Bearings in seatpost tube

may have said:

I flipped my bike upside down with the seatpost removed to do some
maintenance and a couple of bearings fell out of the seatpost tube.

I've never disassembled the bottom bracket, but I wouldn't expect there
to be an open path for the BB bearings to get into the seatpost tube
(even though, since my bike was made in '85, it probably has an
adjustable type BB, rather than the sealed cartridge type).

It is very common for the seat post tube to penetrate the BB shell,
providing a path for water to get into the BB and for what you have
observed as well.

Quoted message said:

I'm kind of puzzled how they might have gotten in there and more
importantly, if they are now missing from another component that needs
them. They might have been inadvertantly put in there when I had the
bike overhauled by a shop years ago, like a surgeon leaving a scalpel
in someone's body 😉

If they're fairly large, 1/4" or over, they're almost certainly from
the BB, but may have fallen from the cups during installation long
ago. I'd still pull the BB apart and take a close look at it, though.
If the BB has a full complement of balls, there's no need to worry.
The crank would be quite wobbly if things were sufficiently awry in
the BB to allow balls to escape, so it's almost certain that they
merely escaped during assembly last time, and may well have been
replaced due to having dived into one of the frame tubes during the
process.

--
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Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

"Werehatrack" wrote: It is very common for the seat post tube to penetrate
the BB shell, providing a path for water to get into the BB and for what you
have observed as well.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you probe the depth of the seat tube with something like a welding rod,
you can verify whether the bottom is open to the bearing area. This could
save you the need to disassemble the bottom bracket (or motivate you to do
it soon.)

Quoted message said:

I flipped my bike upside down with the seatpost removed to do some
maintenance and a couple of bearings fell out of the seatpost tube.

I've never disassembled the bottom bracket, but I wouldn't expect there
to be an open path for the BB bearings to get into the seatpost tube
(even though, since my bike was made in '85, it probably has an
adjustable type BB, rather than the sealed cartridge type).

I'm kind of puzzled how they might have gotten in there and more
importantly, if they are now missing from another component that needs
them. They might have been inadvertantly put in there when I had the
bike overhauled by a shop years ago, like a surgeon leaving a scalpel
in someone's body 😉

They could well have been lost during a BB overhaul. Just got stuck to some
grease inside the shell. If you'll look down the seat tube, if there were any
light you'd see the BB down at the far end, at least for the sort of lugged
frame typical back then.

Ron

Quoted message said:

I flipped my bike upside down with the seatpost removed to do some
maintenance and a couple of bearings fell out of the seatpost tube.

I've never disassembled the bottom bracket, but I wouldn't expect there
to be an open path for the BB bearings to get into the seatpost tube
(even though, since my bike was made in '85, it probably has an
adjustable type BB, rather than the sealed cartridge type).

I'm kind of puzzled how they might have gotten in there and more
importantly, if they are now missing from another component that needs
them. They might have been inadvertantly put in there when I had the
bike overhauled by a shop years ago, like a surgeon leaving a scalpel
in someone's body 😉

Yep. You're right. Simple mechanic error

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Leo Lichtman said:

"Werehatrack" wrote: It is very common for the seat post tube to

penetrate

Quoted message said:

the BB shell, providing a path for water to get into the BB and for

what you

Quoted message said:

have observed as well.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you probe the depth of the seat tube with something like a welding

rod,

Quoted message said:

you can verify whether the bottom is open to the bearing area. This

could

Quoted message said:

save you the need to disassemble the bottom bracket (or motivate you

to do

Quoted message said:

it soon.)

And who doesn't have a welding rod somewhere in their tool
box...........? Hows about a flashlight? A bit more common, eh?

"Meccanico di Bici" wrote: And who doesn't have a welding rod somewhere in
their tool box...........? Hows about a flashlight? A bit more common, eh?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Something like a welding rod" could include things like a straightened coat
hanger, or a dowel. Looking into a deep narrow hole with a flashlight is
hard to do because so much light reflects from the top, and so little from
the bottom.

Quoted message said:

I flipped my bike upside down with the seatpost removed to do some
maintenance and a couple of bearings fell out of the seatpost tube.

I've never disassembled the bottom bracket, but I wouldn't expect
there to be an open path for the BB bearings to get into the
seatpost tube (even though, since my bike was made in '85, it
probably has an adjustable type BB, rather than the sealed cartridge
type).

Shine a light down the seat tube and look- in all lugged steel frames
it is wide open to the BB shell. You can see the BB in there, as a
matter of fact. There's usually but not always an opening in fillet
brazed steel frames, aluminum frames and Ti frames; I've never looked
in a CF frame so I don't know what the convention is there.

Quoted message said:

I'm kind of puzzled how they might have gotten in there and more
importantly, if they are now missing from another component that
needs them. They might have been inadvertantly put in there when I
had the bike overhauled by a shop years ago, like a surgeon leaving
a scalpel in someone's body 😉

Presumably they fell out of the BB as it was being reassembled. If
they are 1/4" balls, that's almost certainly what happened. There's
probably been a rattle in your bike since the b ike was overhauled.

Quoted message said:

I flipped my bike upside down with the seatpost removed to do some
maintenance and a couple of bearings fell out of the seatpost tube.

I've never disassembled the bottom bracket, but I wouldn't expect there
to be an open path for the BB bearings to get into the seatpost tube
(even though, since my bike was made in '85, it probably has an
adjustable type BB, rather than the sealed cartridge type).

I'm kind of puzzled how they might have gotten in there and more
importantly, if they are now missing from another component that needs
them. They might have been inadvertantly put in there when I had the
bike overhauled by a shop years ago, like a surgeon leaving a scalpel
in someone's body 😉

This is similar process to the way oysters create pearls.

--
Tom Sherman - Earth