[Yak] Bottom bracket looseness

[Tom Revay]

On 9/29/2004 at 10:49 AM Elmer Bricca wrote:
>I am not sure if you are having loose crank arms or bearings in the 
>bottom bracket. most bottom brackets are sealed and cannot be serviced. 
>If your problem is crank arms and the bottom bracket spindles are 
>square be sure there is no grease on them before tightening. Do not 
>over torque. Loose crank arms are not a good thing. The square taper 
>and the crank arms get rounded and no longer can be tightened. If this 
>is really a bering problem replace the bottom bracket with a sealed 
>one. I don't think B F is using the old style bottom brackets. Since 
>the bike is new I would call B F tech support for help. Hope this 
>helps.

Apologies in advance for my newbie-ness ... and thanks for responding!

Since reading this article
http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQcartdg.shtml
... I've come to believe what was wrong was that the bottom bracket cartridge bearing's removeable ring wasn't tight enough.  This permitted the cartridge to rock back & forth.

I'm thinking that, since this isn't really a bearing adjustment (you're right, cartridge bearings aren't adjustable), there's no reason to have any looseness at all.

I will drop a line to BF's service department.  Thank you all for your help.

Tom Revay
Dedham, Massachusetts