I got around to installing my new PC’s last night, but when I pulled the cranks and checked out the BB it seemed like there was more resistance than I would have expected. With the cranks on and no chain it felt like it spun with no resistance and very smooth/quiet. When I pulled the cranks though it was somewhat harder to spin it and it didn’t spin at all (coast) after I would let go of it (does this make sense?). Not rough- just feels like there’s alot of pre-load on the bearings (I don’t know if this is actually what is happening, just what it feels like). Is this normal? Can you service an Ultegra splined BB, or should I just shell out the $40 and replace it while I’ve got the cranks off? Oh, the BB only has about 2K miles on it, and it’s never been serviced before.
I can’t tell you why, but bottom brackets don’t really spin freely like a wheel. Seems like they should, but they don’t. I can only speak of Shimano from experience.
I think your BB is fine. You should many thousands of miles out of that Ultegra BB.