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Is pressfit dead Sept 2018Fed up of pressfit bottom brackets? Find out if something better is on the way
There are many ‘standards’ in the road cycling world but none that causes more ire than pressfit.
Cannondale developed the BB30 bottom bracket in 2006 as an open standard. It used a larger 30mm axle which allowed bigger bearings and a bigger bottom bracket shell, providing extra stiffness and lower weight. But it required a precision machined shell and crank, and was expensive to manufacture with an alloy shell bonded to the carbon frame.
Pressfit soon followed in 2009 and aimed to address the high tolerances of BB30 by housing bearings in nylon composite cups that are then pressed directly into the frame. It reduced the manufacturing costs, and this helped it to be swiftly adopted by frame manufacturers. It still offered all the same weight and stiffness benefits of BB30, but with more simplicity and lower cost.
However, while the use of plastic shells lowered the critical need for high tolerances, variations in quality control lead to a litany of creaking bottom brackets, a result of a poor interface between the bearing and frame. Internet forums are full of frustrated cyclists trying to cure noisy pressfit bottom brackets.
- Video How To: Install a PressFit Bottom Bracket
- How to remove press-fit bottom bracket bearings
But something interesting is happening in the industry. We’re seeing new frames being developed with conventional threaded bottom brackets replacing pressfit, to the rejoicing of cyclists everywhere deafened by creaking pressfit installations.
Could it be that the love affair with pressfit is over and the tide has turned back in favour of the threaded bottom bracket? We spoke to two bike brands big (Specialized) and small (Bowman Cycles) to get their perspective the future of pressfit.
We asked these companies because Bowman’s updated Palace R frame has swapped from pressfit to threaded, and for its new Roubaix Specialized has used a threaded bottom bracket on the entry-level model and a pressfit on the top-end S-Works bikes.
Bowman Cycles
I think the primary problem with pressfit is that an error at any stage can cause the most horrendous noise problems, and they are not easy to remedy without spending money. A threaded bottom bracket, on the other hand, can be taken out, greased, retightened and fettled far more readily, and the threading does away with the need for such accuracy during the manufacture, as by nature it will tighten (as long as the frame is faced properly).
The larger pressfit shells do allow for carbon engineers to do interesting things with layup and tube size, but for metal frames, the benefits from a frame manufacturing process are limited, if you can afford to research and develop any chainstay designs tyre clearance preference require.
In metal frames, I’d suggest they should be dead as every manufacturer makes a superb chainset that fits natively. Carbon is another matter as the customer seems to want to chase the smallest number of grammes as the latest must have. Bonding in a thread for a bottom bracket is not only adding a possible failure point down the road, it also adds weight in a world where people are spending a lot of money to save six grammes making a totally hollow dropout.
The customer just needs to realise that the high tolerances needed to make a pressfit bottom bracket work in a carbon frame cost money. It can be done - and people shouldn’t be fobbed off if their high-end composite bike creaks, but they also need to be realistic. There are solutions out there that companies can use to make reliable, light frames, Colnago’s C60 has an elegant solution and a frame that still builds up stupidly light. The T47 standard is another option that privately many product managers want too use, but the gram chasing mainstream does not permit it.
So, is it dead? Yes, kinda, maybe - not quite.
- How to fit a threaded bottom bracket
Specialized
Without it sounding a cliché, Specialized is, and has to be, about rider first engineering; we have to look at the rider at every level and with every budget first to give them the bike and equipment that gives them the best riding experience and performance benefit.
So the easiest answer to this is, yes, for Specialized pressfit bottom brackets still have a future where absolute performance matters, given that they are stiffer and lighter than a conventional threaded bottom bracket.
The ‘but’ is that a pressfit system requires incredibly high tolerances and the highest standards in quality control in frame manufacture for it to function at its absolute best, and this realistically is achieved with high cost and low volume.
The other variable is the frame material and method of manufacture.
So, with the new Roubaix platform as an example, Pro and S-Works models have a press fit BB30 system, and Expert level and below use a conventional threaded bottom bracket.
road.cc comment
We doubt pressfit is going to vanish anytime soon. For high-end frames developed for racing the weight and stiffness benefits trump all other concerns, and some of the issues are often down to poor installation. For professional racers, bikes are regularly cleaned and maintained. For cyclists that don't have a pro mechanic washing their bike after every ride, Park Tool has interestingly developed special compounds that it reckons helps to eliminate the potential for a creaking pressfit bottom bracket. We'll be testing those soon to see if they are the perfect solution.
But it's clear pressfit has lost many fans over the years. There's no denying the simplicity and ease of installation offered by a threaded bottom bracket setup., and the bearings appear to be less susceptible to British weather and infrequent servicing plans. So, we fully expect more bike brands to follow Bowman and Specialized's lead for bikes aimed at regular everyday cyclists rather than the pro racers, who don't have to pay for or look after their bikes, and spec threaded bottom brackets.
