Stop DESTROYING Your Bottom Bracket And Do This…

[Music] the bottom bracket on my bike is completely destroyed listen to it but why exactly is that well let me tell you more about it and also tell you how you can avoid having this same issue so what's actually going on here because this bike isn't actually that old and I would have expected for the bottom bracket to have lasted a fair bit longer than it has but In fairness this bike has in a lot of grit mud and sand Plus the occasional jet wash yeah pretty sorry about that I've I got myself to blame anyway the bottom bracket kind of needs replacing so that is what I'm going to do but this video isn't really specifically about the process of that but more about sharing key information with you so that you can make your bottom bracket last longer and therefore save yourself a little bit of [Music] money tip number one I feel like this is the most obvious so let's have it first um avoid blasting your bottom bracket with a jet wash much like I did you want to use a low powered hose and then um just some mild soapy water and a soft brush then you can rinse off any of the soap and it' be good to go if you blast water into it it's just going to Simply get into the bearings sit there corrode and wear the bottom bracket out tip number two we're on the non Drive side of the bike here now if you look on the end you've got the end cap bolt which is designed to add preload into the bearings and remove any unnecessary play you do the preload bolt up as Loose as possible whilst ensuring that there's no free play in the bottom bracket you do that before you do up these pinch bolts on the crank arm itself now it's important to remember here because I think a lot of people have a misunderstanding of this the preload cap on the end is not holding the crank in place once you do these two pinch BTS up that's the bit that is securing it now if you do this preload cap up far too tight we're talking in the region of say anywhere from 3 Newton M upwards You're simply going to add additional drag and resistance into the bottom bracket and accelerate the rate at which it wears out tip number three is to use a reputable brand of bottom bracket bearing manufacturer or supplier don't be drawn in to using unbranded stuff that appears to be really good value online and just seems to be just a fraction of the price because more often than not it's kind of like false economy and they don't tend to last also it's worth mentioning perhaps don't be drawn into the super expensive fancy pants ceramic bottom bracket bearings without being aware of the fact that they're not specifically a fit and forget item and just because they're like 10 times the price doesn't necessarily mean they're going to last 10 times as long because those high-end expensive bottom brackets will more often than not require regular servicing and cleaning to keep them running nice and slick so if you are going to go for the expensive stuff just bear in mind it's going to take more servicing and more caring rather than just using a reputable branded bottom bracket that's going to be like fit and forget it's going to last you a long [Music] time and then tip number four is that if your bike has got any dust covers around the bottom bracket area either directly underneath or where the back wheel sits make sure they're actually in place because they are going to help keep dirt out rather than allowing it to get into the inside of the frame kind of like attack the bottom bracket from the inside out and this one's actually got one missing perhaps one of the contributing factors to one my bottom bracket sounds like this now if you have lost some of these little dust covers much like I have you can just jump online um find the manufacturer of your bike and normally they sell them as replacement parts to like a few pounds Euros or dollars but if you can't get hold of the covers you can always just get a little bit of tape tape it up make it um much as smooth to keep the dirt out but it's important to remember especially on the covers underneath the bottom bracket is they normally have a small little hole to allow any moisture to drain out so um yeah just bear that in mind if you're going to take them up okay so those are what I feel perhaps the four most important tips and things you need to consider when thinking about extending the longevity of your bottom bracket but there is one more important aspect which I think we need to consider Which is far far less likely to be the cause your problem but could be something potentially quite serious now if you are someone that finds regularly replacing bottom brackets I'm not just talking one every year we're talking like one every couple of months then clearly there is something that is causing this problem you're not just unfortunate and you're wearing out botton brackets now in this instance I'm going to say that there's two or three different factors that could be causing this and unfortunately it's boiling down to around the manufacturing process of your frame so the bottom bracket area you've got three different areas that could be causing a problem problem area number one the bottom bracket hole may not be made to the correct tolerance now when manufacturers are creating the frame they have a very tight tolerance to work to be that the hole for the bottom bracket could be ever so slightly larger or ever so slightly undersized now if that tolerance is not adhered to correctly the bottom bracket isn't going to sit correctly and you could run into all sorts of problems the second one could be that each different side of the bottom bracket is not quite aligned correctly with the other so you could have one side perfectly straight and one side ever are slightly offset and by doing that it's going to put additional stress onto one of the sides of the bottom bracket and therefore wear it out quicker and then the third and final thing in this area that could be causing your problem is that the edge of the bottom bracket hasn't been faced correctly and therefore when the bottom rack is either threaded or pressed into the frame it's not quite sat flush and therefore you're back in the same problem that one side could be straight one side could be ever slightly off again causing premature and accelerated wear on the bottom bracket now if you think this is one of the problems that you're facing you're going to need to take your bike back to the bike shop and see an expert mechanic or an engineer to get this thing measured correctly now most good quality bike shops should be able to do this and also most good quality bike mechanics should be able to face your frame to make sure it's flush on the outside and the bottom bracket sits perpendicular with each other and you should have no issues so as I mentioned facing is actually a relatively simp will fix it's more a case of like trying to take the paint over the frame and um get that face nice and flushed most bike shops can fix that out for you but tolerance issues unfortunately are going to need to like go back to the manufacturer more likely to be a warranty claim issue which is a bit of a pain I think we've got to agree on that but they're unlikely to be the cause of your problem anyway that's enough chat about B brackets I got to admit it's a fairly uninspiring subject to discuss but an important one because if you get it right you're not going to have any issues like that happening too frequently um I don't want to spin it anymore it's upsetting me um so I need to actually get on change this bottom bracket out I'm not going to show you the whole process of it because there's basically like a million bottom bracket standards and I'm pretty sure we've probably got like a hundred different videos on how to sh how to change your bottom bracket I mean if you subscribed to gcn you probably would have seen them already so head over check out those videos and um yeah please do let me know in the comments section down below how long you tend to find a bottom bracket last for you if there's a brand that you find works and lasts the longest and um yeah as always if you like to support what we do subscribe like this video and share it far and wide with all your friends I'm out there see you later

Channel: GCN Tech

Views: 85,620

Keywords: bottom bracket, crank set, spindle, bottom bracket bearings, worn bottom bracket, bracket bike, bracket bicycle, bottom bracket tool, bottom bracket types, bottom bracket size guide, GCN Tech, GCNTech, GCN, GCN Cycling, Bike Tech, Cycling Tech, Cycling, Pro Cycling, Road Cycling, bike tech, cycling tech, cycling, tech, road, bike, road bike, bicycle, maintenance, how to, bike maintenance, bike repair, monday maintenance, Ѡ, 5334, ѭ, ҩ, Ѵ, Ҁ, Ѿ, ӓ, Ѫ, sca15, gc21s, ꗧ, ꤬, ꗶ, ፕ18, ଙ, 𑣬‎, 𑫷‎, 𑫫‎, f3, ළ, ꚱ, ꘎

Id: gFbvFu3NER4

Length: 7min 39sec (459 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 12 2024