Buying online - warranty query especially about BB30

redvision

Im on the look out for a new bike and will hopefully get a good deal come autumn in the sales.

Chances are that i will order online as the prices even now are much much cheaper than the local bike shops.

I have purchased bikes online before and 'touch wood' have never had any significant issues with them.

My concern this time around is primarily with the BB30 bottom bracket which all of the bikes im interested in have. Reading through the countless threads on this and other forums its pretty clear that BB30 is a vulnerable component.

My question is if you order online and do get issues with the BB30 what do you do? Does the entire bike have to go back to the online retailer? Do you have to arrange shipping?
Has any one faced this issue?

robbo2011

Perhaps it might be better to find a bike which doesn't have a BB30. You'll probably have a lot less sleepless nights..

sloppyschleckonds

Think about the positives of BB30, not the few minor negatives.






*buy from one of the more established brands

redvision

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Think about the positives of BB30, not the few minor negatives.

Its always better to know of possible problems and the solutions to them, especially when spending a fair bit of money.

All im really trying to find out is has anyone who ordered a bike online suffered such problems and how were they resolved.

bondurant

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Think about the positives of BB30, not the few minor negatives.

Are there any, compared to other BB standards? Genuine question.

sungod

light weight, narrower stance, stiff spindle

properly designed, implemented, fitted and maintained in accordance with manufacturer's instructions bb30 is fine - mine is still on the original bearings since 2010, >20,000 km, no issues, it's superb

but mess something up and it'll be trouble, some brands seem to be very bad

robbo2011

To be fair though, you do strip down and regrease it every couple of months, something that most people would not be prepared to do. And nor should they have to.

paul2718

The answer to your question is 'yes'. Unless the manufacturer will honour warranty at another outlet which could be a local shop.

But why would you expect a problem?

(is 'sungod' who I think he might be?)

Paul

paulmon

I bought a CAAD10 which has a BB30 not online but I had to travel some distance to buy it. The bottom bracket got noisy within a month and when I spoke to the bike shop they wanted the entire bike. How I got it to them was my problem.

I decided to buy the tools and replace it myself which is a really straight forward job. If you buy a bike with a BB30 then buy a spare set of bearings and buy the removal and insertion tools (about £20 all in) so you are ready when it fails.

Preventative maintenance can help so avoid using power washers and keep the bearing well greased. When I took mine apart the first time the bearings had very little grease on them. I re-greased and replaced them and they have been fine for over 1000 miles. I have recently started to hear the early warning of failure (clicking under power) which I'll sort out this weekend.

P

gabriel959

interesting. I have been using my SuperSix with BB30 for 1500 miles and haven't had any problems, yet. Where can you buy the tools for the BB PaulMon?

sloppyschleckonds

3000m miles on a CAAD10 without a squeak

paulmon

gabriel959 wrote:

interesting. I have been using my SuperSix with BB30 for 1500 miles and haven't had any problems, yet. Where can you buy the tools for the BB PaulMon?

U need this to fit them: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=36370
and this to remove (along with a rubber mallet): http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=36371

The bearings are here http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=40215

The bearings take quite a bit of force to get out and you have to be careful not to damage the circlip that is inside the frame. Once you have them out you lift the bearing cover off with a pin to expose the bearings and you can clean, re-grease and fit (as long as there is no corrosion on the bearing shell).

The first time I took them out I completely disassembled them (by accident) and its not something I would want to do again as it took ages to put it all back together (see below)

Monty Dog

The problems with BB30 are typically down to 2 things:
Poor tolerances / machining of the frame meaning the bearings never fit correctly in the first place - the bearings need to be press-fit, otherwise they move and creak. Misaligned bearings also wear quicker.
The second problem is maintenance and exposure to water. Because of the way the bearings sit in the BB shell, any water ingress down the seatube means they can corrode very quickly.
In terms of warranty, you'll only be covered by the former - bearings by their nature are consumable and wear-out so if you ride in the rain without mudguards or powerwash your bike and your bearings get rusty..you're on your own.
As for the advantages - ask why does Shimano or Campagnolo not see fit to adopt the design?
If you have the right tools and can keep on top of the maintenance you should be OK, but don't believe they're fit and forget.
Finally, as for any performance advantages? The jurys still out...nobody ever won anything due to a bottom bracket, but lots of good rides get ruined by the creaking hell of a noisy BB.

adamfo

gabriel959 wrote:

interesting. I have been using my SuperSix with BB30 for 1500 miles and haven't had any problems, yet.

