Getting rid of BB30

[RickB]

Hi all,

Fed up with a creaking bb30 bottom bracket so wish to convert it to a standard threaded unit.

My (probably silly) question is, will I have to change my FSA crankset as well or do threaded bb's fit the crankset in the exact same way?

Bike is a vitus zenium VR 2014.

 

[Citius]

If you use a threaded converter, you will need a new chainset. It's a small price to pay for peace of mind though...

 

[RickB]

Thanks man. Likely will go ahead and change all. Appreciate the help.

 

[spiderman2]

Hi all,

Fed up with a creaking bb30 bottom bracket so wish to convert it to a standard threaded unit.

My (probably silly) question is, will I have to change my FSA crankset as well or do threaded bb's fit the crankset in the exact same way?

Bike is a vitus zenium VR 2014.

Have you tried this? worked for me. Posted by another member

Yellow Saddle has explained it and I've cured it.

My pal and I both have BB30 with FSA and we've found the same problem occurs on my FSA K-Force and my pal's Gossamer. In both cases the creaking noise under load was cured, permanently, by cleaning everything up and refitiing with Bearing Fit compound smeared on the FSA alloy axle to prevent it from fretting in the inner bearing races. I came up with this solution when I dismantled my BB to find this:

Look carefully at those machined areas of the axle which fit inside the bearing inner races - what do you think has caused the fretting and erosion of the polished surface exactly where the axle sits in the bearing races? It can only be microscopic movement under the very high stresses of pedalling. My first attempt to cure the noise was by smearing green grease on the interface; this lasted less than a hundred miles and when I dismantled it, the grease had turned black, indicating metal wear. So next I tried Bearing Fit compound, which worked. Smear the bearing fit compound on the inside of the LH (non-drive) race and on the axle on the RH (drive) side so that it doesn't get wiped off as you push the axle through the RH bearing. Bearing Fit takes up the microscopic gap and isn't so hard that it prevents dismantling. As soon as I did disturb it, when I needed to remove the LH crank and knock the crankset a couple of mm to the right to free the chain when it got jammed between rings and frame thanks to careless handling, the cure failed and I needed to dismantle and reassemble clean with fresh compound.

Interestingly, the erosion is less marked on the drive side and I attribute that to the stabilising effect of the drive chain on the pedalling forces.

Clearly the success of this solution tells me that the creaking is not coming from the bearings in the alloy sleeves or the sleeves in the frame. The BB has now been silent for over 1000 miles.

 

[RickB]

So basically use the compound to stop any movement between the axle and bearing rather than worrying about the contact between bearing and bike? Worth a shot I suppose before spending money. Would locktite do the same job do you think?

 

[Citius]

So basically use the compound to stop any movement between the axle and bearing rather than worrying about the contact between bearing and bike? Worth a shot I suppose before spending money. Would locktite do the same job do you think?

Loctite sell a bearing fix - I think there's a few of them, but I've no real thoughts on which one would be more useful. Others might..

 

[RickB]

Just looking up some now. They do different strengths as well!

Edit: ordered the one that specifically says about bearing fit. Worth a try so many thanks for the help!

 

[outlash]

I've used Loctite 609 for the replacements I've done and it's worked well.

 

[RickB]

I've used Loctite 609 for the replacements I've done and it's worked well.

Ordered 641 - hopefully will do the trick.

 

[outlash]

Hope so, nothing worse than that creaking sound! I also found if you're replacing the bearings is spend a little more, the cheap ones from Ebay don't even fit properly sometimes.

 

[RickB]

Hope so, nothing worse than that creaking sound! I also found if you're replacing the bearings is spend a little more, the cheap ones from Ebay don't even fit properly sometimes.

Bought the bike in November. Got the dreaded creak after using the bike on the turbo trainer over the winter months. Took it back to chain reaction who sorted it under warranty. Was fine til yesterday. After about 35 silent miles I did a steep 2 mile climb, stopped at the top for 2 minutes and when I started off there was an awful creak/click/racket from the bb area. For the rest of the ride it continued any time I put it under pressure.

I don't even use the bike on the turbo any more so it isn't doing big mileage really.

 

[moo]

Mine started creaking within a few hundred miles of use last year. After removing and greasing the axle as above it has been silent 7,000 miles later. I re-grease every 1,000 miles as part of the cleaning process.

 

[Citius]

The worst part about all this is that none of this stuff should actually be necessary. That's progress...

 

[spiderman2]

Ordered 641 - hopefully will do the trick.

that's the one have used

 

[oldgreyandslow]

I got so fed up with it I went down the "bin it and replace it" route. I changed the BB using the FSA adapter, fitted a Hollowtech 2 BB and 105 crankset, it doesn't creak anymore.