Is BB30 really that bad?

Dave_P1

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Dave_P1 wrote:

My Supersix runs BB30 and since owning the bike from new I've put in over 10,000 miles on the BB30 bearings and they are still running smooth today. The bike has been used in all conditions and has certainly got covered in plenty of snow and water this winter.
The bearings have only been removed when the creaking has appeared from the BB area and since buying the bike I've probably removed them about 3 or 4 times.

I don't get it... you say they have been used for 10 K miles, but in the meantime they gave you problems 3 or 4 times... in your view is it good or bad?

The bearings didn't give me problems. It was the area around the bearings that needed greasing so usual maintenance really.

Flexisurfer

Dave_P1 wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Dave_P1 wrote:

My Supersix runs BB30 and since owning the bike from new I've put in over 10,000 miles on the BB30 bearings and they are still running smooth today. The bike has been used in all conditions and has certainly got covered in plenty of snow and water this winter.
The bearings have only been removed when the creaking has appeared from the BB area and since buying the bike I've probably removed them about 3 or 4 times.

I don't get it... you say they have been used for 10 K miles, but in the meantime they gave you problems 3 or 4 times... in your view is it good or bad?

The bearings didn't give me problems. It was the area around the bearings that needed greasing so usual maintenance really.

But with my square taper I don't have "usual" maintenance and I care for my bikes.

ADIHEAD

I've had BB30 on my Synapse and the bearings lasted until the pedal thread on the FSA chainset broke - just over 4 years! Put new bearings in with the new chainset just as a precaution. Still got the bike and rode it over the winter on better days, not touched it and it's fine. I gather a whole batch of CAAD10's were sent out last year without sufficient grease around the bearings and that's probably why your LBS is concerned? Just get them to regrease it before you pick it up and I'm sure you'll be fine. A mate of mine had the problem initially and has ridden several miles in all conditions and it's totally fine;-)

jgsi

ADIHEAD wrote:

I've had BB30 on my Synapse and the bearings lasted until the pedal thread on the FSA chainset broke - just over 4 years! Put new bearings in with the new chainset just as a precaution. Still got the bike and rode it over the winter on better days, not touched it and it's fine. I gather a whole batch of CAAD10's were sent out last year without sufficient grease around the bearings and that's probably why your LBS is concerned? Just get them to regrease it before you pick it up and I'm sure you'll be fine. A mate of mine had the problem initially and has ridden several miles in all conditions and it's totally fine;-)

same here.. the bearings were ok before replacing but in comparison to new, they were dog rough.
Careful seating and pressing and using the correct bearing covers and shims - good to go for another 3 to 4 years.
There is no regular maintenance as mentioned required... fit and forget as far as I am concerned, unless you are changing cranksets on a regular basis.
I have a CAAD10 frame on order and in my other thread was contemplating a conversion to HT but just plugged a FSA double crankset BB30 with 2/3rds off from CRC with the correct crank length.. there was one on Ebay, I bid .. but that is starting to go for silly Ebay money... so there is a LOT of BB30 users out there!

Dave_P1

Flexisurfer wrote:

Dave_P1 wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Dave_P1 wrote:

My Supersix runs BB30 and since owning the bike from new I've put in over 10,000 miles on the BB30 bearings and they are still running smooth today. The bike has been used in all conditions and has certainly got covered in plenty of snow and water this winter.
The bearings have only been removed when the creaking has appeared from the BB area and since buying the bike I've probably removed them about 3 or 4 times.

I don't get it... you say they have been used for 10 K miles, but in the meantime they gave you problems 3 or 4 times... in your view is it good or bad?

The bearings didn't give me problems. It was the area around the bearings that needed greasing so usual maintenance really.

But with my square taper I don't have "usual" maintenance and I care for my bikes.

