I spent years defending Italian BBs..

[veggieburger]

Ridden a lot of old vintage steel. When people griped about Italian BB threading, my reply was something along the lines of - i have ridden on Campy It BBs for decades, never had one come unscrewed.

Until yesterday.

Couldn't figure out why I was unable to shift to the large chain ring. Then it felt like I was dragging a brake pad. Finally I pulled over. What the heck?! Was almost a full inch out, and the non-drive arm is now gouged.

Do you put any blue (?) locktite on your Italian threaded BB?

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by veggieburger

Ridden a lot of old vintage steel. When people griped about Italian BB threading, my reply was something along the lines of - i have ridden on Campy It BBs for decades, never had one come unscrewed.

Until yesterday.

Couldn't figure out why I was unable to shift to the large chain ring. Then it felt like I was dragging a brake pad. Finally I pulled over. What the heck?! Was almost a full inch out, and the non-drive arm is now gouged.

Do you put any blue (?) locktite on your Italian threaded BB?

No loctite, just grease or antisieze and make it tight! The tight part is the key. Clean it up, grease it and make it tight and it will take 20 years to come loose again.

[tuscanyswe]

My problem is they are a b***t to take out

[Spaghetti Legs]

About a year ago I had one unwind on me; first time in a long long time. This was an older Athena BB which has an adjustable cup on either end, so I think that might have been an issue with extra tight not being tight enough. I put it back on with blue loctite. Did the same with a Phil Wood and it’s double adjustable cups. Otherwise it’s just put them on real tight.

I will continue to wave the Italian thread flag! As I get older it’s one less thing to have to take up brain space.

[jtbadge]

Try teflon plumber's tape on the threads to keep things tight.

[mtechnica]

Use blue loctite for sure, if anything it will make it easier to remove in the future because it will act as anti seize and prevent corrosion between the threads.

[fmradio516]

Non-drive side crank was gouged? Was it the non-drive side cup that unscrewed? Usually its the drive side.

And I have always had italian BBs(not by choice). I usually start with blue loctite, then if that unscrews, then I used blue loctite + plumbers tape.

[veggieburger]

Originally Posted by fmradio516

Non-drive side crank was gouged? Was it the non-drive side cup that unscrewed? Usually its the drive side.

Drive side unscrewed, basically "pulling" the non-drive side crank into the BB shell. Awesome.

[fmradio516]

ah ha! that sucks

[bicycletricycle]

I have spent years defending fruit but last year I got a bad fruit cup and I vomited. What should I do?

[Pegoready]

I use plumbers tape on my Italian BB's.

Tightening super hard is not ideal for me-- the risk of removing it later, slipping tools, damaging the cups is too great.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

I have spent years defending fruit but last year I got a bad fruit cup and I vomited. What should I do?

Mix blue loctite into your fruit cup, and if you still throw up add plumber's tape.

[elliott]

Theres a reason Campy uses so much of that yellow locktite on their cups.

[bicycletricycle]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

Mix blue loctite into your fruit cup, and if you still throw up add plumber's tape.

I thin that just might work, maybe more torque on each bite?

[KJMUNC]

had the same prob a couple of years ago and also realized the crank arm hole got widened in the same incident so I could never get it "tight enough".

For the Italian BB I just put in a different Merckx frame I slathered on the blue loctite and cranked that sucker down to full ft-lb spec. Not sure it's ever coming off!