What do you think? Will your next bike have a pressfit bottom bracket or has the creaking driven you mad?
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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82 comments
I had a similar experience, swore my BB was making a horrible clicking noise so swapped it out ... no joy. Put a new chain on (it needed it anyway), still no joy and still absolutely certain the noise was coming from the BB. Anyway long story short it ended up being the rear skewer not being seated properly, took me about 10 seconds to undo and re-tighten the skewer then blissful silence! Seems to me if you think you have BB noise issue you should look everywhere else before considering the BB itself!
I had a similar experience, swore my BB was making a horrible clicking noise so swapped it out ... no joy. Put a new chain on (it needed it anyway), still no joy and still absolutely certain the noise was coming from the BB. Anyway long story short it ended up being the rear skewer not being seated properly, took me about 10 seconds to undo and re-tighten the skewer then blissful silence! Seems to me if you think you have BB noise issue you should look everywhere else before considering the BB itself!
A mechanic friend says 90% of the bikes he work on have one or both of the QRs/wheels incorrectly seated/tightened - the first thing he does to any bike is check them.
There is nothing wrong with press fit BB's. The problem is the poor tolerances of the bike frame makers around the BB when making the frames which are causing the issues. There is no excuse for poor tolerances when you see the high cost of carbon frames...
I'm getting a Wheels Manufacturing 386Evo BB fitted later today due to a sound from my BB akin to the frame snapping under any load from the crank. Hopefully this type of BB, due to it's screw in nature, will eliminate the creaking nois? Will keep you posted.
I hope it works out for you. In my own experience, it didnt. My bb86 (sram gxp) started to tick after 18 months use, for some reason i thought it would be a good idea to try an expensive and beautifully engineered screw together design on the basis that the screw togetherness would hold it in place more tightly and itd never make a noise again... It creaked, ticked and popped immediately and much more frequently than the one it replaced. I confess i swore a little and contemplated flinging the bike in a hedge.
At that point i did what i should have done in the first place and went to my LBS, they took one look, said aluminium cups in carbon frames always creak, put a new standard sram one (plastic cups) back in, now its silent again. Every day is a school day!
Threaded outer-bearing standards like Hollowtech remove all the brute force required for internal and press-fit bearings, especially tricky square-taper cassettes which need a removal tool with locking bolt and a car torque wrench! Hollow-tech was piss easy to fit and remove, unlike square taper cassettes and I assume press-fit bearings! I really don't get press-fit at all; it was an arse to replace press-fit headset bearings with the not-cheap removal and fitting tools.
I was out with club run on Sunday, half the bikes creaked or clicked, the others were threaded bottom brackets
Ditto. Horrific noises emanating from some bikes on my club run too. One of the guys insisted he'd had his creaking BB fixed, but it had since developed another, different noise.
I used to guerilla-lube chains and pedals (identify the culprit, wait for a cafe/pub stop or mechanical, and sneak up with a little tester bottle that I keep in my saddle bag - hey presto, a bit of peace and quiet) but there's not much I can do for a creaking bb.
Although a happy BB86 + campag UT user, it's clear many press fit installations don't work properly due to minute variations in frame/ component specs . This would explain the huge variations in customer experience even within one standard.
In general the fewer interfaces the better, even using a 'threaded adapter' still needs a press-in component somewhere, which may creak.
for Campag users I would highly recommend a solution that uses their own metal cups to press into the frame, as this keeps bearings in the same position as intended. No extra sleeves/ adaptors etc to creak. YMMV however.
To this end, I think US firm BBinfinite have a nifty solution. The entire bottom bracket comes as a single solid metal unit you just press into the frame BB shell - not in two halves, as most others. Certainly intriguing, IMO, and worth taking a look into.
https://www.bikerumor.com/2015/03/04/review-bbinfinites-amazingly-smooth...
Agree 100% with this - Campy UT chainsets have always had the bearings pressed onto the chainsets, so PF BBs haven't been a major issue. Had no issues with mine on alloy/ti bikes.
Hope so....getting irritated from the squeeking of BBs on sportives lately. Did one in Norfolk last week that sounded like a swarm of crickets creeking its way around the county. Must be far worse riding one of the damn things!
If you have problems with your press fit BB, as I did with my BBRight/Ultra Torque setup, I can't recommend Wishbone bottom brackets highly enough. They seem to have a version for every combination of BB and chainset standard out there. I'd have got rid of my R5 if not for these.
From the sharp end....in the workshop... I must say, I prefer screw in Bottom Brackets.... Press Fit are okay in principal but really they were only designed for the "weight weenies" for lightness but with the trade off with creaks etc..... However... I have never had issues in swapping out press fits of all the standards for customers... but really the screw in BB's are way better, the ultegra ones are pretty robust units.... I predict a steady drift back to threaded types in the next few years....
I've three bikes with pressfit BB. 2 now have Hope PF46 conversions. The other uses Sram adaptor cups, with threaded shimano bearings. So, pressfit is not reliable bottom bracket idea.
