[ire]

I have a 2012 Riley X-fire and it has a PF BB30. I installed the bb and my Sram Force cranks. When I tighten them tight enough to keep out play the spin noticeably slower. On the drive side I have two plastic washers plus the bb metal dust caps. On the non drive side I have the wavy washer, plastic washer and the dust cap. Any suggestions?

 

[HAB]

You mean noticeably slower if there's no chain on it and you're just spinning them in the work stand? That's pretty normal for cranks that use the wavy washer preload setup.

Edit: I'm picturing this being a little slower. Can you try to quantify that a little? Like if you give them a good spin, how many revolutions they do before they stop?

 

[Dogboy]

Maybe try removing one plastic washer at a time until you find the balance between the cranks binding and having side-to-side play.

 

[ire]

I played with the spacers and here is what I did, and it seems to have helped. I had an additional wavy washer, so I used one on each side with not plastic spacers. The crank is tight and spins much more freely now. I'll see how it pans out on my ride tomorrow.

 

[-dustin]

remove plastic washers from driveside. they only need to be on NDS. tighten crank fully...the wavy washer needs to be compressed almost all the way. if it's flat, it's compressed too much. if it's barely compressed, as a plastic washer. those guys are roughly .5mm thick.

--edit--

SI cranks are opposite of this. Don't really know why...anyone? is it because the NDS arm is in a fixed position due to the shoulder on the spindle?

 

[ire]

remove plastic washers from driveside. they only need to be on NDS. tighten crank fully...the wavy washer needs to be compressed almost all the way. if it's flat, it's compressed too much. if it's barely compressed, as a plastic washer. those guys are roughly .5mm thick.

--edit--

SI cranks are opposite of this. Don't really know why...anyone? is it because the NDS arm is in a fixed position due to the shoulder on the spindle?

The problem I have on the DS is that if I don't run a space the crank rubs the BB because of how far it sits in.

 

[-dustin]

What kind of frame and and brand of BB?

 

[ire]

What kind of frame and and brand of BB?

2012 Ridley X-Fire, SRAM PF BB. Funny thing, I have some time on the bike now and I was having issues with the crank coming loose. I decided to pop the crank off and only use a wavy washer on the NDS. Works perfect and there is no rubbing against the BB. Maybe I was delusional when I first set the thing up, or maybe something shifted while riding.

 

[SuspectDevice]

Anybody care to comment on their experiences with different brands of BB's. I pulled a SRAM one out of the box on Friday and nearly lost my lunch with just how crunchy and crappy the bearing were out of the box. Using the Wheels Manuf Pressfit shims for Shimano BB's has left me with something that feels really bad. After a solid half hour of re-greasing the 6082's the bearings started to resemble something that I'd actually use on a bike but the setup of the shims and cups didn't yield a result that I'm happy with.

I know FSA makes some bottom brackets- anyone else? I need to make sure that I have something decent to ship with our PF30 frames- I'll see when I get more of the SRAM cups but the QC on the ones I got was unacceptable...

 

[IH8Rice]

SRAM with unacceptable QC??
must just be a one time thing

 

[HAB]

I've had outstanding success with Enduro's BBs for BB30. Not sure if they're doing a PF30 cup yet or not.

 

[Mr. Hankey]

I have a hard time with BB's myself. Your best bet, is to just buy a good high quality American, or German made bearing, avoid Asian made bearings, and press those into your cups, and then when it needs greased, replace the grease with Rock 'N' Roll Lube Super Web Grease. This grease is amazing. Most BB30 BB's use 6806-RS bearings. I use the same with my Lightning cranks, with Zipp Vuma Quad BB cups. I bought Sram bearings in a pinch last time, and they lasted about 800miles, before getting creaky, I just tore them down tonight. Gonna pick up a new tube of the lube I suggested, and repack them. That stuff is amazing. It makes regular steel bearings spin as smooth as ceramic.

 

[-dustin]

I've got over a year of crits, training, and commuting on a set of SRAM bearings. I will be a repeat customer. The only negative experience I've had with any bb30 bearings involves whatever pieces of **** Cannondale specs with their bikes.