So the question arises again (once a year) what to do when the bottom
bracket goes kathunk as you pedal, some bearing or race coming close
to destructing after miles of wear.
The idea is to do nothing until it's necessary to replace the whole
thing again. Psychologically it's easy to fix it when the bike no
longer moves, but not when there's life still left in it.
1. It's a bad idea to tighten the bb; within a hundred miles the
bearing will escape and your crank will be loose in the bb and you'll
be pushing the bike home (not fatal, since both wheels at least roll).
Tightening forces an escape sooner.
2. How about reversing the crank arms on the spindle, using the
opposite sides of the cone? I haven't tried this yet. It might
use a new piece of the cone and race that's unworn.
3. Squirting 3-in-1 oil in there seems to make it much better,
postponing the day of reckoning so far. Rain undoes the effect
very fast, so it's an oil and rain battle.
It's easy to replace, just messy and unpleasant; the less often done,
the better.
--
Ron Hardin
[email hidden]
On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.