Shimano Hollowtech Bottom Bracket

I bought the Cayo knowing the Bottom Bracket was probably needing replaced so the first job is to remove the cranks and bottom bracket.  On this Cayo it’s a Shimano 105 Hollowtech II bottom bracket with English thread.  Tools required are the Parks BBT-9 bottom bracket tool, 5mm Allen key, some Telon Bike Grease and in my case a hammer!

 

The order for removal is, loosen the 2 Allen bolts at the top of the left hand crank, remove the black cap using one end of the the BBT-9 tool, remove the left crank then remove the drive side crank.  Very simple with the correct tool.

Removing the bottom bracket is also simple with the correct tool, in the correct order and turning in the correct direction!  Using the other end of the bbt-9 tool, remove the left hand side cup first, loosening in the traditional left direction.  The right/drive side cup can then be removed by turning in the non-traditional right direction!  Both cups should be marked with the words tighten and an arrow to double check what you are doing.

In my case I also need to tap the end of the bbt-9 tool with a hamer to loosen the bottom bracket.  Not sure if it was put on with loctite or just not greased enough but it was very, very tight.

I then put the bottom bracket from my Variado onto the Cayo with plenty of grease and replaced the cranks to make sure the issue was the bottom bracket.  Everything run really smoothly…  So just to make sure, I removed the bottom bracket again, replaced the original bottom bracket, greased it and relaced the original cranks.  Again, everything run really smoothly… 

It turns out the grinding and clicking noise is coming from the rear wheel and not the bottom bracket!  I’m told the rear wheel bearings were replaced a couple of months ago but the next job is to strip the rear wheel, check the bearings and take it from there…

Winter Project

I picked up a second hand Focus Cayo 105 Triple 2007 Full Carbon bike today.

It’s a bit worse for wear but the plan is to completely strip it down over the winter, get a new bottom bracket, probably replace the Shimano 105 groupset with the 105 from my Focus Variado 2008, and replace the seatpost, saddle, stem, bars and bars tape…(possibly a few other parts too – i’ve already contacted Focus Bikes for some new decals – fingers crossed!)

I should have a pretty decent full carbon bike for next spring at a fraction of the cost…

This is my first venture into complete bike maitenance and i’ve already learned a lot so i’m going to blog about it along the way.