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Truvative Stylo GPX Bottom Bracket

3818 Views 14 Replies 7 Participants Last post by jonathansmith68, Jan 31, 2012

BRYONB

Discussion Starter · Jun 25, 2009

I've had my Heckler for 6 months now and have taken it to the bike shop because the bottom bracket got loose. Month later it's clicking in one spot. There's a little play in one area of the crank. Has anyone had problems with these bottom brackets? Is there and upgrade I can use? Its still under warranty but I'm willing to pay a little extra to solve this problem. Any advice?

Thanks

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TNC

· #2 · Jun 26, 2009

No, it's not unusual for those BB's to have trouble. Personally I haven't had an issue with my Team Stylo crankset with one of these BB's for some reason, but I've seen a more than normal failure rate come through the shop...and saw more than normal reports of failure on these forums. When compared to similar Shimano BB bearing cups, the Truvative units at this level are weaker for some reason. And unfortunately the Shimano cups don't interchange equally with the Truvative units.

Cycledelic

· #3 · Jun 26, 2009 (Edited)

It's so funny you post this now, I'm having similar problems myself. I've only got about 400 miles on mine, and it's started giving me a really annoying creaking noise. I looked through the reviews section here, and there are a couple of posts that suggest reinstalling, but tapping the cups in with a soft mallet before torquing - that the 35N-m (363in-lb) on the bolt isn't enough to seat itself, which can lead to creaking and eventual loosening. I'm going to try tomorrow, anyway. Hope this thread generates some more comments or ideas.

augustiner

· #4 · Jun 26, 2009

I just put in a new GXP bb, my old one was creaking and taking it apart l noticed some damage, so i replaced it...put the cranks back on, and theres still creaking...i guess ill make sure the cranks are properly lubed and tourqed, but the creaking is annoying

honourablegeorge

· #5 · Jun 26, 2009

TNC said:
And unfortunately the Shimano cups don't interchange equally with the Truvative units.

Hope make a converter to allow their hollowtech BBs to be used with GXP cranks - I don't know if they'yy work with Shimano BBS, but you could make the move to Hope.

TNC

· #6 · Jun 26, 2009

augustiner said:
I just put in a new GXP bb, my old one was creaking and taking it apart l noticed some damage, so i replaced it...put the cranks back on, and theres still creaking...i guess ill make sure the cranks are properly lubed and tourqed, but the creaking is annoying

Use antiseize for the frame and BB cup threads...better than grease or teflon tape. I haven't had any issue with the GXP that's been in my Nomad for awhile and now in my SJ FSR. They're not horrible BB's, but it's apparent they're not as durable as some others.

Cycledelic

· #7 · Jun 26, 2009

Just to add a little more information, here are some quick fixit suggestions excerpted from the GXP review.

Truvativ GXP Review said:
If you install the cranks and torque them to spec (35-40 lbs), you will likely NOT seat the spindle in the drive side bearing. Because of the floating (sort of) non-drive side bearing, if you just torque things to spec, you will have creaking and wobble in your crank, your crank bolt won't stay tight, your hair will fall out, your dog will run away, etc....

So how to avoid this heartbreak? Grease up the spindle and drive-side bearing. Get a soft-faced mallet (or wrap a towel around your hammer, like I did). Tap (whack?) the drive side of the spindle at the center of the chain rings a couple times to fully seat the spindle in the bearing. Then torque everything down to spec. Voila! No wobble!

Prior to doing this, my cranks wobbled a bit if you grabbed the crank arms. After I did this the wobble was GONE.

I can easily see how not doing this could result in creaking, loosening, and premature bottom bracket wear if the spindle is not fully seated in the bearing.

Truvativ GXP Review said:
When I got home I pulled the BB apart to try and figure what the problem was but everything looked fine. I searched for the BB instructions on Sram's site but couldn't find them. So Monday I called the dealer, explained the issues and was told to clean the bolt threads that hold the cranks on, use blue loctite and torque it down to the suggested rating. Since the cranks got tight that they wouldn't turn when I tried tightening them with just an allen on the trail, I tried torquing it without the loctite. Specs were 35-40 ft lbs and the cranks got tight at 10.

To make a long story short I called Truvativ tech line, from our discussion the tech thought the issue was due to both spacers for the BB cups being installed on one side instead of one on each side. I also had the tech direct me to the online manual. When I spoke to the tech guy he was pretty pissed about "all of the dealers" telling people to just use blue loctite on it.

Once I got the manual I figured out the problem was due to the BB being installed WITH the spacers. The BB kit comes with two spacers, depending on your frame width you either use no spacers or two spacers. The frame width of the Nomad should not have any spacers installed. Hence the reason the cranks got tight and didn't want to turn when I tighten the crank bolt.

