bottom bracket facing

The Cookie Monster

Hey guys.

im putting together an XC bike to take to canada with me. The bottom bracket in it was a square taper one and im putting in a external one as i had some xt cranks lying around. People often say you should face off your bottom bracket shell but i didnt have a tool at my work, but it doesnt seem to be clicking and there is zero play, is it worth stripping it and taking it into a LBS to be faced?

My other problem is i cant get my avid elixer R pistons to go flush with the caliper, i have split the caliper in two and tried to push it in, to no avail. is it worth pulling the piston out? (i have no spare seals and wont be able to get one by wednesday evening when i leave) if yes, any ideas how to do it without an air compressor? if i were to use a rubber mallet to get it back in, will it cause any damage?

Thanks,

Tom

stumpyjon

It is worth getting the BB shell faced, espcially if you previously had a square taper BB in before. It might all feel OK but if those faces aren't parallel it will bork (my fav word of the day) your bearings quite quickly.

As for the pistons, do they need to go completely flush to caliper to fit the new pads? I don't always get my Juicy 7s right back in and still manage to get SuperStar pads in. Personally I wouldn't go messing about with calipers this close to going unless I really had to.

ilovedirt

The guy in my LBS tried to tell me that modern frames don't need facing the other day, as it was really only old steel frames that needed facing as they would warp when they were being welded.... Of course i was having none of it, if he doesn't know what he's talking about, then i'm not too confident in his ability to do the job properly either.

thelonegroover

I understand facing the bottom bracket should always be done on new frames, so why don’t companies who sell frames to the public do this?

nicklouse

cost.

some companies do but they tend to be low volume high cost items.