new Cannondale Supersix - BB30 possibly clicking

ben-----

I bought a new Cannondale Supersix 3 Ultegra 2013 (what's the 3?) at the end of summer last year. Got it on eBay at a reasonable price, still boxed. Before I got the necessary bits (eg torque wrench) to make it ridable the weather turned so I kept using my older bike. Then much later I read about how bad BB30s are. I seriously considered selling the bike while still new in order to not lose any money, possibly even make a bit, and get another new bike that didn't have a BB30. I suggested I was going to sell it before even using it on here and someone suggested it was a bit mad. I really despise the idea of a brand new expensive bike having a fundamental problem requiring time/money spending on it -- that infuriates me. Anyway, good weather is here now, and I never got round to selling it buying a different new bike. A few other people had said how they'd not ever had any problems with their BB30. So sod it I thought just recently. And off I went on my new bike.

Today, not sure if I'm being paranoid, I think I can hear clicking from the bottom bracket. Certainly some sound from that general area which I would describe as clicking. What should I do? (I've only done a 140 miles on the bike.)

Even if the sound I can hear is nothing, or has nothing to do with the bottom bracket, what is the required maintenance to help avoid problems with BB30s? I understand it being greased is important? Will it definitely have grease on it from the factory? How often roughly should it be checked/greased? What tools do I need? Is it just normal bike grease (eg Weldtite Lithium TF2)?

Thanks.

Dave_P1

Remove cranks and bearings
Grease up the BB area and fit everything back together....job done

ben-----

Do I need any particular/special tools for that? Which one(s)? Thanks.

dgunthor

can always fit adapters such as SRAM and put a normal shimano hollowtech II bottom bracket and chainset in there as well (love cannondale but not a fan of BB30)

ben-----

ben----- wrote:

Do I need any particular/special tools for that? Which one(s)? Thanks.

And, should I not ride it until this is done? (assuming clicking is the bottom bracket)

ben-----

dgunthor wrote:

can always fit adapters such as SRAM and put a normal shimano hollowtech II bottom bracket and chainset in there as well (love cannondale but not a fan of BB30)

So I'd buy an adapter plus an entire new chain set. That is absolutely precisely what I wanted and want to avoid. I took a risk that mine would be OK. If it needs replacing I will more than kick myself for not selling the bike while it was still new. I'll be utterly furious if I have to spend however much money is needed to replace BB and chain set. It's just ridiculous.

dgunthor

up to you, but my experience of BB30 bearings is they don't last long and don't like wet rides

ben-----

dgunthor wrote:

up to you, but my experience of BB30 bearings is they don't last long and don't like wet rides

I should have sold the bike. That's what I should have done. I didn't. I'm stuck with it now. I'm not interested in spending lots of money to make a brand new bike basically work as it should without lots of money spending on it. That makes me see red.

It's clicking. I would like to know what maintenance is required? Greasing I've found out. How often (miles ridden) is it likely to need greasing? Which tools I need to grease it? Is it bad news to ride it if it's clicking? What further maintenance?; you say the bearing don't last long. How do you know when they've gone? Do they do further damage to other things when they've gone? How much do they cost? Are further tools (further to the ones for greasing) required to replace bearings? Thanks.

dgunthor

mine lasted about 6 months before the clicking, replaced them for £10. allen key to take the cranks off, circlip pliers to remove the circlip, hammer and punch to remove the bearings (there are specialist tools available approx £20/30)

how long they last depends how many wet rides I'd say

you could also just take the cranks off, use a razor blade to take the bearing seal out and pop some grease in - may do they job.

paulmon

I had a similar issue with my CAAD 10 bearings shortly after buying the bike. I removed the bearings, regreased and re-fitted them and they were fine for another 1500-1800 miles. I replaced them in summer with a new set and have rode these throughout summer and winter and only had to re-grease them once. I read lots of crap on here about how bad they are but that just isn't the case.

As long as you have a half usable brain in your head and are prepared to do a bit of maintenance yourself then you shouldn't have any problems. Buy the right tools and always have a spare set of bearing in the garage.

