Tom - I’ll be building up a bike and I’m looking for your recommendation on how to treat the BB. Seems to me that I read somewhere that blue Loctite was recommended for the BB threads to prevent creaks. I was planning to use white lithium grease. The BB is going into a Ti frame - what’cha think? Thanks!
I wouldn’t even consider lock tite. Lithium grease may work ok, but I would suggest a liberal coating of never seize or Ti Prep (the coppery looking stuff). Also if you ride the bike a lot once a year loosen the bottom bracket and reapply, the same goes for pedals and seatpost (no grease or the like on carbon seat posts). If you commonly ride in nasty conditions you might want to consider every six months or more.
Shawn T
Actually, you want to use Ti Prep, not grease or locktite. You can get Ti prep from your local bike shop.
I’ll get back to you on this with a good answer shortly. I have, like, 5 fit appointments lined up right now…
Hey Tom - Glad to see you’re back in action…good to hear that business is boomin’ for ya’. I don’t want to be a pain in the butt, but I just got a call from my LBS - they’re going to have my frame ready for building this afternoon (getting the steerer cut), and I’m anxious to get to work. Still looking for your thoughts on the best way to go with the BB - sounds like Ti Prep is getting a few votes.
Ti prep™ is just overpriced anti-seize.
You definitely want to use antiseize in this application. Antiseize is commonly available in two different compositions, a copper colored one and a silver colored one; the copper formulation is marginally better for use on Ti, but not to a degree that would ever be apparent in a bicycle application. Functionally, in a bicycle application, any of the commonly available formulations will work just fine, and any will be superior to grease.
You technically should be using anti-seize for any threaded or press-fit contact points on a Ti frame (yes, that includes headsets, although a seized headset is super super rare on Ti frames - I can only remember having seen one…) This is extra super important at ti-ti contact points.
You can buy anti-seize in an auto parts store for exponentially less than the repackaged products sold through bike dealers.
MH
…currently doing contract work part time for a Ti frame manufacturer…
Well,
There is an Order of Operations here, just like in mathmatics.
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Actually do read the manufacturer’s instructions for installation of the bottom bracket, noting torque specs and installation tools noted. Follow their recommendations to the letter.
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Subordinate those instructions only as superseded by the frame manufacturer’s owner’s manual. If the frame owner’s manual specifies Loc-Tite, use Loc-Tite regardless of the bottom bracket manufacturer’s recommendations. The frame manufacturer takes precident here since it is the greater loss in a warranty situation.
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If in doubt, phone both manufacturer’s for clarification before beginning. It pays to have a clear understanding of what you are doing and why you are doing it. For the price and time of a phone call, it is a bargain.
That is how we can do it. One of many, many valuable lessons I learned from the late Michael R. Rabe was “ALWAYS read the instructions”. Before Rabe worked on bikes he serviced the powerplant and electrical system on the USS William H. Bates, a nuclear powered submarine. Rabe taught us, there is no margin for error.
I hope that is of some service, and that is exactly how we would handle the situation.
Check. Thanks for the input! Just finished tinkering…
BB - installed (white Li grease in the shell and Teflon tape on the BB threads)
F/R Brake calipers - on
R Derailleur - on
Crankset - on
Stem - on
…waiting on a couple of back-ordered parts, but she’s gonna be a beaut when complete.