Facing a bb with chrome

[130R]

i've been debating putting UT cranks on my bianchi.

as it stands now, it has a shimano square taper bb with 7410 cranks.

i realize that facing a bb for UT cups is a crucial step in the installation.

would facing the bb in essence shave some of the chrome off in the bb area?

I'm worried about rust developing there since the chrome plating has protected the steel underneath.

thanks in advance!

[David Kirk]

Are you sure there is chrome on the faces themselves? Most of the time a company will take it off.

If there is chrome there there is a good chance you will have a hard time facing it off with the tool - or at least you will dull the tool running it on chrome. That chrome stuff is wicked hard.

Dave

[TAW]

A facing tool does generally shave off any uneven areas of the bottom bracket shell, which might include excess paint and chrome.

[bicycletricycle]

the grease used during install should protect the steel well in this area so i wouldn't worry about it. If it has never been faced, i would carefully file off the chrome before facing it, however, if you are just taking it to a shop then you don't have to worry about wear, just let them face it however they like.

make sure they dont take too much off, that wavy washer can only take up so much.

[Brian Smith]

I'd suggest simply trying the installation and seeing if you detect some rotational bearing resistance. If not, why do a hand-tool machining operation which might actually make things worse? Imho, if a manufacturer plates some grossly non-parallel bottom bracket faces, then they think you deserve bottom bracket bearing friction.

[130R]

that makes sense but this frame was made 12 years before UT

[bicycletricycle]

italian manufacturers never seemed to be all that interested in reaming seat tubes, facing or chasing bottom brackets, cleaning the paint out of dropouts or milling head tubes.