P

dgunthor

square taper BBs and shimano hollowtech are fit and forget, ISIS and BB30 seem to last a lot less time - my 2p after 22 years in the saddle (can't comment on campag)

drlodge

dgunthor wrote:

square taper BBs and shimano hollowtech are fit and forget, ISIS and BB30 seem to last a lot less time - my 2p after 22 years in the saddle (can't comment on campag)

I have Campag Super Record CULT bearings, and they have clicked. I think its a bit of grit in the bearings as it comes and goes. Since I greased the bearings well and good (against Campag advice since you don't get the CULT benefit apparently), I've had no issues. These bearings are open not sealed, and so prone to a bit of dirt. Quite different through if something is moving or the bearings are worn. But a "click" is likely to be dirt.

ronny123

PaulMon wrote:

I had a similar issue with my CAAD 10 bearings shortly after buying the bike. I removed the bearings, regreased and re-fitted them and they were fine for another 1500-1800 miles. I replaced them in summer with a new set and have rode these throughout summer and winter and only had to re-grease them once. I read lots of crap on here about how bad they are but that just isn't the case.

As long as you have a half usable brain in your head and are prepared to do a bit of maintenance yourself then you shouldn't have any problems. Buy the right tools and always have a spare set of bearing in the garage.

P

Thoroughly agree. Cleaned and greased 1500+miles ago, and since ridden through shit, rain and Wales without bother.

Murnau

I bought a CAAD10 a year ago - it lasted 100 miles before the BB began making that fearful clicking, and did it again later in the summer. As a result I used to worry about it going on every ride I did, and lost a fair few riding days because of it being in the bike shop. Undeterred, I bought a CAAD8 in September as a "winter bike", rode it through the wet, wet winter, covering 2000 miles, and the BB has given me no trouble at all. Been back on the CAAD10 the last few weeks and decided I've had enough of taking it into LBS to get the BB sorted, so bought the Park Tool BB30 tool and a simple eBay headset press and was able to remove and grease the bearings myself, no great shakes. It's really not a challenging task - and I'm not mechanically minded at all. BB30s get a bad rep but like others have said, they aren't particularly difficult to maintain. There's a couple of good videos on YouTube, and the Park Tool site has an excellent guide.

arthur_scrimshaw

I've got two bikes with BB30, a Boardman CX and a Cannondale 6. The Cannondale has done about 6000 miles with no issues, although I only ride it in the dry. The CX bb lasted 9000 miles in mostly crap weather (it's my bad weather bike) and when I did replace it it was easier and quicker than any other bb I'd done, literally 10 minutes from start to finish. I don't know why it's suggested that you remove the circlips? I didn't touch mine. I've got the park tool to remove he bb and used a headset press to fit it. I certainly think selling a bike because of the bb30 is an overreaction, the only thing I don't like about it is the limited choice in chainsets and can see that as the only reason to convert it to conventional bb?

arthur_scrimshaw

I'd also suggest checking the tightness of the nds crank as this can creak if not tightened properly and the mating surfaces greased.

paulmon

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

I'd also suggest checking the tightness of the nds crank as this can creak if not tightened properly and the mating surfaces greased.

Good call. These need to be torqued to about 45nm which I'd say is almost impossible to do with an allen key.

ic.

ben----- wrote:

I should have sold the bike. That's what I should have done. I didn't. I'm stuck with it now.

I think that's a little dramatic.

I have a 'dale with a BB30 bottom bracket. I've had problems with it once, when it started creaking a bit after 12 months and a few thousand miles. So I paid a bike shop £15 to strip and re-grease and torque properly. Now it rides silently

In my experience, clicks are very very unlikely to be coming from the bottom bracket. There are 100s more reasons you'll get a click on a bike apart from the BB. So unless you've ruled everything else out, don't set about hating your bike just yet

As you say this was a "bike in a box" you've obviously had to assemble some things yourself so here's a quick checklist

1. Did you properly grease the pedal threads?
2. Did you use carbon paste on the seat post?
3. Have you over-tightened the seat post, or any other bolts?
4. Even bottle cages can click if the threads on the screws aren't happy
5. And the all time favourite, is your crank arm hitting the small piece of cable sticking out of your front mech?

