Noob bottom bracket q's

robthehungrymonkey

Last week, i went to ride back from work and as i got out of the gate one of my cranks went round without the other one moving!

I've since tightened it up, and gone on one hour long ride. It doesn't seem to feel any different, but there is a "clicking" type noise on every rotation, which gets worse if i put more power through the pedals, and especially worryingly loud when i'm standing out of the saddle.

Questions are;

1. Do i NEED a new bottom bracket?
2. If not, should I replace it anyway?
3. What tools are required?
4. Anyone got a link (fools guide) with a how to?
5. Is there a reason not to buy a used bottom bracket that's connected to cranks and stuff. (they seem to be bargains on ebay, and i could upgrade to Ultegra or something very cheaply)

I have a Shimano 105 groupset from quite a few years ago.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

nicklouse

sounds more like you need to replace the cranks. as you will most likly have semi stripped the splines of the inside of the arm.

How toos on park tools.

robthehungrymonkey

nicklouse wrote:

sounds more like you need to replace the cranks. as you will most likly have semi stripped the splines of the inside of the arm.

How toos on park tools.

Thanks,

Just the cranks?

Monty Dog

Sounds as thoough the crank bolt came loose rather than the BB breaking - if the BB was broke, no amount of tightening would fix it! Did you ride the bike at all with a loose crank? If so, you may have inadvertantly damaged the crank - try and pull the crank from side-to-side - is there any movement? Likewise, the clicking may be due to some looseness or worn BB bearings. Have a look on www.parktool.com for some online info or suggest a visit to your LBS for a diagnosis.

teulk

Also you may want to tighten your pedals up, if the crank arm came loose then the pedals may have also worked themselves loose to, just out of interest how old is your bike ?

robthehungrymonkey

Monty Dog wrote:

Sounds as thoough the crank bolt came loose rather than the BB breaking - if the BB was broke, no amount of tightening would fix it! Did you ride the bike at all with a loose crank? If so, you may have inadvertantly damaged the crank - try and pull the crank from side-to-side - is there any movement? Likewise, the clicking may be due to some looseness or worn BB bearings. Have a look on www.parktool.com for some online info or suggest a visit to your LBS for a diagnosis.

I rode it for a little bit tyring to work out what felt wrong ( :oops: ), at the moment, there deosn't appear to be any movement in the cranks. But the creaks and clicking definitely weren't there before.

robthehungrymonkey

teulk wrote:

Also you may want to tighten your pedals up, if the crank arm came loose then the pedals may have also worked themselves loose to, just out of interest how old is your bike ?

I bought the bike used a couple of years ago, but have only recently really started using it properly.

I think it's about 6/7 years old. Here's a photo of me on it...

teulk

I had a clicking noise coming from what i thought was my crank but it turned out a pedal needed tightening - now i have a sound which again sounds like its coming from the crank but again its one of my pedals - the bearings are shot.

robthehungrymonkey

the pedals are the only bi of the bike that's new! Under 100 miles. So, i doubt the bearings are shot on those.

Monty Dog

Clicking is usually symptomatic of movements / looseness - hold the bike firmly and push/pull/twist/rock each part in turn to see if there's any movement. If not sure, take it to your LBS - they should be experts and diagnose your problems in seconds for no charge.