• Question RE: square taper BB routine maintenance.
    Got a secondhand year-old steel frame with a square taper BB that has signs of a bit of corrosion here and there on a bolt head or down the seat tube, so I’m trying to do a bit of preventative maintenance to keep the frame nice and rust-free, (I’ll probably strip the frame and use dinitrol on it at some point next year). The cranks are from the late 80’s with new chainrings.
    I’be read that re-greasing the BB occasionally is a good thing, but also that excessive removal of the cranks can damage where they press onto the BB axle.
    So my question is should I be removing the cranks to re-grease the BB maybe every year or something after a hard winter, or am I unnecessarily shortening the lifespan of these cranks? Please and thanks for any guidance!

  • This depends on what BB it is, how tight the fit is (i.e. shape and condition of frame threads) and how much crap weather the bike will experience.

    If it's a sealed BB then I would think that you could simply grease it well and leave it for much longer than a year. Maybe 3-5 years, easily? I'm not too sure. If it's a typical Shimano splined BB then they can handle some force upon removal, and I am happy leaving them a while. Campagnolo BBs with aluminium cups can get shredded with far less force though, so need to be greased very well and not left for decades. Though you can still get lucky, especially if it's a good weather only type of bike.

    Taking the cranks off every year will likely not kill them. But I'd say you don't need to do this. Bolt them down nice and hard but don't go above 50-60Nm. Then you won't deform the cranks tapers too much.

    This is all assuming you're storing your bike indoors. Rain will obviously make everything seize.

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