I received my bike parts yesterday and this is the first time I am assembling a bicycle. The shop installed the bottom bracket and I am wondering if my cranks are spinning freely? They feel sluggish.
mtranda on
Your bottom bracket bearings have grease in them. It’s hard to tell just from a video whether you installed them correctly, but I can tell you that your cranks are not supposed to spin fully freely (like, turn once and spin freely for 10 seconds or whatever) due to the friction caused by the grease.
msgr_flaught on
This question comes up with some frequency, and the answer is almost always yes. This looks fine to me. If the cranks didn’t spin at all or were hard to turn or seemed to spin roughly or unevenly, then I’d be concerned. The bearings will likely also free up a bit after a few rides.
MrRichardH on
New BBs – particularly mountain bike BBs – don’t spin like you’ve seen on YouTube. The seals slow rotation down considerably. And Hope BBs are very well sealed (it rains A LOT in the north of England). I can’t see what crank you’re using, but if you have set preload correctly, this is fine.
4 Comments
I received my bike parts yesterday and this is the first time I am assembling a bicycle. The shop installed the bottom bracket and I am wondering if my cranks are spinning freely? They feel sluggish.
Your bottom bracket bearings have grease in them. It’s hard to tell just from a video whether you installed them correctly, but I can tell you that your cranks are not supposed to spin fully freely (like, turn once and spin freely for 10 seconds or whatever) due to the friction caused by the grease.
This question comes up with some frequency, and the answer is almost always yes. This looks fine to me. If the cranks didn’t spin at all or were hard to turn or seemed to spin roughly or unevenly, then I’d be concerned. The bearings will likely also free up a bit after a few rides.
New BBs – particularly mountain bike BBs – don’t spin like you’ve seen on YouTube. The seals slow rotation down considerably. And Hope BBs are very well sealed (it rains A LOT in the north of England). I can’t see what crank you’re using, but if you have set preload correctly, this is fine.