How Often Do You Guys Remove and Re-Seat your BB?

so far only when Ive changed frames but I dont ride in wet conditions much
actually, when I change rings too so once a year I take the crank apart, clean and lube the shaft and put it back together. thats it
New Hampshire weather, ride all winter shimano xt

What kind of prep are you doing to the cups. At minimum you should grease the threads on the cups. I've found anti-sieze to last longer and some swear by teflon tape. You also need to grease the spindle (except square taper) and bolt threads (or blue loctite on bolt threads).

hmmmmm, grease the spindle you say? I wonder if I've ever done that? The next time I fix it, which will be this week I'm sure (as soon as I get my brakes working again), I'll be sure to be meticulous about the prep, and will also be sure to grease all the metal-metal parts.

I feel like such a tool on a $5k bike, that sounds like a rusted out huffy.

Static metal on metal parts should use anti-sieze (or loc-tite) not grease. It would help to know what exact interface is making the noise, but my guess in general is not correct metal isolation combined with incorrect torque. Could be pedals, shoe cleat, chainring bolts, bb cups, spindle interface, seat, seat clamp, shock bushings, any frame pivot, cable stops moving against frame...

BB faced? Threads chased?

As for seating BB cups in the frame....few years at the least. The road BB is 6 Y.O. and has not been touched since I put it in. DH bike has two full seasons, Am bike has 3 full seasons. No noises, nothing touched except for a guide swap.

Well, it's a titanium frame.......perhaps the aluminum bb to titanium housing is problematic. I'll pull it completely apart, chase the treads, use some teflon, lube everything, and use the torque wrench.

I've never used anything else except for grease when installing BB's. But anti-seize is a good product to use also.

I think with Titanium, you need to use anti-seize. Well at least that is what is recommended.

Make sure that the BB shell is faced properly along with the threads being clean and free of all debris/material.

Historically, i've had the same luck as you- 10-30 rides. Last time i had that stuff apart i faced the bb shell, installed some enduro bearings, was super fussy cleaning everything out, and did paint-by-numbers locktite. I don't know what was responsible, but it's doing pretty good now and it's been a few months.

I never had issues with creaks once I ditched the external BB system and went bakc to internal BB's. External sucks at how much noise it makes after so few rides. Another stupid bike invention forced down our throats for no real reason but to sell products.

I'll add to my previous post about noises. I've been using the external BB for 2 years now on my full suspension. I get zero noise from the BB. I did have the BB faced and the threads chased. Applied a good amount of Park Tool Polylube 1000 to the BB threads and face surface and torqued the BB to the proper specification.

All the noises I get are from the suspension pivots due to dirt/mud intrusion. Once the bike is cleaned, no noises at all.

This is one of the reasons I upgraded to two piece cranks.

Wildeyes said:

I never had issues with creaks once I ditched the external BB system and went bakc to internal BB's. External sucks at how much noise it makes after so few rides. Another stupid bike invention forced down our throats for no real reason but to sell products.

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I have one set of Saint M819, two sets of XT, and one set of Dura Ace, and a XTR. All of them are quiet as a cat. I wonder why your is so loud. Have you tried to grease your bearings?

I personally find the external BBs are much stiffer than a ISIS (Race Face Turbine LP in my case) setup.

maximilan said:

Well, it's a titanium frame.......perhaps the aluminum bb to titanium housing is problematic. I'll pull it completely apart, chase the treads, use some teflon, lube everything, and use the torque wrench.

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Absolutely use Anti-Sieze on the cup threads on Ti frames

I faced and chased my BB and then used teflon tape around the threads on the cups. Never had a problem.