03-14-2011, 11:14 AM
Hi,
Been commuting for over a year on a cheap Walmart bike:
http://reviews.walmart.com/1336/13398138/26-mens-roadmaster-sequence-comfort-bike-reviews/reviews.htm
In retrospect, I probably should have bought something better, but at least with this bike I haven't been afraid to tinker with it. Well anyway, I recently got a set of bike tools, and was set to do my first major repair - the BB, since it has been making noise and had a little play in it. Things never go quite as smooth as I'd like.![Smile Smile](https://forums.bikeride.com/images/smilies/smile.png)
First, one of the crank arms had damaged threads so the puller had nothing to grab. So I had to remove the BB first. Oh my tool kit only has a tool for cartridge type BB? No problem, vice-grips and channel-locks removed the adjustable cup but damaged the threads in the process. Inspection revealed one of the bearing cages had nearly disintegrated and the grease had been replaced by road grime and metal shavings. So now it's all apart, except the drive crank is still attached to the spindle.
At this point, I figure replacing the crankset and replacing/repairing the BB is what I need to do. I would like to replace the crankset with one that only has one chainring, instead of three.
Choices:
1) repair/replace with cup and cone style
2) replace BB with cartridge style
Any feed back on what's better?
Questions:
1) Sizing of BB to match new crankset. How do I know what spindle length I need to match my bike?
Thanks,
Been commuting for over a year on a cheap Walmart bike:
http://reviews.walmart.com/1336/13398138/26-mens-roadmaster-sequence-comfort-bike-reviews/reviews.htm
In retrospect, I probably should have bought something better, but at least with this bike I haven't been afraid to tinker with it. Well anyway, I recently got a set of bike tools, and was set to do my first major repair - the BB, since it has been making noise and had a little play in it. Things never go quite as smooth as I'd like.
![Smile Smile](https://forums.bikeride.com/images/smilies/smile.png)
First, one of the crank arms had damaged threads so the puller had nothing to grab. So I had to remove the BB first. Oh my tool kit only has a tool for cartridge type BB? No problem, vice-grips and channel-locks removed the adjustable cup but damaged the threads in the process. Inspection revealed one of the bearing cages had nearly disintegrated and the grease had been replaced by road grime and metal shavings. So now it's all apart, except the drive crank is still attached to the spindle.
At this point, I figure replacing the crankset and replacing/repairing the BB is what I need to do. I would like to replace the crankset with one that only has one chainring, instead of three.
Choices:
1) repair/replace with cup and cone style
2) replace BB with cartridge style
Any feed back on what's better?
Questions:
1) Sizing of BB to match new crankset. How do I know what spindle length I need to match my bike?
Thanks,