Your Supersix Ultegra is a fantastic bike, don't write it off just yet, I'm sure you have many happy miles of riding it ahead of you

kentphil

My Caadx developed a clicking sound from its BB30 after about 6 months use. The bike shop stripped and regreased it for me under warrenty and Its been fine since (touch wood!).

bondurant

I'm sure the advice above is sound. The OP, however, reminds me of me a little. and if I was convinced that bb30 was poor but buying a new bike wasn't an option, I'd be looking to change the bb. Best option I've seen is the Praxis adapter and then a regular crankset.

ben-----

> although I only ride it in the dry

Yup I'm only intending to do that with it too.



> I'd also suggest checking the tightness of the nds crank

> These need to be torqued to about 45nm

I'll look into that. I haven't touched that myself. I've ordered an adapter for my larger torque wrench which allows me to put hex wrenches on it.



>I should have sold the bike. That's what I should have done. I didn't. I'm stuck with it now.

> I think that's a little dramatic.

After I bought the bike, and before I used it (while it was still new), I learnt about existence of BB30 problems. Selling the bike and not losing money, maybe gaining some, while it was still new, then buying another nice bike without BB30 was a possible sensible IMO option. Having used it it's not an option now.

By using it, therefore choosing to keep it, I was banking on me being one of the BB30 users who don't suffer too many problems with it. Spending lots of money to de-BB30 it is *really* not something I want to do. Having to spend lots of money to get the bike into a state it should have been in the first place, i.e. working fine, is ridiculous IMO.




> 1. Did you properly grease the pedal threads?

Yup.

> 2. Did you use carbon paste on the seat post?

Yup.

> 3. Have you over-tightened the seat post, or any other bolts?

No.

I didn't use a torque wrench for the pedals though -- don't have the necessary tool for that. I just did them up reasonably tightly. As per the general advice I got from asking about that. I'll have under done them rather than overdone them if anything.

> 4. Even bottle cages can click if the threads on the screws aren't happy

Don't have one.

> 5. And the all time favourite, is your crank arm hitting the small piece of cable sticking out of your front mech?

No, have checked.

> Your Supersix Ultegra is a fantastic bike, don't write it off just yet, I'm sure you have many happy miles of riding it ahead of you

Hope so. Maybe the sound I'm hearing, as is suggested by various replies, is not the BB. Not ridden it much just recently so haven't looked into this much more but when I did ride it a bit, the light clicking sound was still there and it did seem to be coming from the general BB area. But anyway, will look into it more.


For general future reference, what are you supposed to do, maintenance wise, for a BB30? Just leave it be until it starts causing problems, then look into it? Or grease it in some way regularly? How regularly? What to grease exactly?

Thanks.

adamfo

ben----- wrote:

dgunthor wrote:

up to you, but my experience of BB30 bearings is they don't last long and don't like wet rides

I should have sold the bike. That's what I should have done. I didn't. I'm stuck with it now. I'm not interested in spending lots of money to make a brand new bike basically work as it should without lots of money spending on it. That makes me see red.

It's clicking. I would like to know what maintenance is required? Greasing I've found out. How often (miles ridden) is it likely to need greasing? Which tools I need to grease it? Is it bad news to ride it if it's clicking? What further maintenance?; you say the bearing don't last long. How do you know when they've gone? Do they do further damage to other things when they've gone? How much do they cost? Are further tools (further to the ones for greasing) required to replace bearings? Thanks.

Jeeze, the forum does have a search function.

arthur_scrimshaw

To answer your last question (and to be fair, your first one too) I haven't touched the bb on my 6, I did remove the bearings on the CX, took off the seals and regreased them but by then I think they were already on the way out?

ben-----

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

To answer your last question (and to be fair, your first one too) I haven't touched the bb on my 6, I did remove the bearings on the CX, took off the seals and regreased them but by then I think they were already on the way out?

