irongatsby wrote:...
@adry85- uh.....that looks like the drive side? Even if he thought it was English threaded, don't you turn counter-clockwise to loosen it?
English threaded bottom brackets are left hand threads on the drive side. You loosen them by turning them clockwise. It would appear the mechanic assumed it was English threaded and was turning it clockwise. But it was Italian threaded (as any C40 would be), and by turning clockwise he was fighting a losing battle. Make sure your mechanic knows the difference, especially if he's young and in a shop where they rarely see older Italian steeds. Italian threaded bottom brackets are just dumb anyway, never understood why they were done that way... as much as I love all things Italian... the Italian threads are just silly. Colnago switched from Italian threaded BB's to English in 2008.
edit: Actually, I'll just add that the "English" figured out that the way bearings roll within the cups, the bb's would tend to loosen if threaded in the "normal" (clockwise) direction for tightening things (try riding an older Italian threaded bottom bracket that's slightly loose and see how long it takes before it unscrews itself). Anyway, It seems backwards, but the English realized these forces would be negated by using the left hand thread on the drive side. I used to think the Japanese figured it out first, because all Shimano was threaded that way
. And the Italians, reluctant to change anything just because those damn Englishmen did it, continued on for years and years with an inferior method. Then, just when we all seemed to be finally in agreement with threading in bottom brackets all the same way... frame manufacturers decided to just press the damn things in and let whoever wanted to make bottom brackets figure out how they wanted to do it. And voila... here we are with a zillion different standards that press into frames and creak all the time. Gotta love it.
