UKC

Cleaning my chain last night and noticed what looks like the BB cup unscrewing on the chain side - https://picasaweb.google.com/rslandart/February222012?authkey=Gv1sRgCPfH5Pf...

I only really know about basic tasks so BB's are a bit beyond me. Is this something to worry about? Do I need to get it fixed asap?

I'm a bit surprised to be honest as, even though it is a ten year old bike, it has only got 120 miles (half of those in the last six months) on it due to injury. I'm back riding again and want to use it. It is an Orange E8 World Cup and therefore a pretty decent bike, the chainset is Race Face, don't know what the BB is. Surely this shouldn't be happening after so little miles (many on the road actually)?

Couple more questions while I'm at it, although there can't be many people with a 10 year old top of the range XC hardtail that has only been ridden so little, so answers may be hard to come by!:-

- should I service my forks (RockShox SID SL)? Due to their age but have had very little use. They do seem fine though.

- I have Avid V brakes on it but it is ready to convert to Hope discs. Worth doing?

Cheers for your help.

In reply to Escher:
Did you own it from new? At a guess it looks like someone might have screwed the non-drive cup in too far, then tightened the drive side against it.

If it had loosened to that extent it would be very noticeably noisy by now with a fair bit of play.

Or it could be some weird outdated E-type bb.

If you know how to take your cranks off it might be worth doing so to get a better look.

In reply to a crap climber:

Oh and in reply to your other questions:

It's probably not necessary given how little use the forks have had.

Discs are always a good upgrade. Check the frame and fork have the correct mounts. If you don't have disc compatible hubs then you may need to factor in the cost of a new pair of wheels. Go for more modestly powered brakes (e.g. Hope mini's with 160mm rotors). A pair of ten year old lightweight xc forks might not be able to cope with the forces generated by a more powerful set.

In reply to Escher:

Looks as though it just sits proud, if it was that loose you would notice it as it would wobble all over the place, hold pedals, and try to move them sideways, if they move, BB loose.

forks are an air fork, if they werent working right you would know, you could get them serviced, but they may just lube them up, might be nowt wrong with them, apart from lack of use...!

Brakes, can you always stop happily? IMO V brakes take less servicing than discs, If you struggle with slowing yourself down then upgrade, if not dont waste the money

In reply to Escher:

If its not wobbling then prob not. I have an old hard tail and when I've replaced the BB had something similar.

Re the forks- If they work and not been used much then why bother?

Re the brakes- If you are not using it much then probably not worth changing.

However there is nothing wrong with wanting to spend money upgrading parts etc. If you've got the money and want to then do it!

In reply to a crap climber: Yes, from new. It doesn't make any noise, or wobble or feel loose. I haven't noticed anything when riding but only when cleaning it. I don't have a crank removal tool, but perhaps I need to get one! Cheers

In reply to a crap climber: It has Hope hubs and all the braze-ons ready for them to be fitted, it was Hope disc brake ready when I bought it, I just couldn't quite stump up the extra cash for the discs as well so it came with just v-brakes.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, what you say fits in exactly with what I thought and puts my mind at ease. I'd like to put the disc brakes on, not because I really need them but I'd just like to finish the bike off as I always intended to now that I am back riding again. Cheers for your help

In reply to Escher: The bottom bracket is not set properly in the frame. it may have been installed like that but, whatever, the mating face is not "mating" with the frame as it should. It needs resetting. It won't necessarily wobble as the drive side of the BB contains both R and L bearings so they may well spin as they should, but the BB has no no support now on the non-drive side............. get it fixed now.
Forks could benefit from a service. Ten years is not an old bike FFS, what are people on about?

You can't buy Hope Minis new anymore (discontinued two years ago)so S/H is all you'll get. "Hope ready mounts" - no such thing. The "mounts" are an IS standard and thus ANY modern brake caliper will fit.

People talk unbelievable shite about bikes on here. Get to the LBS and let them sort it.

In reply to a crap climber:
>Go for more modestly powered brakes (e.g. Hope mini's with 160mm rotors). A pair of ten year old lightweight xc forks might not be able to cope with the forces generated by a more powerful set.

What utter drivel. The forks will be absolutely fine with a rotor up to 180/200. They were and still are a great fork. Minis are no longer available new, replaced by the Tech X2 2/3 years ago. £150 each. Minis are not modest brakes either - I have them on all my bikes (6) and they perform well in all areas and I don't ride slow.

In reply to unclesamsauntibess:

Yep you're quite right about mini's, I should have said x2.

Compared with some of the brakes around mini's or X2s or whatever are not overflowing with power. I'm not saying they're particularly lacking, but there are plenty of more powerful brakes around.

Most forks come with warnings for a maximum rotor size. For current forks this will probably be somewhere around 200mm, but for older xc forks it may well be smaller. If you use a larger rotor, the worst that would probably happen is that you would invalidate the warranty, which is this case is irrelevant, but they specify a size for a reason.