Campagnolo UT update

Just wanted to quickly say that I am well on the way to a fix for the Campy UT "non-issue". All of you who have contacted me regarding this, hang tight, I should have something to share posted here soon. Thanks for your patience. -John

Comments

[dazza]

I have been watching this space to see the outcome as my record UT NDS bearing went after <2k miles. I had not used it over the winter and found the crank almost seized a few weeks back. not sure what had seized as a ride around the block loosened it up, but I have ordered a new set of ceramic bearings....but i supose these will fail too......

[Fred Gilbert]

I finally have this solved. In my last ditch attempt to fix this I red strength loctited the the bearings into the cups. But the noise still persisted. I ordered new cups. The new cups were different in that they have a military green looking anodized surface. When I disassembled the old cups I noticed some interesting things. There was clear signs that the bearings had been pounding around in that an actual ridge was noticeable. The other more telling sign was that the loctite was quite thick and thin indicating that the cups where not round. Hmm.......
This frame (Look585) had never been chased and faced. I noticed that quite a bit of metal was removed when I did finally do this. So, my conclusion is that the frame may have been out of round and distorted the cups too. The bike is now a month into its new cups and all is quiet on the Ultra Torque front!

[Fred Gilbert]

I've been tearing my hair out with this issue also. I used to be an automotive mechanic. I recall an interesting technique that might be helpful here. Mitsubishi used to spec the shim's for bearings this way. Insert the assembly with small pieces of solder held in place with grease and tighten assembly together. Then disassemble and measure solder. This will be the required shim thickness. It seems to me that to much emphasis is being placed on the wave washer to do what it supposed to be doing. I think the wave washer might have a place to allow for variations from heat, but not more than that.
I'll be avidly watching to see where you think the fix will be. Thanks for sharing.
PS I also had a 50T chainring start peeling plating away almost imediately after installation. Campy told me it was cosmetic, not covered. I asked them if my blood all (it's how I discovered the problem, sliced through the paper towel I was using to clean with )over the chain ring was also part of the cosmetic issue!

[Pete]

John, any updates worthy of printing since this post 5 weeks ago?

I recently bought myself a GXP ceramic setup for one of my bikes, where the non-drive bearing is secured on the spindle itself by tightening the left arm. Thus the right side shell width and bearing location is of no issue on the setup. I feel for Campy mavens.

[SMB tech geeks]

Why not visit www.smbbearings.com/BB_BRGS.htm for a great article about replacing your bike's bottom bracket bearings, the photos are a real help too.
To help you get a better understanding of bearings & their performance, check out www.smbbearings.com/SMBtechdata.htm for loads of technical information & help on bearings