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I have a 2009 Cannondale Six Carbon 3, which supposedly has a BB30 bottom bracket and a FSA Gossamer non-BB30 crank set. It looks like this:

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I'm having some creaks when I pedal and I'm trying to see if taking off the crank set and regreasing might fix the problem. Going to YouTube and watching videos for a 'FSA Gossamer' crankset, everyone is just unscrewing a single bolt in the side of the crankset and it self-extracts. However, when I unscrew the only bolt that looks similar, the bolt comes right off really easily but nothing happens with the crank:

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You can see in the picture above that now you can see right through the bike itself, so it seems there's nothing additional I could screw that would self-extract that crank. There is, however, some bolts on the arm itself:

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Do I need to loosen these bolts to take the crank off? I toyed with that a little, but it wasn't coming off easily, and I didn't want to force anything without knowing it was the correct way.

Thanks for any pointers you can give!

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  • Doing a bit more research, it seems that this is a 2-piece compression crank, and doesn't have the self-extracting mechanism of the (I suppose) more recent FSA Gossamers?
    – gammapoint
    Jul 13, 2019 at 0:29
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    Provided an answer on how to get the crank off, but curious about what on the crank you want to grease. Threaded bottom brackets are not known for creaking. if you are getting creaks you may need to re-torque the bearing cups. Chainring bolts are also a prime creak culprit.
    – Argenti Apparatus
    Jul 13, 2019 at 0:39
  • I was thinking about just lubing up the crank spindle and re-attaching, not really taking apart the BB at all. Seem reasonable?
    – gammapoint
    Jul 13, 2019 at 16:06
  • that’s probably not going to help, unless the axle is completely dry.
    – Argenti Apparatus
    Jul 13, 2019 at 16:17
  • Yeah, I don't know if it's dry or not. The cranks haven't been taken off and re-lubed in...7 years.
    – gammapoint
    Jul 13, 2019 at 16:39

1 Answer 1

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The bottom bracket is a external bearing type in a threaded bottom bracket shell. I think it's likely a FSA Mega Exo as it's paired with a FSA crank, but could possibly be Shimano Hollowtech II.

You have removed the bearing pre-load cap, which does not retain the crank. To get the rank off undo the pinch bolts. On Shimano cranks there is a little tab of metal in the slot that fits into a groove in the axle. This needs to be removed to slide the crank off. Not sure if FSA cranks have the same feature.

The crank will probably be quite hard to get off the axle, a few tabs with a mallet may be needed.

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  • Thanks for this. I've been perpetually confused about my bike being BB30 on all the specs listed online, but it not looking BB30. I just thought "welp, I guess that's what a BB30 is". I did some more research, and apparently early versions of the Six Carbon 3 came with FSA MegaExo, exactly as you say, in contrast to all the specs listed online. I certainly feel less overwhelmed with the thought of doing maintenance on that now.
    – gammapoint
    Jul 13, 2019 at 16:10

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