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I just got this mountain bike almost 3 weeks ago. I took it for a long ride(120km back and forth). We encountered heavy rain during our ride, we were riding on a highway back then, there's flood water flowing everywhere as you would imagine but not enough to submerge the bottom bracket.

Everything is perfect until the next day. I took the bike for a spin, I felt something inside bottom bracket snapping. I immediately inspected the crank to see if its loose but its not. I then moved on investigating on the pedal, as it may give this feel as well but its not.

I really think this has something to do with the bottom bracket. I then took it back to the bike shop I purchased is from to be checked. What I was thinking is flood water went in and affected the performance of the bottom bracket, I'm thinking of asking them to repack my bottom bracket however. The shop mechanic won't do it, he told me that its too soon for a bottom bracket repack. The snap that I feel inside the bottom bracket is not extreme, as a matter of fact you wont feel it if you don't pay attention to it.

Its just irritating for me specially if I'm not experiencing anything like that before the long ride. If you shake the crank its rock solid. What should I do? I'm using Trinx XC3 treker, not top of the line but high quality.

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    Need some more details please - you felt something snap, but the bottom bracket shows no wiggle ? Does it feel crunchy at all when rotating? Could you check out the pedals as well - they have bearings as well. Were you riding when it felt like it snapped? Could it have been road debris like a stone between the road and the tyre? Can you make it go wrong again - isolate the problem as much as possible.
    – Criggie ♦
    Sep 11 '15 at 6:44
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    If there's no play in the BB, then there's no reason to change or repack it. Need more info on the barely discernible snap that you say you're feeling as this is the diagnosis you're really after. Does it always happen at the same crank position? Does it stick? Click? Grind? Only happens when pedaling? Does it depend/change on the force you're putting through the pedals? Can you really feel it, or just hear it? (It's not the front derailleur cable end catching the crank is it?)
    – Grimm The Opiner
    Sep 11 '15 at 7:32
  • The "snap" you describe could be several things, but whatever, it's not good, and should be fixed by the shop on their dime. Most likely the crank arm is loose on the crank, or the bottom bracket cartridge is loose. There's a vague possibility that it's a bad pedal.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Sep 11 '15 at 11:47
  • I appreciate all of your comments. A I explained, its not really a huge snap that you can feel. I managed to sort out that its not the pedals as I can feel the click still even if im not holding on the actual pedal, I was holding on to the crack arms and still I can feel the click. I can feel the click better if I spin the crank backwards. It will give you 2 clicks then it will stop. It happens on both if I ride the bike and if I have it parked if I spin the crank. It appears that it happens on same spot as I spin the crank, after 2 clicks it will run smooth again. Its not there all the time
    – Jappy
    Sep 14 '15 at 1:52
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If you just bought it, the shop mechanic should remedy the problem no matter what specific part is to blame. If not, threaten to return the entire bike and take your business elsewhere. It should be as simple as that.

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Heck, for piece of mind, I'd make the following deal with the shop. Offer to pay for a clean and repack, but if they find anything inside (like metal debris, etc) that came from the original manufacturing process then the bike manufacturer gets to own that.

My thought is.. what if a piece of extraneous metal, left in the frame during a sloppy manufacturing experience has fallen into your bearings? (loose burr on inside of seat post that has now fallen, loose weld bead, welding rod stub, etc...) What if a ball bearing has broken in half, or a race has become bent? Heck are the correct number of ball bearings in there? Many of those things would fall under warranty.

Remember how the warranty works. The bike shop does a repair, and if its a valid warranty claim, the manufacturer re-imburses the local bike shop the repair costs. If the bike shop does a repair and its not considered to be under warranty, then the bike shop has to eat that loss. So work with them..

Either you pay the local bike shop, or the manufacturer pays your local bike shop. The bike shop incurs no loss and you get piece of mind, zen and harmony (in that order.) Everybody leaves happy.

As an alternative, you can certainly purchase the tools to do this job by yourself.

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    It should be noted that if the bike uses a cartridge in the bottom bracket then there's no way that junk left in the frame could fall into the bearings. It should also be noted that the Trinx brand is a Chinese brand which is apparently sold mostly in the Philippines.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Sep 12 '15 at 2:41

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