- There's nothing more annoying
than a creaking mountain bike.
One of the things that can cause creaks are loose bolts,
another worn out bushes, sometimes even a dry chain.
Today, we're going to be looking at
the press-fit bottom bracket.
Press-fit bottom brackets, while simple and effective,
can be prone to creaking in the long term.
This is how you cure that.
The biggest cause of creaking bottom brackets
with a press-fit design tends to be the fact
that it's not been installed correctly.
It's absolutely essential that the bearings are completely
flush with the frame and in line with each other.
Any slight movement or deviation can lead to creaking.
There are two types of press-fit bottom bracket:
high-end alloy options or the common nylon unit.
Blake's bike's got a nylon Shimano bottom bracket in here,
and we're going to simply remove that today
and reinstall it, showing you why it creaks
and how to stop it.
Before we get started removing
the bottom bracket from the bike,
make sure you check everything else around the crank area.
Check your crank bolts, chain ring bolts,
and if you've got a design where the spider mounts
onto the back of the crank, check that it's tight.
They're all likely candidates for creaking.
For this job, as we're working on a Shimano setup,
you need a five millimetre Allen key to remove the cranks;
a Shimano crank tool; grease, carbon compound or
an assembly compound; bottom bracket rocket tool;
bottom bracket installation press; and a mallet.
First things first is removing the cranks from the bike.
First you need a five millimetre Allen key, or hex wrench,
and a Shimano bottom bracket tool.
Away we go!
So firstly, I'm doing these five millimetre pinch bolts.
These just secure the crank onto the axle.
Now using the Park Tool crank removal tool,
there's a little thumb wheel on the end here.
That's for removing the pre-loading cap.
So, you just locate that into the end
of the crank and remove this.
This works in the same way as a Headsettop cap does,
it just pre-loads the bearings
just to make sure there's no play.
With the Shimano crank like this, once it's loose,
you can technically take the crank straight off.
You may need to give it just a little tap with a mallet.
Make sure you use the protective end
so you don't damage the crank.
Next step is to remove the drive side crank.
Because this is Shimano, you need to make sure
the clutch is off.
Notice on Blake's bike it already is.
Remove the chain and then pull the crank off.
So, I'm just going to swing the lower cage forward,
remove the chain,
now it's a case of just tapping out the axle.
And there we go.
So this is the Park Tool's
bottom bracket bearing removal tool.
I call this the rocket tool because
original Headset Tools were very similar to this,
only a lot bigger, and named the rocket tool.
Reason for that is you insert it
into the bottom bracket itself,
these sprung wings locate behind the bearing
so you can safely put even pressure
on the back of the cup.
You tap it out using the metal end of the hammer.
Just make sure it doesn't fire out across the workshop
and under somewhere you're not going to
be able to retrieve it.
So, slide the tool straight through,
have to give it a little tug until it locates with a snap.
There we go.
So, you can feel that's home against the back of the cup.
Now give this a few firm taps with the metal end.
There we go.
So, now you have the left-hand side of the cup out.
It's the same process for the drive-side.
Make sure when you pull this out
that the tool stays aligned on the back of the cup.
So, with both cups removed from the bike,
you want to clean and inspect these
looking for signs of damage.
This one on Blake's bike just looks
dusty and dry, to be honest, and a bit gunky.
So, going to give it a complete clean.
And the same with the bottom bracket shell itself.
If you can see it inside of here,
there's bits of sand and residue
from all the dry riding he's been doing.
Make sure it's completely clean before you reinstall.
Just cleaning out the inside of this shell,
making sure the surfaces are
free of any sort of grit and any muck.
So, when you instal a press-fit bottom bracket,
the best way to do it, the official way to do it,
is by using a dedicated bearing press like this.
The reason for that is you can't mess it up.
You basically push the bearings in
and they're perfectly aligned.
A lot of your friends might tell you
you can do it with a block of wood and a mallet,
and you can but you're never going to be sure
that the bearings will be in straight.
And that is exactly what leads to a
creaking bottom bracket.
Depending if you're installing your bottom bracket
into an alloy or a carbon shell,
it affects if you use a grease or a compound.
So, with the alloy shell, you probably want to use
a small amount of grease but don't go overboard
because overtime the nylon bottom bracket
can deform slightly and move,
and that's what causes those annoying creaks.
If you're unsure about that, you can also use a
anti-seize compound, any sort of gripping compound.
And that stops it moving.
For carbon, you shouldn't really be using grease
because grease is said to weaken
the inside of carbon shells.
It's not too much of an issue to run it dry,
but I would recommend using some kind of
anti-creak compound.
There's various ones on the market, so look into that.
Just to show you how the bottom bracket press tool works,
what you do is find the correct spacer that
fits your particular bottom bracket.
In any of these sort of kits, you'll get a number
of these type of spacers.
That goes straight onto the tool first.
Then your first cup would go on
and locate onto that spacer.
Then you would put the tool into the frame
and then repeat on the other side.
Before finishing would be the end cup.
Then you simply close this and it squashes it
into the frame.
So, as you're tightening the bearing press,
make sure that the bearings are
completely flush and in line.
You don't want it going in at a slight angle,
otherwise you're never going to get right of that creak.
Now it's the case of just reinstalling your cranks
and making sure all the bolts are nipped up
to the crank taut setting.
Then it's a case of hitting the trails
and hoping you've got rid of that creak.
Now that you got your bottom bracket
back in the bike, you're ready to ride.
Hopefully it's good.
If it's not and it is still creaking
and you can't identify what it is,
more than likely, the nylon bb's still is
moving slightly in the frame.
If that's the case, you can get around this
temporarily by using a sleeve-retaining compound.
It acts kind of like a thread lock.
It's a temporary thing but if your bottom bracket
is still in working condition, it's worth doing.
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If you want to learn a bit more
about a full clean and service on your bike,
click down here.
If you want to learn about how to keep
your whole bike creak free, click up here.
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