Not a nice sound for a bicycle to make 4 days before a R300
Over the last couple of days the MLCM has developed an annoying feature in that after a dozen or so miles of riding a tinkling and pinging sound (like ball bearings rolling around) starts coming off the nondriveside of the crank when I pedal. It happened first a couple of days ago when I was running to the end of the (paved portion of the) Springwater Trail and back; about 2 miles away from the end of the trail it began to jingle annoyingly, and 5 miles later (before I got back to downtown Gresham) it had died away, then today, after about 20 miles of riding (out to Noahs, then down to Milwaukie) it came back and tinkled annoyingly all the way out to 44th on Railroad Ave, then all the way up to Johnson Creek Blvd, and then briefly along the Springwater Trail as I looped out to 82nd.
Today I tried to isolate it, and I isolated it down as far as the non-drive-side of the crankset. The crankarm seemed loosish, so I pulled, cleaned, regreased, and reassembled it. But it still seemed loosish, and it looks like the spindle is moving in the bottom bracket in ways that spindles are not supposed to move (it seems to be moving more than the corresponding component on the trek does.)
And, no, the frame doesn’t seem to be cracked down there – I cleaned it off and looked over it with a flashlight and ran my fingernail around to see if there were any suspicious cranks in the powdercoat.
I suppose I could just replace the bottom bracket (I’ve got enough parts to assemble a loose-bearing bottom bracket, or I could fork out $14 for an even cheaper Shimano UN-26) but I’d really hate to do a hardware changeout just before I run the bicycle out to the coast and back.
I’ll have to run it for another 30 miles later today and see if reseating the crank makes any difference. If not, I guess it will be last-minute bottom bracket time.
Comments
It’s actually anti-seize, but, yes, I’m a member of the heretical sect that greases the square taper.
I, too, put the slightest coating of grease on the tapers- prevents seizure. Never had a problem. And I’m on the Southern Pacific Deferred Maintainence Program.
As for the looseness, I had to replace a BB with the same symptoms- really made a difference.
Alway enjoy your view- and the railroad pictures, Bob
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What on earth are you greasing on a crankset? Hopefully, you’re just greasing the bearings, not the crank/spindle interface.