Right, so when they go are they self contained? That is they don't start damaging surrounding bits? And we're talking about these things right?: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/fsa- ... -prod40215

Thanks.

arthur_scrimshaw

Yes they are self contained, no damage removing them with the park tool just be gentle. It doesn't take a lot of force to get them out. If you're fitting new bearings just make sure everything is clean and no grit is left inside the frame. I fitted SRAM bearings, and followed their instruction sheet as what to grease. Can't remember now but you should have the details with the replacement bearings. Or look on SRAMs website. You're more likely to cause damage refitting, keeping everything square as the bearings are going in is much easier using a headset press and the park removal tool has a set of spacers to be used with a press. I fitted both bearings at the same time with the press, just don't over tighten the press, you can feel as the bearings come up against the circlips.

ben-----

OK great, thanks.

davoj

ben----- wrote:

dgunthor wrote:

up to you, but my experience of BB30 bearings is they don't last long and don't like wet rides

I should have sold the bike. That's what I should have done. I didn't. I'm stuck with it now. I'm not interested in spending lots of money to make a brand new bike basically work as it should without lots of money spending on it. That makes me see red.

It's clicking. I would like to know what maintenance is required? Greasing I've found out. How often (miles ridden) is it likely to need greasing? Which tools I need to grease it? Is it bad news to ride it if it's clicking? What further maintenance?; you say the bearing don't last long. How do you know when they've gone? Do they do further damage to other things when they've gone? How much do they cost? Are further tools (further to the ones for greasing) required to replace bearings? Thanks.

I had just bought a Bianchi Sempre (BB30) and after about 2 months the clicking started, I cycled mine in the rain and also trained on it (e.g hill repeats) and had to change the bearings every 2-3 months. I couldn't understand how a decent bike could have so much problems with the bottom bracket area.

It drove me so mad changing the bearings and waiting for the next click to arrive that after 15 months I sold it and will never buy a bike with BB30 again. I would seriously advice anyone to reconsider buying a bike with the BB30, especially with our weather and roads.

pippi_langsamer-2

Bad news is BB30 is crap.

Good news is bearings are a standard spec and are fairly cheap to replace (Google your local non-cycling bearing manufacturers).

You may find it stops clicking after a while- mine did!

jordan_217

The chances are that manufacturing tolerances have rendered your BB shell less BB30 friendly than it should be. Not all frames are created equal. You'll probably never get on with it, judging by your early experiences.

I had a similar issue with my CAAD10 - 3 sets of bearings in less than 500 dry miles. One of the cartridges could be pressed in and removed by hand alone. I converted my CAAD10 to BSA 68mm using the FSA adapter sleeve. I fitted an Ultegra BB and 105 chainset. No more clicking and a nice stiff BB thanks to the FSA sleeve. Done for around £120.

I had already budgeted for this when I bought the bike as I had already had zero confidence in BB30 before taking delivery of the bike.

ben-----

I've yet to get the adapter to allow my more heavy duty torque wrench use my hex socket set (I've bought the wrong adapter twice now, third time lucky). As soon as I get that adapter I will check that the NDS crank is done up tightly enough, and also the chain ring bolts. But in the meantime...

> Yes they are self contained, no damage removing them with the park tool just be gentle.

… I just want to check and make sure: Assuming for a second that it is the BB30 clicking, am I in danger of doing damage by continuing to ride the bike while the it's clicking? (The answer I quoted above seems to be in terms of replacement, not continuing to use it while clicking.)

Update on clicking: it's clicking quite a lot. And it seem to be coming entirely from the right hand side, not left, so I'm really hoping it might be the chain ring bolts not done up tightly enough.

ronny123

Once you get the adapter for your wrench and remove the cranks you can check the bearings for play with your finger. I would expect that they're ok and, as a few posters upthread have pointed out, the undertightened drive side crank is the problem. The only time my BB30'd bike has 'clicked' is when I put different cranks on it and didn't have the guns to get it tightened up enough. Why not save yourself the worry and pop by your nearest bike shop and ask them to torque it up for you? You never know.