No, It Is Not Bottom Bracket Time!

PF-30 is NOT BB 86. (sigh!)

So, last week I mentioned I had this Enduro Bearings PF-30/Shimano compatible bottom bracket in to hopefully solve my noise problem with the older Wheels Manufacturing bottom bracket. The thing is, I ordered the wrong bottom bracket, and well...... There was actually something else going on.

I'll get to the noise issue later, but first off, I don't know why I did not realize I had a BB-86 bottom bracket in the Noble GX5. I remember I ordered the Wheels Manufacturing one in the bike now way back when I was still working for Europa Cycle and Ski, and after I received the Noble GX5, obviously. I believe the Noble came along in 2018, so this would place the Wheels Manufacturing bottom bracket in the six year old range. It wasn't out of the question that my noises were related to the bottom bracket then. I had diagnosed the bike with it in the stand, and I probably should have taken the chain off, but I did not. It just was really rough feeling when I spun the crank set, and it seemed obvious.

Then the bottom bracket came in, again, exactly what I ordered, just to be clear, and I went to work. Once I went to install the new one I realized what was going on, so I had no immediate option but to go back and re-install the old Wheels Manufacturing one. Now, in between the tear down and the re-installation, I checked the bearings in the old bottom bracket, and while there was not a glassy smoothness, it was not rough. But, where was all the noise and roughness coming from before then?

Not a peep or sense of roughness was felt on Monday\s ride.

Well, I also had removed the wheels from the Noble and replaced them with my older set of Irwin Cycling carbon Aon wheels. I did this to mount the Continental Terra Adventure tires on a slightly wider inner rim width than the WTB wheels have.

Interestingly, those WTB wheels would never run quietly in the Noble GX5 frame until I tried them again this year. They used to squeak a lot back when I had tried them a couple of other times in the past. However; now the noise of squeaking has been replaced by a noise more akin to what a bad bearing sounds like, apparently, because with the Irwin wheels the bike is dead quiet. And even more maddening, these WTB wheels are perfect in my other bikes.

I had gotten away with the WTB wheels being quiet for a while, but I am thinking this was the issue, because I hear no noises anymore. By the way, I think those WTB wheels just do not fit the Noble frame quite right. The through axle interface must not be quite right. Perhaps a different through axle would be a fix? 

Now - I had cleaned and re-greased the interfaces with this latest bottom bracket removal and installation also, so if it was the old bottom bracket which was noisy, I would have taken care of it with the cleaning and re-greasing. But I cannot say for certain now. 

The drive train is quiet now. The noises are gone, so what about this new PF-30 bottom bracket? Well, it would fit my Standard Rando v2 just fine. So, one day IF I wear out the Enduro Bearings bottom bracket in that bike I'll now have a ready-made spare. And I will have to order a BB-86 next time for the Noble. 

Maybe I'd better write this down somewhere, eh?