Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

Octolink Bottom Bracket Question

593 views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  mtnbiker72 
#1 ·
Ran into an issue with my Octolink Bottom Bracket on Friday.

I just replaced the bottom bracket of a Shimano Deore XT crank that's about 5 yrs old. The crank was pedaling fine, but I went on a kinda long ride Friday, and it started to make a clicking noise as I pedaled.

I've read of some other instances of people using XT saying they've encountered this as well, but I never imagined that was a real problem until it happened to me. Go figure.

So here's my questions:

1) Is there a way to deduce if it's my bottom bracket, cranks, chain, derailleur or whatever causing my clicking problem?

2) If this is a problem with my bottom bracket, is this easy to fix?

3) If I have to replace my bottom bracket, is there any substitute Octolink bottom brackets to buy that are better than Shimano's, or is this a proprietary situation where Shimano is the only manufacturer?

Thanks in advance.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Usual creak diagnostics

Try to isolate each part. I had a nasty creak, and could have sworn it was the main BB suspenion pivot. Turns out to be my seatpost needed grease in the frame. Problem solved.

Creaks can also be:

Pedals
Seatpost
Saddle Rails
Headset
Headset spacers (had that one too)
BB bearings
BB in BB shell
Crank Arm/BB interface
Chainrings
Pedal bearings
Pedals in crank arms
Rear QR
Crank/Spider interface

I heard that some of the older Octalink XT cranks could develop a creak between the crank arm and the spider, that is pressed on with a zillion ton industrial press. No fix for that if that happens. You can maybe try dribbling some kind of light oil in there to see it it soaks in, but that is a longshot.

I always installed my Octalink XT cranks with grease on the splines, red loctite on the crank arm bolts to keep them tight, and teflon tape around the BB threads. I used to have problems with them coming loose and creaking. Once I did all that, they never creaked. Those cranks are on my singlespeed, now.
 
#3 ·
A better bottom bracket than a Shimano?

Dude...its five years old...how much better are you thinking?

Try getting an ISIS or a External Bearing BB to last that long...anyway, only Shimano makes Octalink bottom brackets. And five years is fantastic reliability if in fact it is the BB...which is unlikely from your description. As mentioned above, it can be many things, so try and isolate it.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top