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My brother has got a lovely new Kinesis X Maxlight frame. He's run into a problem with the BB, my immediate thought was he's put the cups in the wrong way round (guilty of that myself on more than one occasion) but it looks like they have not been crossed through ham fistedness.
Driveside cup fitted most of the way by hand, about 4mm before snugging down it clicked, and is now stuck, moving back and forth a fraction before binding.
Non-driveside screws all the way in and out by hand.
When the cranks are passed through the cups everything seems aligned.
I got him to take to a bike shop, I get the impression he got the cold shoulder and they just told him the frame was a write-off and didn't attempt anything.
Looking inside the shell, you can see the BB shell has puckered in slightly, could this be from a defect in the BB threads or shell?
Advice appreciated on a decent shop in the Southampton area that might be able to resolve, or whether to leave the cup in and contact Kinesis. My brother is happy to sacrifice the BB but if there is a fault with the frame, removing the BB with brute force and ignorance may complicate matters with the warranty.
See BB shell damage approx 2 O clock in the image 🙁
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That's unusual. I'd take the cup out and take another look.
A chasing tool may be enough to sort it (depending on how bad), but that would be my first port of call.
Looks like a fault in the frame that's damaged the BB. I'd bet it can be unscrewed though and then chased out. BB might be toast (though if that's a hope sjs sell individual cups.
Did the BB go in dry, ie alu to alu , with no grease? Thread could have picked up , so first thing to do is put a thin dismantling lubricant like PlusGas or your favourite alternative all over the B B and frame shell. Leave a good 10 mins then gently rock cup back and fore on the thread. It should start to ease up and when it does, back the BB out but dont let it dry out, keep it smothered in lube.
You may feel a tight spot whilst turning, dont panic, keep going because your frame is useless as is anyway, you can only gain in this situation. Try backing out a few turns then a quarter turn forward to try and dislodge any pickup on the thread, like when youre tapping a hole out.
As and when the cup comes out, do not do anything until you have had the frame threads chased out with a tap, probably a bike shop is the inly place youre going to find one of those.
If none of this works, take your bike to a machine shop, pretty straightforward job to bore the guts of it out then get it retapped at the bike shop. Might cost you beer and fags or real money, in fact it might be more than the frame is worth to you.
If this was my frame I'd persevere though.
Might be the manufactures tap hasn't gone in far enough and youre bound on the tapered threads at the end of the bore.
If you're happy to write off the bottom bracket I'd drive the bearing out then cut through the aluminium casing in a couple of places. Once you're nearly through then a sharp smack in a couple of places will collapse it in on itself and you can remove it without any further damage to the threads in the frame.
It only takes a small bit of swarf to jam these things in. Unwinding it all the way as it is will probably wreck the threads completely.
Thanks guys, I've pointed him to your suggestions 🙂
Leave it alone and contact Kinesis.
You’ll only make things worse by messing with it now, and if the frame is new then I’d expect them to look at it FOC if not fix or replace it.
You don’t gain anything by removing the BB which looks like it may now be scrap? If the frame needs tapping then it’s not really a DIY job now anyway and you’d be going to a shop.
I've got framebuilding bb taps and facing tools in the garage - but I'd still leave it alone and talk to Kinesis before doing anything else.
If I did have to attack it then removing the bearing and mostly cutting through the cup before lubing and unscrewing would be my first preference for minimising frame damage before re-tapping.
Update, got my hands on the frame this week. The first bike shop had given it some welly and looking at the threads, managed to drag it round at least one turn.
Kinesis advised they wouldn't look at it until the BB was out. Cutting it out was definitely the right option, the threads had galled and it was the swarf that had puckered the BB cup. To force it out would have ripped out all of the threads, but they are perfect apart from a groove on the inboard side.
So fingers crossed the tap and face will go fine, doesn't seem much point going to Kinesis, might have just been the dry fit of the BB that caused it and not poor BB finishing.
@nixie, thanks for the pointer to SJS selling individual cups 🙂
P.S Seems a bit lazy of manufacturers to leave the BB covered in paint and not face it, now most people are fitting external BBs you'd think this would be prepped?
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See Ben's comments on the hambini thread about no manufacturers letting frames out the door like that.
I think there's a reason many manufacturers do face and prep properly.
I agree about frames being supplied without being faced - frame is not fit for purpose until it is.
Fingers crossed that it all works out