Profile Crank Installation



Hubs-Wheelbuilding	Hubs-Axles	Crank Installation	Spline Drive Spider

Installing Profile cranks on your Track bike isn't much different from installing them on any bike. Profile's cranks use the same arms as our BMX and MTB cranks, so they are going to have a wider Q-factor (the distance from one pedal to the other, were they mounted parallel to each other) than pretty much every Track crankset out there. They're probably not the best choice for racing at the velodrome for this reason. However, they are an excellent choice for Fixed Freestyle and Bike Polo, because of their strength and durability.

Profile Racing has two styles of Bottom Brackets that will work with most track framesets. The design of the Profile Race Crankset allows you to set up your cranks with as many or as few spacers as you desire. The only critical part of the installation is the tube spacer between the bearings. It must contact both bearings evenly. If it does not, then you might as well not run a tube spacer at all, and the BB will bind everytime you tighten the crank bolts down. If the bearings push out a few millimeters when you tighten the cups, there's no problem- this is good, it means that the tube spacer is doing it's job, and the bearings should roll smoothly no matter how tight the crank bolts are.

On both Profile BB styles, the right (drive) side cup has a line on it, while the left (non-drive) side cup does not. Use the Part BBT-9 tool for both styles to tighten the cups. The Internal Bearing BB works best with the flat Spline Drive Spiders and traditional BMX chainrings, and the 5.25" BB spindle. The Outboard Bearing BB works best with the matching curved Spline Drive spider and the 5.625" BB spindle. The Internal Bearing allows for the narrowest Q-Factor with the widest array of chain-ring options. The Outboard Bearing is burlier.

Before you install the cups you should prepare the frame- If you want to do it by the book, there's several resources on the net who can tell you all the steps to take, but if you're in a hurry, just clean out the threads, make sure that there isn't any globs of paint on the face of the BB, and then apply a thin coat of grease to the frame threads. Wrap a turn or two's worth of plumber's teflon tape on the threads of the cups to help prevent creaking type noises.

Once you've done this, thread in the drive side cup, the apropriate tube spacer, and then the opposite cup. The vast majority of Track bikes have are speced with a 68mm BB shell, although actual frames will vary anywhere from 67-69mm out in the real world. Our Internal BB tube spacers tend to be slightly long, so on most frames the bearings will move out a bit as the cups are tightened down. This is ok. The tube spacer on the External BB comes with two thin spacers (.03" and .015") to fine tune it.

Once you've gotten the BB installed, slide the BB spindle through it. It shouldn't require a lot of force. A thin film of grease on the inner race of the bearings will make this easier, but it will work fine without the grease.

If you got the External BB, you won't need to run a spacer on the drive side. If you have a Spline Drive Spider or Sprocket, install it following the details on this page, and you're half-way home already.

You should always use Anti-Seize or grease on the spindle when you install Profile cranks. It makes it several orders of magnitude easier to remove your cranks in the future.

Installation with Internal BB

Place one 1/8" (3mm) flat washer on the spindle next to the drive side bearing. Then place your sprocket or spider on the spindle. Then put the drive side crank arm on the end of he spindle and thread the Profile Crank Tool onto the spindle so that it's snug up against the crank arm.
Use an adjustable wrench or a 1" box wrench to tighten the tool down, and the crank arm should slide onto the spindle. Normally, there will be some resistance, but you shouldn't need to be Hercules to accomplish this. Tighten the tool all the way down until it stops turning. Remove the tool, thread in the crank bolt, and tighten it down a few turns.
If you don't have enough clearance on the driveside, remove the entire crank arm and spindle together, and replace the single flat washer with the angled cone spacer, and re-insert the spindle and crankarm into the BB shell. This should give you plenty of clearance between the crank and the chainstay.
The easiest way to ensure that the cranks are parallel is to look at the crank from the top or the bottom, so that you're looking down the length of the cranks. Once you're certain the arms are parallel, thread in the crank tool and tighten it down until it bottoms out. Assuming you have plenty of clearance on between the chainstay and the crank arm, now it's time to install the non-driveside spacers and crank arm. All it should take for a spacer is another flat washer or at most the aluminum cone spacer, so slide one the spindle.

Remove the crank tool, thread in the crank bolt, and tighten both crank bolts down until there is no more side play, and the spindle is more or less equally inserted on both crank arms. It isn't necessary to bury the cranks completely on the spindle. The ideal amount is between 65-75% insertion.

Installation with Outboard Bearing BB

The Outboard Bearing BB works best with the Profile Solid Spline Drive spiders as they are designed to bring the chainline back over the cup and bearing. You will also want to use the 5.625" BB spindle.
Install the spline drive spider according to the instructions on this page, and slide it into the BB with no spacer behind it on the drive side.
The drive side crank arm will have an "R" on the back of it, and the pedal will thread into it clockwise. Place it on the spindle, and snug the Profile Crank Tool onto it.
Use an adjustable wrench or a 1" box wrench to tighten the tool down, and the crank arm should slide onto the spindle. There will be some resistance, but you shouldn't need to be Hercules to accomplish this. Tighten the tool all the way down until it stops turning. Remove the tool, thread in the crank bolt, and tighten it down a few turns.
On the non-drive side, use as few spacers as you can get away with,or even none, and then get the crank arm started. The easiest way to ensure that the cranks are parallel is to look at the crank from the top or the bottom, so that you're looking down the length of the cranks. Once you're certain the arms are parallel, thread in the crank tool and tighten it down until it bottoms out.
It isn't necessary to bury the cranks completely on the spindle. The ideal amount is between 65-75% insertion, and it's going to make everything work better if the BB spindle is centered with close to equal lengths in each crankarm.
Remove the crank tool, thread in the crank bolt, and tighten both crank bolts down until there is no more side play, and the spindle is more or less equally inserted on both crank arms. You might have to remove one bolt and tighten the other until the spindle is centered. Once it's centered properly, tighten both bolts down, and start looking for your pedal wrench.

Please contact us if you have any questions or problems during installation.