
Nice n precise video thanks! I have a cannondale caadx cx bike. I had a similar problem but the bearings came out whilst ridding one day! Took it back to the shop n they used lock tight 681 will i be able to service it myself and replace the bearings?? 👊🏻😎👊🏻😎
Hi Jon, Loctite 680 is pretty tough stuff, but I believe adhered parts can be removed, carefully, with the right tools. I'd run the question by your LBS before I went banging away on anything. Good luck!
Looks like most of the big companies are switching back to threaded BB. Specialized dumped it this year on their FS Bikes and using threaded BB. Press fit was a joke on the lower end bikes.
thought this was a great until i worked out that retaining compound (anaerobic adhesives) weakens carbon fibre (pva or peo glue). Swap bb30 to Hollowtech/ bb86 if you dont want the noise
i think i have a bb86 or 90. I lubbed the spindle and cleaned everything and that worked last time. This time i took out the bearings and pressed them in ok and the creak is gone. But i messed up the sleeve. It has two o-rings and i dont think i lined it up right, either when it was pressed or when i pushed the spindle in. It wouldn't go in so i rubber hammered it a little. A little too much. So i am running without this plastic sleeve. Does this just protect the spindle from water and dirt or is there some kind of pressure to keep the bearings apart?
cannondale makes a bb30 to bsa conversion tube. Press this in with strong locktite and enjoy your creakfree bsa frame. btw bsa fits any crank yes even bb30 ones
My bb30 was a POS!! 😐 Tried everything. BBinfinite didnt fit because of the di2 cables. I sold my fancy SISL2 cranks and picked up a 9100 dura ace and converted it. I still have flashback of the creak on my old sprints
looks like you did a great well thought out job.. Im have the same creaking issues with my bb30 external bottom bracket and I've heard of this method but was reluctant to try it. I have a question when did you pack the bearing with grease? or didn't you?
Thanks! BB30 creaking is so annoying. The bearings are sealed, so there's no packing them. I do recommend putting a layer of grease on the spindle before it's re-inserted into the bearings, though. My experience with this method has been that it drastically reduces creaking, but that I still get a click when I really crank the pedals, like standing to sprint or climbing.
thank you. yes after I take it all apart clean everything and grease everything back the creaking does stop for a time. however it comes back after a while. when I stand on the pedals its much more pronounced How did you bb30 function after applying loctite?
The loctite significantly increases the amount of time until you hear clicking again. It's a good fix for folks who like doing routine maintenance. If you hate maintenance, you might be better off going with a Hambini or Praxis bottom bracket insert. Unfortunately, you can't use hollowgram cranks with those options, so it gets expensive in a hurry when you change out cranks.
Man, that's so frustrating. Sorry to hear it. I share your BB30 frustrations. I've discovered with some trial and error that cleaning the outside of the bearings and the inside of the BB shell with an aerosol degreaser results in a better bond and makes the solution last longer.
Great question. Loctite 242 is a straight-up threadlocker. Loctite 641 is a retaining compound specifically for cylindrical bonding (i.e., bearing fit). It is medium-strength, meaning it's good for parts where disassembly might be required periodically for service.
Hi John-Great question. Grease won't work, unfortunately. The bearings need to fit tightly into the BB shell and stay put. If you use loctite, be sure to use a product that won't glue the bearings in for good. Use a product specific for bearing fit. This is a frustrating problem.
I use a spoon full of penetrating oil inside the housing. Keeps everything lubricated better than grease. Simple, you wouldnt put a motor cycle together without oil in the crankcase.
WTF!!!! Pressing on the inside of the bearing??? That's why Press fit are a joke, people dont know how to handle it... And Bike manufacturer cant keep the tight tolerance, that is needed for a correct fit.
