Have asked on rec.cycling .... but also trying here.

Following on from earlier post on Bottom Bracket. (and loads of help)

Removed the cranks and stripped out the Bottom Bracket, it's all now
de-greased & cleaned ... before I re-assemble ... a Q?

The bracket consists of a spindle shaft, a fixed cup on chain side and
adjustable cup on other.
Each cup has a ball bearing cage with 9 ball bearings. There is also a
plastic bellows between either end to keep things clean.

I read the Sheldon Brown web article on Bottom Brackets ... he advises
consideration of discarding the cages, and instead putting in 11 loose
bearings.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbadj.html

Is it worth doing this on a 21 yr old bike ? ... or does the inevitable
spindle wear make this pointless ? (read that spindle will have worn more
than balls)

There are 2 thoughts ..

# I go ahead and do this ... cost is only for 22 1/4" balls (should be
cheap enough)

# I put the existing 9 ball cages back in for now, and when the thing does
wear out change it for a sealed cartridge BB ?

"Rick Hughes" wrote in message
...
Have asked on rec.cycling .... but also trying here.

Following on from earlier post on Bottom Bracket. (and loads of help)

Removed the cranks and stripped out the Bottom Bracket, it's all now
de-greased & cleaned ... before I re-assemble ... a Q?

The bracket consists of a spindle shaft, a fixed cup on chain side and
adjustable cup on other.
Each cup has a ball bearing cage with 9 ball bearings. There is also a
plastic bellows between either end to keep things clean.

I read the Sheldon Brown web article on Bottom Brackets ... he advises
consideration of discarding the cages, and instead putting in 11 loose
bearings.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbadj.html

Is it worth doing this on a 21 yr old bike ? ... or does the inevitable
spindle wear make this pointless ? (read that spindle will have worn more
than balls)

There are 2 thoughts ..

# I go ahead and do this ... cost is only for 22 1/4" balls (should be
cheap enough)

# I put the existing 9 ball cages back in for now, and when the thing does
wear out change it for a sealed cartridge BB ?



I'd go straight for a cheap sealed bearing and be done with it.

Under a tenner on eBay, delivered. Example: eBay 230327409552

D

Rick Hughes formulated the question :
# I go ahead and do this ... cost is only for 22 1/4" balls (should be
cheap enough)

# I put the existing 9 ball cages back in for now, and when the thing does
wear out change it for a sealed cartridge BB ?

The sealed bearing from the start. Usually the races where the balls
run will also have some wear and neglect, the sealed cartridge
overcomes both problems.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
Rick Hughes formulated the question :
# I go ahead and do this ... cost is only for 22 1/4" balls (should be
cheap enough)

# I put the existing 9 ball cages back in for now, and when the thing
does wear out change it for a sealed cartridge BB ?

The sealed bearing from the start. Usually the races where the balls run
will also have some wear and neglect, the sealed cartridge overcomes both
problems.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

is there a way of knowing which size to use ? ... or are all square taper
one's same size ....
overall length and end cap thread size will be key.

"Rick Hughes" wrote in message
...
Have asked on rec.cycling .... but also trying here.

Following on from earlier post on Bottom Bracket. (and loads of help)

Removed the cranks and stripped out the Bottom Bracket, it's all now
de-greased & cleaned ... before I re-assemble ... a Q?

The bracket consists of a spindle shaft, a fixed cup on chain side and
adjustable cup on other.
Each cup has a ball bearing cage with 9 ball bearings. There is also a
plastic bellows between either end to keep things clean.

I read the Sheldon Brown web article on Bottom Brackets ... he advises
consideration of discarding the cages, and instead putting in 11 loose
bearings.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbadj.html

Is it worth doing this on a 21 yr old bike ? ... or does the inevitable
spindle wear make this pointless ? (read that spindle will have worn more
than balls)

There are 2 thoughts ..

# I go ahead and do this ... cost is only for 22 1/4" balls (should be
cheap enough)

# I put the existing 9 ball cages back in for now, and when the thing does
wear out change it for a sealed cartridge BB ?



My experience of caged ball bearing units for bottom bracket is rather poor.
Where the cage is the weakest link and becomes distorted and finally breaks
up. I also favour the idea of replacing the cage with the requisite number
of balls. If more balls go in it also makes a stronger bearing.

On the other hand, if it's not broke, don't fix it.

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
Rick Hughes formulated the question :
# I go ahead and do this ... cost is only for 22 1/4" balls (should be
cheap enough)

# I put the existing 9 ball cages back in for now, and when the thing
does wear out change it for a sealed cartridge BB ?

The sealed bearing from the start. Usually the races where the balls run
will also have some wear and neglect, the sealed cartridge overcomes both
problems.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

are these a standard size ? .... i.e. will all square taper cranks be same
threads & lengths ?

"Rick Hughes" wrote in message
...

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
Rick Hughes formulated the question :
# I go ahead and do this ... cost is only for 22 1/4" balls (should
be cheap enough)

# I put the existing 9 ball cages back in for now, and when the thing
does wear out change it for a sealed cartridge BB ?

The sealed bearing from the start. Usually the races where the balls run
will also have some wear and neglect, the sealed cartridge overcomes both
problems.

are these a standard size ? .... i.e. will all square taper cranks be same
threads & lengths ?

No :-) See Sheldon Brown's site on the subject.

You've got threads (British/ISO, French, Italian - yours are probably the
former though), BB width (68 or 73mm, yours will probably be 68mm), axle
length (depends on crank fitting), taper angle (Campag or JIS - yours will
probably be JIS/Shimano).

Axle length is the one you're most likely to come unstuck with - use the
same as you have now.

Shimano UN5x (currently 54) is a decent enough cartridge BB. It's what I'd
use.

In message , Clive
George writes
"Rick Hughes" wrote in message
...

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
Rick Hughes formulated the question :
# I go ahead and do this ... cost is only for 22 1/4" balls (should
be cheap enough)

# I put the existing 9 ball cages back in for now, and when the thing
does wear out change it for a sealed cartridge BB ?

The sealed bearing from the start. Usually the races where the balls run
will also have some wear and neglect, the sealed cartridge overcomes both
problems.

are these a standard size ? .... i.e. will all square taper cranks be same
threads & lengths ?

No :-) See Sheldon Brown's site on the subject.

You've got threads (British/ISO, French, Italian - yours are probably the
former though), BB width (68 or 73mm, yours will probably be 68mm), axle
length (depends on crank fitting), taper angle (Campag or JIS - yours will
probably be JIS/Shimano).

Axle length is the one you're most likely to come unstuck with - use the
same as you have now.

With one small proviso, the existing axle might well be asymmetric in
lengths outside the BB - the chainring side being longer than the plain
crank side. Modern sealed bottom brackets seem to generally have
symmetrically long axles each side, so the overall length may need to be
longer to allow for enough length on the chainset side.

I'd suggest taking the old bottom bracket bits into a bike shop which
would mean you would get the right sized one (I'd measure the BB shell
width as well, but most likely as you say to be 68mm)
--
Chris French