And your point is? :roll:

jordan_217

Less than 300 (dry) miles and no creaking! Just a loud metallic knocking that's absolutely horrendous. I"m going to strip it and regrease it this week and if the noise persists/returns it's getting binned and I'll be fitting a BS 68MM converter ASAP!

smidsy

I wish I could say I am surprised....hope you get it sorted.

sungod

jordan_217 wrote:

Less than 300 (dry) miles and no creaking! Just a loud metallic knocking that's absolutely horrendous. I"m going to strip it and regrease it this week and if the noise persists/returns it's getting binned and I'll be fitting a BS 68MM converter ASAP!

sounds like it's been badly made/assembled and a bearing has failed

it's a new bike isn't it? if there's a fault get it fixed under warranty

jordan_217

smidsy wrote:

I wish I could say I am surprised....hope you get it sorted.

Cheers. I was expecting it TBH but was surprised it lasted that long judging what other CAAD 10 owners have reported. LBS have said they won't charge to fit the adapter for me, which I'm sure will be happening in the next few months.

I bought the bike from Westbrooks which used to be my LBS until I moved 180 miles South, so will give them a call today and see if they could ship some bearings despite not being able to inspect the bike.

jordan_217

Update: Just phoned Westbrooks and some replacement bearings should be in the post today. Good CS, as always!

rolf_f

The world confuses me! On the one hand we have people here complaining that sometimes online shops take as long as five days to send them something and on the other we have people that think that it's OK to have to strip and regrease BB bearings every 2-4 months!

I wonder if those who do tolerate this can really put their finger on any definite, quantifiable benefit they gain from having BB30 to offset the pretty horrendous maintainance consequences.

Of course, Dave P1 is financially ahead of me (by £15) as I had to replace the BB bearings on my Campag Centaur at about 7000 miles (on 10k now) - but that is the only time I have touched them and that bike is also used in pretty terrible weather so in hassle terms I am well behind!

jgsi

Rolf F wrote:

The world confuses me! On the one hand we have people here complaining that sometimes online shops take as long as five days to send them something and on the other we have people that think that it's OK to have to strip and regrease BB bearings every 2-4 months!

I wonder if those who do tolerate this can really put their finger on any definite, quantifiable benefit they gain from having BB30 to offset the pretty horrendous maintainance consequences.

Of course, Dave P1 is financially ahead of me (by £15) as I had to replace the BB bearings on my Campag Centaur at about 7000 miles (on 10k now) - but that is the only time I have touched them and that bike is also used in pretty terrible weather so in hassle terms I am well behind!

You cannot get a CAAD10 frameset for racing unless you choose BB30 8)
For emergency use I have a 68mm adapter on the wall under glass with a small hammer.

sungod

benefits...

narrower stance: good for me
lower drag: i'll take every advantage i can get
lighter: same again
stiffer: and again
reliability: i've had to change a shimano bb (6600) after just under 3 years, it's done way less mileage than the bb30 which is still going strong

if a manufacturer does a poor implementation, that's bad for the buyer, but there's absolutely no evidence i'm aware of that there's a problem with bb30 in general, perhaps there are some makes/models that are not doing it right, but maybe there are loads of the same make/model with no problem at all, who has the numbers to prove it either way? not me

the point is, unless someone can produce data for a significant sample of device population there's absolutely no rational justification to say anything more than 'maybe avoid make/model xyz', but even then, how many actual unique failures out of what total population are you basing that on? a few forum postings? endless rehashing of the same failure? it'd be as crazy as me saying ultegra is crap because i've got a failed 6600 bb

btw i really don't understand how a 15-minute job every 2-3 months is "pretty horrendous maintainance consequences", if you want horrendous that'd be doing the hoovering!

rolf_f

sungod wrote:

btw i really don't understand how a 15-minute job every 2-3 months is "pretty horrendous maintainance consequences", if you want horrendous that'd be doing the hoovering!

Hang on, are you denying that running BB30 results in more hoovering?!

smidsy

sungod wrote:

btw i really don't understand how a 15-minute job every 2-3 months is "pretty horrendous maintainance consequences", if you want horrendous that'd be doing the hoovering!

Because it is 15 minutes every couple of months that every othe BB does not require.

Personally I do not understand how anyone would think a BB that requires such TLC is OK. Each to their own.

jordan_217

As I only intend to do this once before binning BB30 - can the bearing removal and fitting of the new bearings be done (correctly) without the use of the proper tools?