I bought the BB cup socket, removed the two spacers from the drive side (both spacers should NEVER be installed on the same side BTW) and torqued the cranks down to 38 ft/lbs. with NO loctite. I have ridden several more times in ice, snow, mud and rain and the BB has been working perfectly.

Whith what the Truvati tech guy said about the dealers telling people to use blue loctite and reading the issues everyone has had with bearings it just makes me wonder how many of these BB's are installed wrong cuasing the bearings to fail. When the wrong combination of spacers are installed the crank bolt puts extra side load on the bearing which would cause them to wear out very quickly..

Cycledelic

· #8 · Jun 26, 2009

Also, here's a link to the Enduro GXP complete BB ceramic upgrade.

If my lame skillz can't fix this, I may just upgrade to this one - seems like there's good results from it.

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BRYONB

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 27, 2009

Taking the Heckler into the LBS tomorrow while its still under warranty. See what they have to say. Thanks for the great info:thumbsup:

BRYONB

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 29, 2009

Got the bike back from the shop. They tore the crank apart and the cups needed to be snugged down a bit. Lubed it up and it seems to be running smooth with no clicking. Well see how long it last? I have a two year warranty from Truvative. I keep you posted if things change.

Cycledelic

· #11 · Jul 2, 2009

I've got an update too.

My pal at the shop told me the bearings are shot. I felt them myself, and they were very gritty to spin. It's disappointing, especially with so few miles on this. I don't wash the bike with a hose or anything, so I've got to chalk this up to equipment failure.

The other lame news is that my BB shell was whittled down to 71mm - somehow, whether it was over-faced or whether the cups were pressed in too tight from SC, I lost 2mm of frame. I didn't realize that's possible. My replacement will have to run 1 spacer to compensate for the loss.

The Enduro ceramic BB are all sold out

Wonder how long it's going to take to get them in. I do not want to run into this again, but I'm done with Truvativ BBs.

TNC

· #12 · Jul 2, 2009

This sounds strange...

Cycledelic said:
I've got an update too.

My pal at the shop told me the bearings are shot. I felt them myself, and they were very gritty to spin. It's disappointing, especially with so few miles on this. I don't wash the bike with a hose or anything, so I've got to chalk this up to equipment failure.

The other lame news is that my BB shell was whittled down to 71mm - somehow, whether it was over-faced or whether the cups were pressed in too tight from SC, I lost 2mm of frame. I didn't realize that's possible. My replacement will have to run 1 spacer to compensate for the loss.

The Enduro ceramic BB are all sold out Wonder how long it's going to take to get them in. I do not want to run into this again, but I'm done with Truvativ BBs.

For a shop to face off 2mm of BB shell material with a facing tool would just about have to be intentional...and criminal. And SC wouldn't press in any cups. BB cups in your frame fit into threaded interfaces. Those threads are turned right into the frame's BB shell. Who gave you this "news"? I have no idea about your shop or its integrity, but Cycledelic, it almost sounds like someone is yanking your chain.

69ERCAT

· #13 · Jul 2, 2009

I have tried them all.......and if you want the most trouble free crank-bb set up just stick with shimano

Cycledelic

· #14 · Jul 2, 2009

TNC said:
And SC wouldn't press in any cups. BB cups in your frame fit into threaded interfaces. Those threads are turned right into the frame's BB shell. Who gave you this "news"? I have no idea about your shop or its integrity, but Cycledelic, it almost sounds like someone is yanking your chain.

Hey man, you might be right... partially it's me not being able to describe things well enough! My guy said that if the cranks were tightened too much, it could cause this problem... I shouldn't have said "press in the cups". But I donno anymore. I just wanna ride :cryin:

jonathansmith68

· #15 · Jan 31, 2012

First off, I apologize for bringing back an old thread.

I too was having the dread wobble issue with my just over 1-year old GXP stock BB. I read the tips that Cycledelic posted with no luck. Looks to be that since my drive-side cup seal (little bit of a plastic spacer in between the O.D. of the spindle and the I.D. of the drive-side bearing) refuses to stay in place, that it will forever wobble. I bought and installed a new GXP Team BB through work and since the seals are (for the time being) staying in place, there's absolutely no wobble and life is good. I strongly believe that there's still some life in my original, stock BB if the stupid seal will stay in place. Has anyone attempted to use some sort of adhesive or something to keep that seal (drive-side) in place? Maybe a spacer or something that'd keep the seal butted up against the drive-side bearing?

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