Race Face Bottom Bracket

evo3ben

I have a Race Face X Type Bottom Bracket fitted to my Orange P7 Pro as standard but have now got some very prominent crank creek noises on every revolution of the crank.
I have checked all the crank bolts etc to see if they are loose but all are as should be. I have taken the crank off and taken out the bottom bracket, cleaned, greased and also cleaned threads, re-installed as per orange's recommendations and torque settings but am still getting the horrible creaking noise.
I took pedals off, serviced them (DMR V8's) packed them with grease but still the creaking noise.
The creak is really loud and easily heard by people on there bikes in front and behind me.

I know the Race Face bottom bracket is sealed and cant get to the bearings and its only £20 to replace but is there anything else i could check before i replace it.
Also should i replace it with the same BB or just go all out and get a Hope one?

I use my bike 1-2 times a week XC, had it for over a year now and has been up and down Snowdon and other various heavy going bike trail centres so i suppose the BB has had its fair share of work.

Any help much appreciated

nonnac85

Have you checked your mech hanger - my bike had a creak that I tried to find similar to the things you have checked but in the end I went for a new BB only to find the noise was still there. It was only when a few rides later the mech hanger completely snapped off that you could see all the stress lines where a crack had been getting worse.

nicklouse

read http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=123

ddraver

Don't replace it with another Race face one - go for a hope one instead. The race face ones are just useless

dsmiff

ddraver wrote:

Don't replace it with another Race face one - go for a hope one instead. The race face ones are just useless

Come on they’re not that bad, mine lasted almost 3 months

evo3ben

Buy cheap buy twice as they say lol

Race Face seem to have a good rep as far as i can see. But from the performance of the BB im a bit disappointed to be honest. Not sure why Orange would put that kind of BB on an All Mountain bike? I suppose i should have taken the Hope upgrade option when i ordered it.

Anyway, the noise is definatly coming from the crank area and not anywhere else on the bike. Leaned the bike against a wall and i balanced of the pedals and bobbed up and down on them. At the same time my mate listened around the crank area and confirmed that that was the source of the noise.

Cant really imagine it being anything else apart from BB.

Those that replaced there Race Face BB, what symptoms did you have to promt you into changing it? Be interesting to compare 8)

marinman1

my mates race face BB near enough seized up on him the other week

dsmiff

Mine seized on the non drive side.

mea00csf

after some research i decided not to fit the race face bottom bracket which came with my cranks when i was building up my bike, too many bad reports. Sold it on ebay (starting price was 1p and some sucker bought it for £35!! :shock: ) and bought a Hope BB for about £50. No problems with the Hope so far

Bungalow Bill

I have the Race Face Atlas AM, had it for over a year now with the BB that came with it no issues yet, I ride like a bulldozer as well so it feels my pain at least 3 times a week.

Maybe I got the good one =D

ddraver

dsmiff wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Don't replace it with another Race face one - go for a hope one instead. The race face ones are just useless

Come on they’re not that bad, mine lasted almost 3 months

he he - don't get me wrong - everything else about the cranks are great - its just the BB!

delcol

you can get to the bearing you need to pop the plastic cover off (it's a kind of dust cover) then remove the i think it's rubber seal and you have access to the bearings..

i tried it with my rf bb didn't work. my bb had developed play in it the cranks were moving and the creak would drive me crazy..

i changed my bb for a new one it was only a cheap crappy £15 thing off merlin (will be changing the crank sept for a bettter high spec one) to my annoyance the creak still there....

if you can afford it go hope or chrisking...

dsmiff

ddraver wrote:

dsmiff wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Don't replace it with another Race face one - go for a hope one instead. The race face ones are just useless

Come on they’re not that bad, mine lasted almost 3 months

he he - don't get me wrong - everything else about the cranks are great - its just the BB!

Same here, got the cranks from CRC - Evolve xc (for a price that was not much more than replacing the old bearings!), lovely bit of kit, was warned about the bearing, but installed them anyway.

Mind you the drive side is still going strong and the Cranks are the 2007 model - maybe the later one's are a bit better!

Nick Dastardly

The Race Face BB on my Orange Crush has just started creaking, had it about 4 months.......

Could just be a loose bolt but I'll investigate at the weekend.