My 8 yr olds sons new GT Kaminsky slammer is about 2 weeks old, he's only ridden it about 10 times around the block. When we got it out of the box the cranks were wiggling like crazy and the bottom bracket has about 1/2" of play. They didn't even tighten it at the factory. I tightened everything up. There was barely any grease in it. Went for a ride with him today for about 30 feet and I was like what is that sound? Took it back into the garage and pulled his cranks and removed the bottom bracket. The races were chewed like bad and the bearing retainers were destroyed.
I have a friend who works in a bikeshop who can fix it. But jeez, talk about janky bull$#it. He's barely risen the damn thing, I would estimate he's put less than 3 miles on it..
🤨
by AcceptableNorm
4 Comments
Poor QC from the factory for sure but I’d wager that “tightening it up” was what killed it. Those bearing systems need to be adjusted to function properly. I will like an article below on the how to. Luckily that whole bottom bracket is like $10 so it’s a cheap lesson.
I guess it’s also worth noting that one piece cranks are basically disposable when used for any kind of jumping so you should be ready to upgrade soon enough.
https://www.parktool.com/en-us/blog/repair-help/bottom-bracket-service-one-piece
Get some sealed bearings in there. Unsealed bbs are no bueno
Cant use sealed mid bb on American bb frame
Proper maintenance is important.