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Fixing Creaking of FSA BB30 adapter

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Fixing Creaking of FSA BB30 adapter

Old 10-17-21, 01:31 AM
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spectastic
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Fixing Creaking of FSA BB30 adapter

I have a FSA BB30->BSA adapter pressed into my caadx. the bike shop helped me put it in. They used some kind of loctite on it, I'm not sure which one. I rode on it for a year without problems. But recently, it started to creak really bad. My understanding from the bike shop who did the work and from online readings was this was a one time fix, not a regular maintenance item. Why might this happen, and what can be done? Take the adapter out, make it sparkly clean and put it back in with fresh loctite, hoping it stays quiet? I don't want to ever use this bike for the BB30, and have no problem using the FSA adapter as a permanent fix. Would it make sense to use something stronger than loctite to basically weld that thing in? If so, how could it be done?


btw, I have done the work narrowing down the problem. took out the cranks, bb cups, and cleaned/regreased them. The noise occurs with every pedal revolution, accentuated by pedaling while standing, and very characteristic of BB30 creaking. Very certain noise is coming from between the BB shell and the adapter.

Last edited by spectastic; 10-17-21 at 01:36 AM.
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Old 10-18-21, 05:03 PM
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Old 10-18-21, 09:27 PM
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Those adapters are garbage. Get a proper full BB30-hollowtech (or gxp, or ultratorque, or whatever). One piece units like https://www.bbinfinite.com/products/...ant=9864658307 are probably the best but are a bit pricy. I've also had good luck with thread together BBs, like https://wheelsmfg.com/bb30-to-outboa...ngs-black.html .
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Old 10-19-21, 11:58 AM
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Originally Posted by cpach
Those adapters are garbage. Get a proper full BB30-hollowtech (or gxp, or ultratorque, or whatever). One piece units like https://www.bbinfinite.com/products/...ant=9864658307 are probably the best but are a bit pricy. I've also had good luck with thread together BBs, like https://wheelsmfg.com/bb30-to-outboa...ngs-black.html .
I second this recommendation. In my experience adapters don't do well under heavy load and stress. I once used an adapter to fit a Shimano Hollowtech crankset into a BB386 shell. Gave me nothing but problems. Eventually I installed a BB386 crankset and away went my troubles.
You can try to repair it, but there's no assurance it is going to hold up.
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Old 10-20-21, 05:58 PM
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why are they garbage? How is this much different from how original BSA frames were made, particularly the carbon ones, where the BSA shell had to be bonded to the frame?
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Old 10-20-21, 11:53 PM
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The standard installation method is to use a bearing retaining compound, not a real adhesive. If you really bonded it in there you could never possibly change your mind about bb type. The adapter gives another failure point for creaking beyond that of an actual adapting BB. I don't have well controlled data, but as a working mechanic I've seen these creak more often than other solutions, and I have solved them with better bottom brackets, especially when I worked at a dealer that shipped some bikes stock in this configuration.

The real root cause of your issue however is probably just poor tolerance on the BB bore on your frame, which is a disgraceful clustershow in the bike industry. Cannondale does not have a great history with this particular issue (although my personal Cannondale has had a perfectly trouble free BB30 for the last decade, so results obviously vary).
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Old 10-21-21, 03:29 PM
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Edit:


oh interesting. This seems like it should work tbh. Conceptually it's pretty much the same as a a BBinfinite or hambini, just with a bit of extra complexity. Not sure why this would creak unless it's very poorly manufactured.

edit: I guess if the bb shell is made poorly, the loctite could deteriorate over time. It would be an abuse of loctite to use to silence that creak.

Last edited by smashndash; 10-21-21 at 03:53 PM.
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Old 10-23-21, 04:18 PM
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you could apply an automotive brake pad compound that allows some give yet provides the two surfaces with a barrier to aid in preventing unwanted constant contact.
It doesn't harden like a thread locker & should be a lot easier to disassemble when service is needed at a future time.
https://www.amazon.com/CRC-05016-Sin...000CINV88?th=1
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Old 10-26-21, 06:49 PM
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Originally Posted by cpach
The standard installation method is to use a bearing retaining compound, not a real adhesive. If you really bonded it in there you could never possibly change your mind about bb type. The adapter gives another failure point for creaking beyond that of an actual adapting BB. I don't have well controlled data, but as a working mechanic I've seen these creak more often than other solutions, and I have solved them with better bottom brackets, especially when I worked at a dealer that shipped some bikes stock in this configuration.

The real root cause of your issue however is probably just poor tolerance on the BB bore on your frame, which is a disgraceful clustershow in the bike industry. Cannondale does not have a great history with this particular issue (although my personal Cannondale has had a perfectly trouble free BB30 for the last decade, so results obviously vary).
if the root cause is poor tolerance on the BB shell, why would a "better" BB yield a different result? What does a better BB mean as it relates to the creaking noise?
---------------------
It seems cannondale does a really crappy job with the QC. I've not measured the BB shell, but I imagine that my frame is on the higher end of that distribution curve. I also have no frame of reference for FSA QC..


Last edited by spectastic; 10-26-21 at 06:53 PM.
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