Same here. I don't jet wash the bike.

sungod

robbo2011 wrote:

To be fair though, you do strip down and regrease it every couple of months, something that most people would not be prepared to do. And nor should they have to.

it's a 15 minute job, big deal

Monty Dog

For Sungod's benefit, Cinelli have ditched BB30 on the XCR for 2013 and gone back to conventional threaded BB - that's progress I guess? Obviously folks dropping £2500 on an XCr frame didn't feel the love for creaking BBs either.

drlodge

IMHO press fit is a bad design. If the bearing fit somehow gets compromised then its the frame that's worn, and that's nigh on impossible to fix without replacing the frame. Similar issue with integrated headsets.

essjaydee

Bought a Canondale SuperSix online, and after just over 1000miles, the BB started to click badly.
I took it to a local trusted cycle technician, who is an ex team mechanic, and he knew of a quick fix, which cost me £10

I didn't ask what the fix was, but the other alternative was to replace it, and he suggested to a different type and he wasn't a "big fan" of BB30. So if it goes again, I'll probably get it replaced for a different type.

cycleclinic

One day it will go full circle and be back to square taper. My next bike will be using a carbon square taper crankset and a Phil wood BB. Light weight and durable, everything I could ask for. BB30 is a standard that cause too many problems for many, and you should not have maintain cartridge bearings, if you have to there is something worng.

External BB systems are fine, I run a few but I prefer square taper BB's.

bikeit65

Just found this http://volagi.com/blog/how-bb30-overhau ... eplacement
never knew you had to use locktite on the outside of the bearing casing, thought it was grease all the way

jgsi

Bikeit65 wrote:

Just found this http://volagi.com/blog/how-bb30-overhau ... eplacement
never knew you had to use locktite on the outside of the bearing casing, thought it was grease all the way

imo
no to loctite... not needed
would not even think about removing bearings in a workstand, vertical
Place frame horizontal on wood blocks and gently tap out... no force required
Replace the same way.. tap in gently then use a diy press tool .. you dont need a £ mega £ park tool press
good sequence though

robbo2011

sungod wrote:

robbo2011 wrote:

To be fair though, you do strip down and regrease it every couple of months, something that most people would not be prepared to do. And nor should they have to.

it's a 15 minute job, big deal

It might well be a 15 min job for you, but I stand by my original comments. Most people do not want to mess around regularly servicing bearings.

bikeit65

What snap ring pliers will i need for this job?

Monty Dog

Bikeit65 wrote:

What snap ring pliers will i need for this job?

On this side of the Atlantic, we use internal cir-clip pliers - if you want snap-ring pliers you'll need to go to America There's plenty on ebay for example

bikeit65

How about these Monty?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-PIECE-COMBI ... 231cc873bc

sungod

robbo2011 wrote:

sungod wrote:

robbo2011 wrote:

To be fair though, you do strip down and regrease it every couple of months, something that most people would not be prepared to do. And nor should they have to.

it's a 15 minute job, big deal

It might well be a 15 min job for you, but I stand by my original comments. Most people do not want to mess around regularly servicing bearings.

15 minutes is 15 minutes, the task is irrelevant

if 15 minutes every 2-3 months is too much for you i hate to think what the state of your bike is

cycleclinic

I would rather spend the 15 minutes doing other thing than servicing bearings that were never meant to be serviced. The fact that you have to indicates an inherant weakness in the design. External BB designs do not need this attenstion and square taper BB will do 10,000 + miles (if it a good one) without any attention what so ever.

BB30 does have it's advantages though, stiffer BB shell but I have never thought you kow what I really need bike better is a stiffer BB shell.

However all this has been said already. Everyone has there perfered BB design. I have mine sungod has his. It's all good if it suits you.

redvision

thanks for all the replies and opinions fellas.
some really interesting posts.
seems opinions are pretty much the same as what i have read before; basically there are advantages of bb30, but it comes at a price.

not being the most competant bike mechanic, think im swaying away from the idea now.

i guess i was naive in assuming that the warranty would cover the bb, had never contemplated it could be deemed as wear and tare and therefore excluded from such policies.

trouble is all the bikes i have looked at instore and online seem to come with press fit bbs

robbo2011

Well, the BB86 press fit design seems to be reliable. You never read of anything on the forums and I've had no problems so far in over 5000km of riding (SRAM GXP BB86).

So I think you can buy BB86 designs without too much worry.

Monty Dog

I have BB86 on one of my CX bikes - I specc'ed it as part of a custom built because it's eminently more sensible for CX bikes as narrow BB shells give you rubbish rear tyre clearance and poor lateral stiffness. It's been creak-free for 18 months, which is good seeing the filthy conditions it's been ridden. The likes of Giant, Scott and Trek have all adopted variations of the BB86/90 design and it's the only press-fit design Shimano recognise.

cycleclinic

At that is because it works better than BB30.