robbyville

Seems strange to me that the bearings for my press fit Bb's seem to get very rough within a few thousand miles. Granted I've been riding in a lot of cold weather with road crud but not in snow or rain. I know that the bearings are reasonably priced but I just installed my 3rd set in less than 4500 miles. This can't be normal can it? The seals are definitely installed properly as well. Symptoms are that the bearings seem to dry up and grind. Not sure if they are serviceable or not but I believe that once you punch them out they're pretty much done. I don't remember my external Bb's requiring so much replacement or maintenance.

How long are yours lasting?

Campag4life

In bold...Houston, we have discovered the problem. Yes BB30 bearings are serviceable. First they need to be properly greased when installed. Not grease on the outer race...Loctite is preferred...but rather grease needs to be worked into the inside of the bearing. Most come with an outer dust cover and open on the inside. The way to service them every few thousand miles is to pull the crank with the bearings still pressed in, work the grease through the 30mm inner race hole to the back side of the bearing and spin the bearing and work it into the bearing. BB30 bearings should be serviced on the bike and only removed when they are bad. You are losing life of your bearings due to improper lubrication which also keep ingress out of the bearing and eliminates corrosion.
HTH.

cycledogg

Who is installing the bearings? You or LBS or....??

robbyville

Didnt know that thanks. Can I physically remove the seal and expose the balls or do I need to massage the grease into it through whatever space is available. Since the bearings are the same front and back with no seemingly available grease port can I get the grease in from both frt and back?

robbyville

Both. I installed the first set when I built up the frame and I had my trusted LBS install the last one (mid sept)

cthenn

The seal comes off with a little help from an X-acto knife, or other thin, pointy object. Work it in there carefully (along the top or bottom of the seal) as to not cut the seal. The seal is just soft rubber formed around a thin metal ring/base. You can also bend the metal ring if you are not careful. Just work it in slowly then pry a little bit at a time, it will pop out, exposing the bearings. Clean them out good if the grease looks dirty and black. If the bearings are pitted or rusted, time for yet another set of bearings. Liberal coating of grease then reset the seal with your fingers.

So you have the knowledge, and proper tools to remove and install a press fit BB but don't know about servicing cartridge bearings? Not trying to bust your balls, but that knowledge usually comes in reverse (at least it did for me )

robbyville

Ha! Yes I'm a victim of the disposable revolution. I have a complete shop and tools at my disposal since i run a bike park but I'm the sole road rider in the herd so I tend to simply order new bearings and goof around via trial and error... I'm also an old timer who used to be a professional bike mechanic eons ago , egotistical enough to not go to a shop and ignorant enough to not keep abreast of how to service cartridge bearings!

cycledogg

With that being said, and after reading the last two post, the BB30 set should last at least two seasons (or more) of average riding. And as stated, you can service them without removing them. Although unless you ride is some extreme weather such as lots of rain, snow and muck, they should last longer than 4k miles. My thoughts are the bearings are not installed properly. I have seen it common for the bearing(s) not installed flush with the face of the bb shell which will cause premature wear on the set. Otherwise riding threw down pour rains and then not servicing them will do the same. Use prescribed grease, pay attention to installation and service often? That should help prolong the life of the set. JMHO
Cheers

rpenmanparker 

What about threaded in outboard bearing cups and cartridges? Same story regarding frequency of greasing? Necessity of removing seal cover? Perrforming maintenance in place witout removing from bike?

robbyville

Well it's been a while but never needed as much maintenance with threaded or so it seemed. To be fair I got back into riding heavily a couple of years ago and built the current set up this past year so didn't get as many miles on the previous bike.

robbyville

Thanks so much, now that I know I can service ill give that a go. It certainly seems like the bearings are either drying up or pitting prematurely but I'm pretty confident that they are being installed properly. I mean realistically if the crank isn't loose or making any strange noises it would seem a pretty simple install. I'm using the right tools and the cranks go on with no issues. Other than cold dry conditions I'm not riding in anything really nasty.

robbyville

Robert, this is going back a long long time but I can say comfortably that when I used to deal with cup bearings in bb's both loose balls and ringed they were packed in so much grease (the races were also bigger) that we rarely had to repack. Early cartridge bearings that I dealt with sometimes had grease ports that would allow for injection while squeezing out the old grease.

i guess in my case I just assumed that new cartridge bearings were simply to be replaced, and now that I think about it, the races are narrow and shallow enough that I'll bet there isn't a ton if grease in them at point of assembly.

rpenmanparker 

Thanks. I just sold a SRAM Red crank set from 2009 with the BB. When I uninstalled it from the bike, the bearing felt good as new to me. Considering the other bikes I had to ride and my reduced mileage in recent years, maybe 5,000 miles altogether on it. So far since using outboard threaded cups I haven't needed to do anything on any of my bikes so I was just wondering.

Looigi

They way these are designed, water and grit is sort of funneled right to lips of the seal and help in by the rotation of the stepped washer that goes against the inner race. I add a bit more grease when new but also periodically pry out the seal and add more grease.

popeye

10yrs / 50K miles on 7800's never touched and they run like new. Tell me again how press fit is progress.