New BB bearing failure

The good doctor

I've just had my Campagnolo bb bearing cassette replaced after 1000's miles of service. I've done a K with the new bearings and there's a very loud creak from the bb when I'm out of the saddle. I returned to my lbs asking them to take a look and they have replaced the cassette bearing again so the creak has gone which is good but after only 1k miles I'm not that happy.
Do Campagnolo FC-RE 012 cassette bearings suffer any issues or are there any circumstances that could cause a failure to the bearing.

Thanks

joe2008

The good doctor wrote:

I've just had my Campagnolo bb bearing cassette replaced after 1000's miles of service. I've done a K with the new bearings and there's a very loud creak from the bb when I'm out of the saddle. I returned to my lbs asking them to take a look and they have replaced the cassette bearing again so the creak has gone which is good but after only 1k miles I'm not that happy.
Do Campagnolo FC-RE 012 cassette bearings suffer any issues or are there any circumstances that could cause a failure to the bearing.

Thanks

Are you using Super Record cups with steel bearings?

The SR cups do not have a seal because they are designed for ceramic bearings.

jgsi

Intrigued... ceramic bearings will never 'creak' then?
Probably one reason I will be able to afford Campagnolo.. are they like BB30 bearings... £5 for steel versions... £130 for the ceramic?

rolf_f

Aire Velo bearings do less insanely priced replacements - stainless steel for £4.50 each, Stainless steel/ceramic for £11.50 ish each. I've just started using the ceramic version as an experiment.

Note that in my case, the Campag bearing life had diminished a lot due to the nds cup being worn - probably due to corrosion of the non stainless Campag bearings.

Of course, if the latest problem was with the freehub bearing, then that hardly has anything to do with the BB bearings! Again, the hub bearings are a bit cheap and crap (and single sealed) resulting in a tendency for corrosion. Keep them clean and when they do fail, replace them with better quality double sealed bearings which are easily available on line for not much money.

drlodge

I've posted on a couple of articles about these Campag BB bearings, on my Ultra-torque setups. I've had creakings after about 1,000km and its not the bearings. On both bikes where I had creaking, I dismantled and reassembled making sure to grease well the bearing outers and cup insides. The creaking has gone (for the time being) so I conclude the creaking is due to movement between the bearings and cups.

The good doctor

Thanks, I suspect a little grease is/was required.