NachosGrande

Just curious about maintenance habits/schedules for the DIY techies. How often do you uninstall your bottom bracket, for example if you have an Eng threaded, clean it and re-install it? Every few months, every few thousand miles, etc?

Bill Kapaun

On a cartridge type, when it's dead.

Cup & cone types I usually service every year or 2, depending on miles.

cny-bikeman

It's not miles or time but rather usage (from casual fair weather bike to year-round commuter in a northern climate or off-road mudder) and personal standards that determine frequency, but I very much doubt you'd find many that do it every few months.

Jax Rhapsody

I think most bikes are coming with sealed bbs now, I just put on in my bike, sacrificing weight for strength. At the co-op I work at, I saw a few standard bb's with a plasic tube in it to keep it clean and whatnot.

mconlonx

Once every year or two with adjustable, vintage BBs when I'm doing a complete strip-down overhaul; once every 5-10 years with a cartridge BB, when it gets replaced.

leob1

If it is within adjustment, and turning smooth, I'll leave it alone. If it's loose or doesn't turn smooth, I'll take it apart and clean and regrease it. Or just replace it with a cartridge type.

79pmooney

I look at it from a cost perspective. Cleaning BBs costs me time. There is some cost to the cranks. Typically the cranks cost considerably more than the BB. Then there is the cost of going too long on the BB. If it is a cheap sealed Shimano for example, $30, unscrewing and installing a new one. Miche, same work except I have a local mechanic put new bearings in for about the same price and I have to make two trips to his shop and wait a week.

Cup and cone BBs I have to think about a little more. Since I don't race and they take considerably more work to dissemble, clean and reinstall, I pack those bearings with a lot of very firm grease, boat trailer hub grease. With enough to ooze out on reassembly, they will not need anything for years.

In general, if I cannot tell there is a problem, I just ride them. I have had so few ride ending BB issues in nearly 50 years of riding that it just isn't worth doing more. (I do make it a point to avoid French BB frames however. Unless that right BB cup is screwed REALLY TIGHT, it will unscrew on the road. I don't currently have bench vice jaws up to being a fixed cup wrench. Bike frames about the appropriate wrench size for that job.)

Edit: I just saw the word above about the plactic sleeves. I always use them on cup and cone BBS. Always. Who knows what could come down that seat tube or up the drain hole? (Steel frame? Rust is always a good bet.)

Ben

jin_yeugh

+1

I ride roughly 1000 mi per year in VERY fair weather Southern California so my bike can go a good 18 months before I give it a good overhaul.

I definitely love cartridge BBs but, unless you're needing to replace a worn out cup-and-cone style bottom bracket, I see no need in upgrading. Another reason to avoid buying a cartridge right away is that overhauling a bottom bracket is easy and fun and it gets you to know your bike better!

OldsCOOL

Vintage, every other spring. Cartridge....well, you know.

lopek77

Usually once a year. I take it out, clean BB and inside of the frame. I grease the threads, and put it back together. I ride year long, sometimes in the rain, and near beaches on sandy trails. I take it out only when I hear grinding noise. I always find bunch of sand and moisture there. Cleaning and re-greasing it, takes care of the problem.
Someone mention that it takes time to do it...Well, it takes me probably 30 minutes to do it once a year, including some other drivetrain service. Not a biggie.