I believe that these BBright bottom bracket bearings are ready to be replaced, even with cleaning and regressing, they sound grindy. Confirm?
Let’s talk about BB bearings
byu/Kinky_Wizard69 inbikewrench
by Kinky_Wizard69
I believe that these BBright bottom bracket bearings are ready to be replaced, even with cleaning and regressing, they sound grindy. Confirm?
Let’s talk about BB bearings
byu/Kinky_Wizard69 inbikewrench
by Kinky_Wizard69
9 Comments
It’s really hard to tell the bearing condition but they sound bad.
What is the bearing brand and number?
Once they get crunchy, regreasing just buys you time IMO. Up to you when to replace, just get something reputable to pop into the BB cups (NSK, SKF, NTN, FAG, etc.) and enjoy.
What does it *feel* like? When you say ‘cleaning and regreasing’ what does that mean? Did you pop the seal off, blow out the old lubricant, clean out any dirt or contaminant, and replace the grease? Or, did you just clean the outside?
We need to know what it *feels* like, if there are notches in the movement, or its rough, you’ve got either brinelling or false brinelling going on, and in either case, you should replace the bearing. Brinelling can also cause this sound we hear, but that can also be caused by dirt.
It should say on the side.
Like “Enduro”
“30 42 7”
Do they feel rough or roll smooth? That’s a indicator if it’s bad or not
The bearing looks like you can pop em out and replace them.
Maybe pull the cup out of the frame and remove bearing, then measure and replace.
If you have a blind bearing puller you should be able to remove the bearings from the cup (don’t use a punch and hammer to drive them out). The bearing has a 4 digit code on the black seal. That is the bearing dimension code (tells you what size bearing you need)
Just buy the tool to extract them and press them in. Once you have the tool you realize how easy it is to replace them. They are cheap, and you can get them in different flavors. I ride in the wet, so I got for the NTN LLU (full contact). They cost less than $10 each, you can source them from industrial supplier close to you. They also come with a QR code to validate their authenticity if in doubt.
I went with a ZTTO pulling kit on aliexpress, it’s $30 or so and no need to bash on anything. You just gently screw a cup and the bearings makes it way out. Same for pressing it in. No need to remove the bottom bracket as well.
Let me guess, this is a Cervelo Áspero. Mine was in worse condition after only 800km. Completely seized on one side.
The bb shell that cervelo uses isn’t bad. Just the bearings are hot trash. They can be pulled and a better quality bearing can be put in. Done this for a few of my friends as well as on my own.