bottom bracket? help please

spinacer

Hi

Im relatively new to cycling.

I bought my first road bike from my local bike shop in january - a felt f95.
have loved it. started doing about 2 rides a week and have increased to 4 rides of 20miles a week. i know thats not much by a lot of people standards, but its a big increase from my first ride on it when i managed just 6miles.

however, in march i took it for a 6 week check up and the shop told me the bottom bracket needed replacing and they said it was considered to be wear and tear and so it isnt covered under warranty.
i paid the £40 and off i went.
Anyway, at the start of this week i noticed that in first gear the chain was rubbing against the front derailler. it hadnt been doing this before. i thought it must need tuning or something. i was going to take it to my lbs again, but then a friend who i ride with said he could tweak the gears for me.
when he looked at it he immediately said its the bottom bracket. all he did was apply a bit of pressure to the chainset and he found it was wobbly. not a great deal of movement, but 2 or 3mm.

My question is should i go back to the lbs and complain? can a bottom bracket go again so quickly?

the bike has never been ridden in the rain.

i just cant understand how a part can go again so quickly, especially as i havent exactly been doing thousands of miles on it.

i would really appreciate some help and advice.

thanks

btw the bottom bracket is a square tape or something

Baz

proto

You shouldn't have paid to have the first one changed. A bottom bracket, particularly a square taper type, should mange a thousands of miles before failing. So, yes, take it back and complain. Doubt you'll get your money back from the first repair, but you ought to make a fuss.

t4tomo

There is no way a bottom bracket will wear out in 3 months of relatively modest riding.

Your shop was pulling a fast one there and then seems have not fitted the replacement properly. I'd be taking it back and telling them to get it sorted gratis.

StorckSpeed

The beauty of JIS (Japanese Industrial Square) is that it's maintenance free and will give much, much more miles service than any other type of bottom bracket. I'd expect at least a year out of it regardless of the amount of miles, and change it in spring, cause the winter months will take their toll.
The nightmare of a JIS Bottom Bracket is that fitting the chainset on again is tricky and if done wrong can give a visible wobble and you then get chain rub, it's normally easy to fix though. Take it back and get properly lined up or buy a chainset removal tool for £10 and do it yourself.

spinacer

thanks for the quick replies.

i will definitely take it back to my lbs and complain.

is it likely i will need to leave it with them? or is it something they could do quickly?
(they had it a week last time)

keef66

A week to change a square taper BB?? Should take them about 15 minutes!

If indeed they did fit a new one I cannot believe it is failing again already. More likely they haven't torqued up the BB properly, or they haven't torqued up the crank bolts properly and something's coming loose.

nochekmate

spinacer wrote:

thanks for the quick replies.

i will definitely take it back to my lbs and complain.

is it likely i will need to leave it with them? or is it something they could do quickly?
(they had it a week last time)

It's not a big job but they may not be prepared to launch into it whilst you wait (shouldn't be required to leave it a week though either this time. Agree with previous posters - the BB should not have needed to be replaced in the time that you have had it especially since you've hardly given it a hard time.

owenlars

500 or 600 miles on a BB is nothing. I would insist that the LBS sort it. I would also make a fuss about the first replacement to see if you can get some cash back. Once they have fixed it I would never set foot in the shop again.

If they don't fix it then name and shame them.

rafletcher

StorckSpeed wrote:

The beauty of JIS (Japanese Industrial Square) is that it's maintenance free and will give much, much more miles service than any other type of bottom bracket. I'd expect at least a year out of it regardless of the amount of miles, and change it in spring, cause the winter months will take their toll.
The nightmare of a JIS Bottom Bracket is that fitting the chainset on again is tricky and if done wrong can give a visible wobble and you then get chain rub, it's normally easy to fix though. Take it back and get properly lined up or buy a chainset removal tool for £10 and do it yourself.

Frankly, most of that post is nonsense! JIS (Japnaese Industry Standard) just refers to the particular type of square taper axle. It's no better/worse (IMO) than ISO (International Standards Organisation) square taper, or Hollowtech (a Shimano specific splined axles) etc. etc. Most of my BB's ahve lasted several years, never mind one.

Fitting chainsets to a taper axle is not a nightmare. Just push the cjanset gently on, and torque up the axle bolt. 5 minute job. Same for ISO. Hollowtech of cousre is slightly different but still no more than a 5 minute job.

As to designs of BB, there are those with "internal" bearings (the older style where the bearings are insde the BB shell dimension) and those with external bearings - the more recent styel. Many people will say an external bering BB is prone to getting wetter, dirtier, and not lasting as long. I use (and pay a lot for) Chris King and Hope versions to try and avoid that problem.

But as to the original post - 6 weeks is NOT wear and tear, it's a faulty BB. Not necessarily the LBS fault, but their problem. I'd be threatening Citizens Advice etc. if they tried it with me.

Cleat Eastwood

2-3mm is quite a lot of movement for a crank - take it back.

spinacer

thanks for all the help and advice.

i have rung the shop and they want me to take the bike in on tues (they are closing for the bank holiday).
they said they will look at it and sort it whilst i wait.

thanks again for all the help.

will post an update after i have seen them.

Wirral_paul

Have you checked that the crank bolt hasnt simply come loose??

spinacer

so heres the update:

took the bike to my lbs for 9am yesterday.
mechanic took it off me and looked at it whilst i waited.
turns out the bottom bracket was 'cross threaded'. they replaced the bb in march, so it has been like that since then.

anyway, after a bit of debating/arguing with the mechanic and the guy on the till (they tried to deny all liability) the owner appeared (thank god). he listened to my complaints and accepted it was their fault.

they have agreed to sort the repair but said it will be up to 2 weeks before i have it back, so in the meantime they have loaned me a replacement (trek 1.1).

feel relieved that they have admitted it was their fault and are sorting it. although im also wary of trusting the job they do seeing as this was caused by them in the first place.

anyway, hopefully it will be sorted very soon.
thanks again for all the help

owenlars

Good result and they lent you a bike as well, that is good customer service although you shouldn't have had to fight so hard to get the result. Presumably they are re-tapping the bb threads on your frame.

hairy_boy

Constantly amazes me that supposedly 'competent' mechanics can make such schoolboy errors !

Pleased you are getting it sorted without paying again.

May be time to try a different LBS or buy a book and start doing some of your own bike repairs/maintenance as things crop up. Its not rocket science and you can buy the tools for particular jobs as they need doing.