BB30 gone after 1/2hr

GGBiker

So I bought a new bike which shall remain nameless but it has a bb30 bottom bracket.

Took it out on inaugural run, it was windy so I couldn't hear much, but after 1/2 hr I started to hear something from bb area, pulled over to investigate and it is a cracking sound on turning the pedals (even gently by hand), made my way home with this getting louder, I swear car drivers were looking at me due to the volume by the time I got home.

I spoke to the shop who will replace the bearings, said they had a few like this recently, seemed to be dodgy batch of factory fitted bearings and all was well after replacing on the bikes they had fixed.

Just wondering, is this likely a sign of the nightmare to come or a one off, ie is this an indicator of something fundamentally wrong like a poorly made bb area in this frame which will have constant problems?

I am aware that people have variable experiences with bb30, and many experience creaking etc, but after 10 miles??

Mulling over whether to go for a fix or return the bike as not fit for purpose under the sale of goods act, any thoughts?

ugo.santalucia

GGBiker wrote:

Just wondering, is this likely a sign of the nightmare to come or a one off, ie is this an indicator of something fundamentally wrong like a poorly made bb area in this frame which will have constant problems?

Possibly... worst case scenario you can get the adapter... I'll move this to workshop

Bozman

That's not bad for BB30.

meanredspider

Just about every Boardman CX used to suffer from this - mine lasted 30 mins too. They'd been assembled with inadequate (none?) grease. Shells were replaced at it was fine. My Volagi also had BB30 and they were faultless for 3 years or more of riding. I recently swapped them for a Praxis adaptor but the bearings were in great nick when they came out - smooth as silk.

Speaking with my mechanical engineering hat on, I see no reason why a decent bearing with adequate shielding shouldn't last a very long time. A BB application isn't exactly hard. Most bearing fail due to some form of abuse - normally contamination on low speed applications (in higher speeds, it's over-packing with grease).

Monty Dog

Also speaking with a designer's hat on, I'd have got a clip round the ear from my design chief for coming up with such a cr@ppy design - particularly when you take general machining tolerances into account. That would have been at the prototype stage where we needed to be careful setting it up on the jig-borer where we'd machine down to 0.1mm accuracy having measured the actual bearings. Even if the machining is accurate, the bearings greased and inserted correctly, you still have the issue of water ingress down the seat-tube playing havoc with the bearings. Get the shop to sort it, but long-term you might want to consider swapping to a 24mm spindle crank and an adaptor.

kevin bannister

Monty dog, I presume you meant 0.01mm as 0.1mm is like a prick in a top hat!!!

ugo.santalucia

Monty Dog wrote:

Also speaking with a designer's hat on, I'd have got a clip round the ear from my design chief for coming up with such a cr@ppy design - particularly when you take general machining tolerances into account. That would have been at the prototype stage where we needed to be careful setting it up on the jig-borer where we'd machine down to 0.1mm accuracy having measured the actual bearings. Even if the machining is accurate, the bearings greased and inserted correctly, you still have the issue of water ingress down the seat-tube playing havoc with the bearings. Get the shop to sort it, but long-term you might want to consider swapping to a 24mm spindle crank and an adaptor.

That's exactly my point too. You've got the frame made by A, the bearings by B and the axle by C all using their own tolerances and the three are supposed to go together happily.
The beauty of the cartridge design was that one manufacturer was providing the complete assembly and the fitting was irrelevant to the functionality... with the external cups you already have to rely on a perfectly aligned shell to avoid mismatch, with BB30 is completely random... some will work well, some will never work and there is no way of predicting it...

meanredspider

Yes - but most ball bearings can accept a degree of misalignment and run under far more arduous conditions. Keeping the crap out of them is obviously important. BB30 is far from an elegant design but I suspect it's crappy bearings and assembly that has caused much of its bad rep.

paulmon

I had exactly the same problem on the first CAAD10 I bought two years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYCzIN4epwE

I replaced the bearings myself and now service/replace them as and when. I have never had a re-occurrence of the first problem since.

P

jordan_217

OP - do yourself a favor:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fsa-bb30-conversion-kit/

I fitted this to my ever problematic CAAD10; it worked a treat.

ben-----

GGBiker wrote:

which shall remain nameless

Why? Not that I care that much but it just seems odd to feel that you shouldn't say what make the bike is.

jordan_217 wrote:

OP - do yourself a favor:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fsa-bb30-conversion-kit/

Personally, if I were the OP, I wouldn't consider that, as you have to then buy a new crank set also right? Quite a serious cost to fix a brand new bike?! I'd get the shop to fix it and see if the fix works well for a good while. If not, refund, get different bike.

jordan_217

ben----- wrote:

GGBiker wrote:

which shall remain nameless

Why? Not that I care that much but it just seems odd to feel that you shouldn't say what make the bike is.

jordan_217 wrote:

OP - do yourself a favor:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fsa-bb30-conversion-kit/

Personally, if I were the OP, I wouldn't consider that, as you have to then buy a new crank set also right? Quite a serious cost to fix a brand new bike?! I'd get the shop to fix it and see if the fix works well for a good while. If not, refund, get different bike.

It cost me ca. £130 to convert mine (chainset, sleeve and bb). I sold the FSA BB30 chainset for £100. In all honesty, I factored in the conversion into the purchase price of the bike.

ugo.santalucia

ben----- wrote:

Personally, if I were the OP, I wouldn't consider that, as you have to then buy a new crank set also right? Quite a serious cost to fix a brand new bike?! I'd get the shop to fix it and see if the fix works well for a good while. If not, refund, get different bike.

If your principles are worth more to you than your time, then go for it... I find that people are increasingly disillusioned about products that don't work but come with a warranty (hence al is good and rosey). A trip to the bike shop can be time consuming, frustrating or even costly and nobody refunds you of the time you waste trying to get things sorted, let alone the frustration. A permanent fix is a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

BB30 is a shambles that gets perpetrated by customers being sheepish and accepting to pay good money for a crap product. When I was onthe market for a frame last year I had two requirements

1) No press fit BB
2) No integrated headset (at least the bottom part)

The rest was less important... if I was on the market today, learning by experience, I would add

3) No carbon steerer

itboffin

yeah first thing i did when i bought my R5 frameset was buy a BB30 conversion kit, too many horror stories for my liking now all i need to do is ride the bike :roll:

mugensi

Mine last 3000kms before it started creaking (on a Felt F5) The bearings were removed, cleaned and regreased and its beemn fine since but I've only done about 200km on them as the bike has been relegated to the garage for the winter. If it recurs next year, I'm buying an adaptor and Ultegra crank/chainset and ditching the FSA chainset.