Installing a Bottom Bracket

I'm about to install a bottom bracket. It's a Sugino 75 3 piece. I'm wondering what particular kind of goo I should be putting on the threads: grease? some of that anti-sieze copper grease? locktite on the drive side?

Also, the bearings come packed in grease, but clearly, I'm going to need more to assemble it - should I clean off the old grease thoroughly or does it not matter if a little gets into the mix?

Any decent-quality bike grease ought to do the trick. Is this a new part? Even if it is just out of the box, I'd give it a bloody good clean before you start. Make sure the bottom bracket shell is grime free too. Maybe use a cloth that's been dampened with mineral spirits.

My handy hint for the day is to make sure that the adjustable cup lockring is bastard tight before you set off on a ride. Failure to do it up properly will result in many wasted hours of tinkering, wobbly cranks and another BB thread on here. :-)

how tight can you tighten a bb? I'm always concerned about stripping the threads on old frames.

Soweto888 Any decent-quality bike grease ought to do the trick. Is this a new part? Even if it is just out of the box, I'd give it a bloody good clean before you start. Make sure the bottom bracket shell is grime free too. Maybe use a cloth that's been dampened with mineral spirits.

My handy hint for the day is to make sure that the adjustable cup lockring is bastard tight before you set off on a ride. Failure to do it up properly will result in many wasted hours of tinkering, wobbly cranks and another BB thread on here. :-)

thanks for the tips.
yes, it's new - i already polished the races with stuff that polishes steel so they look gorgeous :)

re. tightening the lockring - I lost a very nice bottom bracket to that particular ailment a few years ago.
ground itself to bits on a tour of ireland before I get round to fixing it properly.

Hi, just resurrecting an old thread here... I'm about to install my first bottom bracket and I've got a question. Is a torque wrench necessary for tightening, or are they only for geeks and saddoes? Cheers...

remembering which way the cups turn is a bitch I find.
Am i right in saying the drive side is the one which tightens the opposite way?

yes, it's the opposite to the pedals.

Hi, just resurrecting an old thread here... I'm about to install my first bottom bracket and I've got a question. Is a torque wrench necessary for tightening, or are they only for geeks and saddoes? Cheers...

tighten it until you hear it whimper

Torque wrenches are for people who want to use their components as specified by the manufacturer.

Buy nice parts and look after them properly.

Hi, just resurrecting an old thread here... I'm about to install my first bottom bracket and I've got a question. Is a torque wrench necessary for tightening, or are they only for geeks and saddoes? Cheers...

http://www.lfgss.com/thread22976.html
http://www.lfgss.com/thread38557.html
http://www.lfgss.com/thread18113.html
http://www.lfgss.com/thread37285.html
http://www.lfgss.com/thread26571.html
http://www.lfgss.com/thread26366.html
http://www.lfgss.com/thread6243.html

Hi, just resurrecting an old thread here... I'm about to install my first bottom bracket and I've got a question. Is a torque wrench necessary for tightening, or are they only for geeks and saddoes? Cheers...

What sort of BB are we talking about?

What sort of BB are we talking about?

Hi, Thanks for the replies. Its just a cheapo Shimano square taper BB (UHN26 73-113 mm). I didn't want to spend too much until I know what I'm doing!

Well, I have never used one. I would rather have one, I guess, but I don't. BBs just need tightening as tight as you can tighten them. A big adjustable spanner has always done the trick for me. If it starts to come loose, re-tighten it. Repeat until satisfied.

Hi, Thanks for the replies. Its just a cheapo Shimano square taper BB (UHN26 73-113 mm). I didn't want to spend too much until I know what I'm doing!

In that case just do as WiganWill recommends. Be slightly more careful with the crank arms (There's a few long threads about this). They need to be pretty tight, but may loosen with use. In which case, just remove the slack.

Well, I have never used one. I would rather have one, I guess, but I don't. BBs just need tightening as tight as you can tighten them. A big adjustable spanner has always done the trick for me. If it starts to come loose, re-tighten it. Repeat until satisfied.

So in layman's term, drive side need to be tight as possible, but the non-drive side's reasonably tight? (the non-drive side made of plastic).

you talking about outboard or something like Phil/Royce?

Oh you know, cheap shite like this;

Doing them up as tight as possible can make them a nightmare to undo - it all depends on what you are doing them up with. If you have a torque wrench then best to use it, and I'd never do one up with a breaker bar.

I little bit of copper grease on the threads would help removing it in the future too I reckon.

Excellent advice on here.

I picked up a torque wrench and a coupla BB tools today... Look out, Ms BB Shell... twizzles tache

So I've never done any work on a bottom bracket. I need to buy and install a BB/cranks on a frame I bought from Pistoffski. This bike isn't for me, so I'm a little concerned about buggering it up and shearing the threads/buying the wrong parts and wasting money.

Pistoffski says it takes a 1" threaded BB (an inch is monstrous compared to the sizes I'm seeing online), and I've had a little look around but I can't decipher what this means. I want to keep this pretty cheap, so I'm looking at this stronglight chainset, where they recommend a BB length of 119mm, less than half an inch.

As I understand it I need to buy a BB appropriate to the frame, and a crankset appropriate to the BB. Am I right? The threading looks to be anticlockwise drive-side, and clockwise non-drive; I think this is English threading?

I can measure the BB shell/take photos if that will help! Thanks in advance.

Ignore the 1" thing. It refers to the headset and has nothing to do with the BB.

As the threads on your frame go opposite directions, it probably has takes British BB (Italian BBs have two reverse threads). This is the only bit of info you need to choose the BB, the width of that BB is reliant on your chainset choice. If Stronglight recommend 119mm, get that.

To make sure, measure the width of the BB shell. 68mm or 73mm is British, 70mm is Italian.

Incedentally, that frame has a "Cane Creek 1 1/8th Aheadset" and not a 1" headset, but it's already installed, so don't worry about it.

Great, thank you!

Thank Mr. Brown.