I'm thinking tapping out with flat head screw driver and mallet and then use a block of wood and mallet for refitting? In terms of grease - can I just use general purpose teflon based stuff. IIRC I use the Finesse MTB grease for most bike applications.

jgsi

jordan_217 wrote:

As I only intend to do this once before binning BB30 - can the bearing removal and fitting of the new bearings be done (correctly) without the use of the proper tools?

I'm thinking tapping out with flat head screw driver and mallet and then use a block of wood and mallet for refitting? In terms of grease - can I just use general purpose teflon based stuff. IIRC I use the Finesse MTB grease for most bike applications.

Tapping out with a piece of wooden dowling can be done. You are not going to reuse the bearings anyhow.
As for pressing in , tap in carefully yes, but for the 'final' press to the circlip, then I'd advise getting the press cups/insertion plates and rigging up a coach bolt arrangement to ease them in fully.
Grease is grease isnt it?

jordan_217

JGSI wrote:

jordan_217 wrote:

As I only intend to do this once before binning BB30 - can the bearing removal and fitting of the new bearings be done (correctly) without the use of the proper tools?

I'm thinking tapping out with flat head screw driver and mallet and then use a block of wood and mallet for refitting? In terms of grease - can I just use general purpose teflon based stuff. IIRC I use the Finesse MTB grease for most bike applications.

Tapping out with a piece of wooden dowling can be done. You are not going to reuse the bearings anyhow.
As for pressing in , tap in carefully yes, but for the 'final' press to the circlip, then I'd advise getting the press cups/insertion plates and rigging up a coach bolt arrangement to ease them in fully.
Grease is grease isnt it?

Ok, cheers.

jonomc4

had BB30 for about 1 year and 4,000 miles - never re greased, never a problem - not even a hint of a squeak. Sram Red BB30 (standard bearings) on a DeRosa R838 - I love it no flex at all - something I had with slightly cheaper chainsets on different bearings when I stand on the pedals. Got the bearings fitted at the LBS because I don't have the tool.

Bozman

jordan_217 wrote:

As I only intend to do this once before binning BB30 - can the bearing removal and fitting of the new bearings be done (correctly) without the use of the proper tools?

I'm thinking tapping out with flat head screw driver and mallet and then use a block of wood and mallet for refitting? In terms of grease - can I just use general purpose teflon based stuff. IIRC I use the Finesse MTB grease for most bike applications.

That's virtually how I do mine except that I've bought a cheap FSA BB30 tool(CRC 4.99) to tap the bearings out, I tap them back in with a piece of wood.
I support the BB of the frame with a block of wood and whack the bearing out, clean and grease the interior, then tap the new bearing in, grease again and bobs your uncle. No squeaks or creaks, just a pain in the ass to maintain when you're used to HTII etc which require no maintenance.

jordan_217

Bozman wrote:

jordan_217 wrote:

As I only intend to do this once before binning BB30 - can the bearing removal and fitting of the new bearings be done (correctly) without the use of the proper tools?

I'm thinking tapping out with flat head screw driver and mallet and then use a block of wood and mallet for refitting? In terms of grease - can I just use general purpose teflon based stuff. IIRC I use the Finesse MTB grease for most bike applications.

That's virtually how I do mine except that I've bought a cheap FSA BB30 tool(CRC 4.99) to tap the bearings out, I tap them back in with a piece of wood.
I support the BB of the frame with a block of wood and whack the bearing out, clean and grease the interior, then tap the new bearing in, grease again and bobs your uncle. No squeaks or creaks, just a pain in the ass to maintain when you're used to HTII etc which require no maintenance.

Nice one, thanks. Should hopefully get the bearings today and will sort it out tonight/tomorrow.

rosavillewill

Personally, i would not ever buy another BB30 having just had my 3rd set of bearings put in in the last 6 month/approx 3-4000 miles. Driving me up the wall and as i am not mechanically minded, becoming rather expensive! And about 250 miles after the latest replacement my favourite clicking sound is already coming back..... :evil:

Will

drlodge

Any bearing design (BB30, Integrated) where there is a risk of the frame itself becoming worn is just crap design to me. If the bearings press into the frame, and that surface gets worn so the bearing starts to move, you're buggered.