By Paul Smith
Seeing as it is ‪#‎fixitproperlyfriday‬ (*)
Here’s how I’ve been doing threaded bottom brackets for years. I do it this way because we have clean bare aluminium alloy threads in the frame, and normally anodised threads on the bottom bracket cups. Essentially that mix should be a no go. But ho-hum, we have to deal with what bike companies give us, eh?
1. The basics are still the same as always. Clean and good condition threads in the frame and bottom bracket cups
2. Apply your grease of choice (**) to the frame threads. But ONLY to the inner 3/4 of the threads. You want to leave at least four full turns of thread clean and dry
3. Apply threadlocking liquid or paste to the last four threads of the bottom bracket cups (make sure to fit any spacers used before you do this step)
4. Screw ’em in as normal, torque or tighten to ‘two grunts and a groan’. Fit your cranks, don’t ride the bike until the required cure time for your threadlock has expired.
5. Bask in the glory of having a bottom bracket that won’t come loose, and can be removed easily in ten years time (or a week, depending upon the quality of bearings in yours and how parallel they are)
(*) If that’s not a thing, then it is now, and I invented it ‪#‎hashtagglory‬
(**) I use Redline assembly lube. It is like a moly grease, but thinner and with better sealing properties