My only experience of PF30 has been on the Boardman CX that I use for commuting.
Feckin' nightmare. Must have spent £150 on various attempts to stop it creaking until a cheapo PF30/BSA adapter and a Tiagra Hollowtech chainset finally solved the issue.
Wouldn't touch press fit again. Even better if it ceases to be an option in mid range offerings.
To be fair to the format though, the machining on the Boardman frame was clearly done to a price, so as suggested above it may well be absolutely fine for high-end frames where exacting tolerances are employed.
I've had no major issues with BB30, although bearing life doesn't seem that great. I'm now also on PF30a which is okay so far but if it develops a problem other than the bearings wearing out then I'll be moving to a thread together cup solution like a Wheels Manufacturing. This basically makes PF30 more like BB30 as far as I can see.
I do have an issue with the sealing of BB30/PF30 though, it's entirely reliant on the bearing seals which I believe results in premature bearing wear. Once you've got the hang of changing the bearings this is just a running cost issue though, not a source of psychological trauma.
I haven't seen the Colnago solution although from the comments above it sounds great. Like others I don't see why you wouldn't cut a thread in a metal frame BB, compared to the rest of the work in making a metal frame it seems a fairly trivial thing to do.
Got my first road bike a couple years ago - a CAAD8. Developed a 'click' within the first 1,000 miles (started hearing it 30 miles into my first century ride). Wasn't always constant, but just a single click whenever the left crank was at about 10 o'clock. Read some forums/watched some videos, and after a good cleaning/regreasing of the bearings and shell, the clicking stopped... temporarily.
After another ~1,000ish miles or so it came back. Then I replaced the bearings and cleaned and greased everything again. Seemed good good for quite a while this time (granted, by this point the weather had turned nicer - not as much wet riding). It did eventually come back (maybe ~2000 miles since the last regreasing), but I just dealt with it for a while as I didn't have much time to fiddle with it.
But then the teeth on the stock FSA cranks started looking fairly worn. Was able to get a really good deal on some Ultegra cranks, so tried the plastic adapter things to get them to work with the BB30. Bad idea. Made it about 100 miles before not only the 'click' returned, but now some creaking/cracking sounds. Tried cleaning/regreasing/tightening/loosening/adding spacers... sounds never went away. Went ahead and got an actual metal, screw-together adapter: https://fairwheelbikes.com/kcnc-bb30-adapter-bottom-brackets
Made it through some really wet rides this spring, and no creaking at all. But then I decided to finally give my bike a really good, thorough cleaning... :-(. Back to its creaking ways. May need to try going back to a 30mm crankset to see if that helps, but don't have the money at the moment and also afraid that it won't help anyways.
tl;dr version --> my next bike will NOT have BB30/BB30A! But at least I'm not afraid of working on bottom brackets anymore
I had that exact same thing. Drove me nuts for months. Turned out my rear QR was slightly off line. BB click disappeared, because it was never really there.
There's good words for Colnago above, but my cousin's creaked like hell until he did the Praxis (or similar) thing. And Sigma didn't do anything about it.
It was really annoying to cycle with him - the noise was painfully loud.
I've been riding BB30/BB30a and PF30/PF30a Cannondale frames for years without the slightest issue. Honestly, I don't understand what the fuss is all about.
I've been riding a Cannondale PF30 for a year and it's driven me to strip the group off the frame and fit it to a threaded bb frame. Creak, clunk, knock bang. I've lost a year of enjoying my rides because of this POS system.
"Creak, clunk, knock bang" - c'mon, that's definitely exaggerated.
In any case, Cannondale frames have lifetime warranty, so if it's really that bad, you can ask for a replacement.
Hilarious. My first proper road bike was a Caad8 and it pretty much creaked out of the shop door, and Cannondale wouldnt do a thing warranty wise.
Hilarious indeed. Apparently I am the only customer who got Cannondale frames that don't creak.
The bb on my cannondale doesn't creak. The bike creaks, but its because of the cable routing around the head tube. I changed the bb before I worked it out. I suspect a lot of folk are blaming bb30 for other creaks too.
In a metal frame bb30 shouldn't be hard to get right because the bb shell can be reamed at the end of manufacturing and the correct interference on the fit can be gained. To add threads for a threaded solution you'd require similar starting tolerance before tapping anyway.
The best BBs are of course the SKF cartridge type which last many tens of thousands of km due to proper sealing.
Yes, SKF bearings are top quality at very reasonable prices, incomparably better (and most times cheaper) than those marketed as bicycle bearings.
The low-end CAAD8 with Sora has a threaded BB - have you asked about swapping your frame for one of those? When I bought the Mrs her first road bike, I deliberately went for the low end one for this very reason, then binned off the Sora groupset for new Tiagra.
I had three Cannondales, two frames done under warranty.
Click. Crack. Creak. Click. Crack. Knock. No.
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