Updated and revised December 17, 2021
ATTENTION: We discontinued pneumatic extraction a few years ago. The videos are still floating around, leading people to believe that an air hammer is necessary for module extraction, which it is not. An air hammer can still be utilized if you like, it's just not required. Swinging a good old ball peen hammer does the trick just fine nowadays, so don't fret if you don't have an air compressor. And now, on to the blog....
To extract, or not to extract, and the answer is generally not to extract, but let's cut to the chase: These are the top reasons module removal is necessary:
If it's not 1-4 you probably don't need to extract the module.
Here's a common scenario we see often:
People hear a creak, assume it's the BBi module, and then jump immediately to "I should remove the module" as part of a diagnostic process, kind of like removing a kidney for inspection rather than thoroughly testing for and treating the infection with antibiotics. Let me save you time and effort: Exploratory surgery is never the answer to a creaking problem. If your bike is creaking start the diagnosis here.
If you need to change out a bad bearing, or the bearings need service, it's a snap seeing that both procedures are carried out with the module in the bike.
If it turns out you must remove the BBInfinite module, here are the bike bottom bracket tools you need:
The MTS-1 can be purchased or rented here.
People often ask if it's possible to remove a BBInfinite module without using the MTS-1, and the answer is maybe. Savvy techs and home mechanics have successfully removed modules with items purchase from the hardware store. We don't think this is worth messing around with when the correct tool is readily available for purchase or rental.
The bottom line is that we've all grown so accustomed to the throw-away, one-time-use, and often short-term-use pressfit bottom bracket that it's hard to think of a product that serves the same purpose being there, quietly dishing out superb performance year after year. But that is exactly what a BBInfinite bottom bracket module does: The same job; only better, faster, and longer.
Comments will be approved before showing up.
Years ago we saw the proliferation of 30mm spindle cranks and the widespread adoption of BB86 and BB92 brew into a perfect storm of hapless customers afflicted with epic levels of creaking from bottom brackets that lasted about a minute. The problem stemmed...
There are other companies out there rushing coated bearings to the market with no mention of what the coating is, be it Teflon, graphite, molybdenum disulfide, or simple nitride. Perhaps you should think twice before buying a bearing set that has a mystery coating applied.