there are two loctite products you can use. One is an expansion material; this is for when a gap develops btwn the cups and the BB shell. I think i resorted to this method.

The other is a press fit compound that doesn't expand as much. In both cases, i think it's recommended that you use the primer as well.

I absolutely despise Press Fit BBs; as my coach would say, they are the devil's spawn.

Don't you know plenty of people in the industry? Bend their ear and help us all out. We shouldn't have to live with a design that is difficult to wrench on and so prone to issues.

Nothing beats square taper bb.

Which press-fit standard - PF30/86/386? Typically pre-mature wear is due to the cups becoming mis-aligned, which during install, if the spindle does not slide in relatively easy, it causes the bearing races to be displaced. If the crank has significant resistance or stops after one or two turns when spun, then the bearings are may already be damaged. I have gotten in the habit of using fine grit emory cloth to wet polish the spindles of our Hollowgram and Dura Ace cranks so that they slide in by hand instead of having to be pounded in with a rubber mallet.

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The Enduro Torqtite solution seems to solve the press fit problem

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The accountants like them because it makes carbon frames cheaper than using a threaded metal insert. If they were used on cheap frames then it would be understandable but on expensive ones it is basically the bike company telling its customers, "Fuck you."

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Wheels Manufacturing make inserts to un PF any PF BB- it has been a great move for them because there are so may problems with PF BBs.

x2 on that! There is no creaking on my Kestrel 200SC from 1991 with Quill Stem and taper square BB. This thing is 25 years old (well actually it is 15 years old, Kestrel sent me a new frame in 2000 after the original 91 frame developed a crack). That set up is on my trainer and will probably outlive me at this point. I've had the bike/set up half my life now. It's probably as aero as many of today's aero frames too and just as stiff.

There are many.

But which one depends on (1) exactly which press fit standard your frame has and (2) what crankset you want to use.
Can you share more info?

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When my PF30 bb wears out, I'm going to get the praxis works one. It actually looks like a decent solution.

http://www.praxiscycles.com/conversion-bb/

so you are going to change cranks, or you are running an adaptor now?

I have found Loctite to be sufficient for my bb30 style cranks with pf30 bbs

Ummm...the same folks who are now trying to push separate braking discs onto road racing and TT/Tri bikes :-/

There's a reason I had my custom bike frame built with a standard BSA threaded BB shell...and it doesn't prevent me from running cranks with a 30mm diameter BB spindle...go figure.

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I'm running shimano cranks, so I'm using a basic press fit adapter for 24mm spindles.

I actually don't have any complaints so far from either BBright PF or PF30. But if they do pose problems, I'll look at Praxis.

I was all set to upgrade my tri bike frame from Kuota K-factor (with English 68) to Cervelo P3 until I started to learn about BBright. That, and it was clear I would be unable to use my square taper bracket and 150 bmx cranks.

There may be some work arounds to get to 150 cranks. My concern is the maintenance on the BB. In six years I haven't had to do anything with either Shimano outboard or the square taper. What do folks have to say? Any thoughts if this is a good solution: [http://bbinfinite.myshopify.com/products/bbright-30mm]?

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No coasting in running and no crying in baseball

the Praxis BB conversions are fantastic, I run them on both my road bikes.

But there are bikes with square taper AND press fit. I have two of them, both dating from 1991 - a Klein and a Fat City. No problems with the square taper, but press fit BBs sucked back then, too!

I have 45k miles on my S-Works Tarmac (SL3), and no problems at all. PF30 rocks. My bearings started squeaking at about 29k miles and the dealer replaced them. So the life of the bearings may not be all that good, but it could be argued that normal wear can take a bearing down in 29k miles. Anyway, they were cheap to replace my PF30 system has otherwise been bombproof. Having said this, I have also read about aggravation with some PF...or BB30 systems. If given an option, I would probably want the standard Shimano crank (with whatever bracket system Shimano specifies). But many bikes now days some with BB30 or similar system. We only tend to hear about the problem ones, which most of the time result from the owner doing the mechanical work. There are an awful lot of BB30 bikes out there doing just fine.

Yes, except that Ifound that on an 11-speed DA drive train paired with the first gen Zipp 303 FC hubs, the wider flanges aggravates a bad chaninline.

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How long did it take to ride 45000 miles?

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I always use a 24mm spindle crankset so I can step down the BB30/PF shenanigans.

I've found the Praxis Works BB a good solution. Simple and creak free. I installed it in a BB30 frame with Loctite bearing compound. I've use a Rotor BBRight 4624 on my P3. It is also creak free, but I would prefer a solution that has two halves aligning by some form of threaded connector i.e. the Praxis Works BB or Rotor BB3024. With the Rotor BBRight adapter, you are fitting two machined cups into the frame with only an interconnecting tube, which doesn't seem to offer the same level of alignment so I'm not sure how much of an improvement it is over a standard PF bottom bracket setup.

Maybe Collage's ThreadFit 82.5 system is the way forward. Sure seems like BB30, et al, are a solution for the manufacturers rather than the consumers.

Thank you all.

At the recommendation of our local VeloFix mechanic we went with a Wheels Manufacturing solution - http://wheelsmfg.com/

Hopefully, this will be the end of the shenanigans.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog