Earlier today, I had high expectations as I saddled up my big ol' chrome cruiser for the ride down to the co-op. Alas, less than a mile in, I was assailed by horrible crunching cracking noises from the bottom bracket. Abort and back to base.
After a crazy shift at the co-op involving odd chains, adult tricycles, and even a near-brawl, and then taking out the trash, recycle, kitty poop, and bunny byproducts, I decided to diagnose the problem while fresh in my memory. So I
herniated hoisted the bike onto the stand and started wrenching under an appropriately full moon.
Turned out it was a seriously loose fixed cup in a removable adapter, compounded by munged threads in the bottom bracket spindle. After disassembly, tapping and di, er, thread chasing, mentally calculating the right amount of Loctite to balance semi-permanent security vs. eventual maintenance, and reassembly, it seems the clunky cracking has been banished and the bike is back in heavy-haul action. So maybe I'll ride it to the co-op next week.