Changing Bottom bracket and Crankset

fidbod

Hi all.

At some point before winter training is over I am going to change my current chainset (53/39) for a compact chainset. I need the extra gears on the big hills.
At the moment my bike has a FSA Gossamer MegaExo and maching BB and the plan is to change to an Ultegra SL cranket and bottom bracket.

so onto the questions I hope everyone can help with.

I don't think there will be any problems with using my current front derailleur , does anyone think otherwise?

I am considering doing this myself rather than getting the LBS to so it, where do you think this rates in terms of difficult jobs to do on a bike.

Are there any specialist tools i am going to need for the job that will eat into the cost saving of doing the work myself instead of getting the LBS to do it?

Thanks Stuart

redddraggon

fidbod wrote:

I don't think there will be any problems with using my current front derailleur , does anyone think otherwise?

It depends what front derailleur you have. If it's a Campag one from before this year, they had different compact and standard mechs.

But I'm guessing you've got the Japanese stuff? So you should be fine with the same mech as you've got now.

Monty Dog

AFAIK the Shimano and FSA Mega Exo BB cups are inter-compatible, so all you really need to do is slacked the crank retainer bolt on the non-drive side, slide out the cranks and install the new ones. The Ultegra crank comes supplied with a plastic tool to adjust the end-load on the bearings before tightening up the non-drive crank pinch bolts. If changing the BB cups you need a standard external BB cup spanner - plenty of choices available. The front mech will need dropping slightly to fit the slightly smaller chainrings - it will not be quite a 'snappy' as a compact front mech and alignment is a little more crucial to prevent dropping the chain on shifts. Worth getting a decent set of Allen keys to ensure you don't damage the screw heads - particularly the pinch bolts on the Shimano cranks. Ideally, you should use a torque wrench for the crank pinch bolts - maybe pop into your LBS after for a 1 minute job rather than paying for one yourself. You should find full instructions on www.parktool.com

fidbod

Thanks for the input guys