1
That creaky bottom bracket took me a whole Saturday to figure out
Had a customer bring in a vintage road bike with a weird creak that only happened under load. I was sure it was the pedals or cranks, so I spent hours regreasing and torquing everything. Finally pulled the BB after like 4 hours, and the non-drive side cup had a hairline crack you could only see with a magnifying glass. Totally missed it on the first look. Anyone else had a sneaky cracked cup drive them nuts?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
luna5192mo agoTop Commenter
That 10x loupe from Harbor Freight saved me last month. Some cracks are just too fine to see with the naked eye, especially in dirty threads. Lee's right that most are obvious, but the sneaky ones absolutely exist.
4
lee.diana2mo ago
Cracked cups are usually pretty obvious once you pull the BB. A magnifying glass seems like overkill for a problem that announces itself with play or rough bearings. You might have just had a really strange one.
3
fisher.mason2mo ago
I've found hairline cracks can be sneaky without a close look, especially on older steel frames.
5