BB30 considerations...

Slighty off topic, how do you decide when a PF BB is "shot"?  My best bike has an Ultegra BB (I'm fairly sure at least - the part isn't actually listed on the Rose order), I've now done around 7500km on it with nary a creak or hint of any resistance from the crankset.

I've replaced various other bits as they've worn, but I've never had cause to replace a BB in all the time I've been riding - hell the last time I even took the cranks off one of my bikes was my BMX 20+ years ago.

Guys, just a clarification: PF30 is not the same as BB30 or BB30A.

Cannondale's BB30 and BB30A both make use of bare cartridge bearings and circlips. As mentioned before, BB30A is slightly wider in bearing stance but is otherwise identical.

PF30 is a SRAM invention that has plastic cups that contain the bearings and have a lip that prevents the whole thing from sinking too far inside the bottom bracket shell - hence no circlip needed.

http://wheelsmfg.com/bb30-tech

http://wheelsmfg.com/bb30a-tech-info

http://wheelsmfg.com/pf30-tech

BB30/BB30A and PF30 also don't share internal diameters for their bottom bracket shells. A PF30 shell is slightly larger (46 mm) to allow for the plastic cups vs. BB30/BB30A (42 mm).

Regarding Wheels Manufacturing: I've ordered rear mech hangers and bottom bracket presses from them. I'm not from the UK, but so far so good as far as ordering is concerned - I'm pretty sure they should be able to accommodate UK orders just fine.

I fitted a Wheels Manufacturing PF30 BB into my SuperSix earlier this year.  It was a doddle to fit but I did buy a spanner to tighten the BB into place as I like to do as much maintenance to my bikes as I can.  I'm sure a LBS wouldn't charge too much to fit one.  

It creaked like f**k before but it's good as new now, hopefully even better than that now.  

http://www.freeborn.co.uk/wheels-manufacturing-bb86-92-bottom-bracket-wi...

Good advice above, I can only add:

First principle of bike maintenance is to rule out the cheap things first so check and lube pedals, cleats, chainring bolts, headset, stem, saddle clamp and rails and pretty much anything else you can think of before pointing the finger at the BB. I just changed mine only to find that it's the freehub that's shot but at least doing the bearings was cheaper than a new freehub!

I see bearings as consumables and expect to replace mine annually, it's an easy diy as I have a cheap bearing press from Wiggle and a Park removal tool. The Park tool isn't a must have, any steel rod would do if you're careful but I strongly recommend the press. 

I have BB30 not PF30 although will do soon on a new frame. As soon as the stock bearings go I'll be getting a Wheels Mfg BB because without it there is nothing that aligns the bearings across the frame. If they're not aligned bearings wear faster and friction increases so worth doing I think. I don't think going to outboard bearings and a new crank is worth it for the reduced maintenance although not everyone would agree. 

Best of luck, I'm on my third Cannondale so the BB hasn't put me off!

I have started on my CAAD10 for second spring summer use and started to notice a slight creaking so dismantled my BB, cleaned it all up and used some bearing grease for the shaft and seals, tightened it up and then started to get clicking, so re dismantled it again and re cleaned it, but this time used Urea grease and it stopped, it is a bearing grease but not as stiff as other lithiun based grease, its very similar to Park tool Polylube, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50g-Extra-Heavy-Duty-Polyurea-Grease-Joints-Be..., i also had a bit of rusty gunge on inside of the drive side bearing and after cleaing it i put some grease on the inside face of the bearings hoping that will cure that, i have just bought some Loctite 641 in case it starts again, i also have a Praxis converter if all else fails.

Before you get carried away with thinking about replacements, are you absolutely sure it's the BB? The PF30 on the older models of SuperSix can suffer from this if not assembled correctly but it's much rarer for the BB30 on the Synapse from my understanding. If you have the Si crankset (either with the FSA or Spidering chain rings which are the ones I think you have), you may wish to inspect the big-ass nut that holds the chainrings onto the cranks. It is not uncommon for this to be the source of creak. However, it's not cheap to play with on a whim; you need a vice, a special dookickey for undoing it and a decent torque wrench that goes up to 60Nm or something like that.

Other things that could be creaking in that region that aren't the BB are the pedals and your cleats.

If those don't work out, try hawkinspeter's advice but note that it also requires fancy tools to get the crank arms off. (Which I happen to have spares of, now I think about it, so I could sell you them on the cheap or loan them if you're in London?)

[EDIT: also, you're probably due some new bearings by now anyway depending on how you use the bike. The stock ones on my 2015 were shot by 5000km]

I have an evo which is pf30 which did suffer badly from this when i built it up. I found that when i removed the cranks and regreased the axle it would disappear for 50 miles and then return. I looked at many options including the wheels manufacturing (their are others out their now) had a think and realised it's wasn't actually the bearings but the shell width.
The shell is slightly under size in width and when my crankset was tightened up with all of the appropriate spacers (SRAM) i still had a very small amount of play which caused the noise when the grease was pushed out. I made some micro spacers up from the clear packaging you get never get into and this solved my problem. Haven't had a creak since and that Bike/bb now has 2500 miles on it.

So if i was you I'd regrease the crank axle and see if it disappears. If it does you may have found your problem. If you hear no change then the problem may well be the shell diameter out of spec to the bearing/cup only way to solve it is new BB, loctite, or a screw in cup bearing like the wheels manufacturing BB.

BB30/pf30 can certainly be sensitive and the only thing you can do is trial and error. My other bike is BB30 and the bearings will get replaced shortly after 7500 miles with zero issues they've finally started to grumble.

I built up my Bianchi Sempre Pro with the appropriate Praxis BB30 adaptor and then standard Campag Chorus cranksand have never heard a peep out of the cranks. It really works, and then you can use any crank you want.

I solved the same problem on my Synapse (older non-disc model).

I found the trick was to use some Loctite 641 bearing fit retainer (e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/LOCTITE-BEARING-RETAINER-Bearing-Retainer/dp/B00AFT6FBE) when replacing the BB bearings. (You might not even need to replace the bearings with new ones, but they're not that expensive so you might as well if you're going to be pulling them out anyway.)

Put a small bit of Loctite around the OUTSIDE of the bearing shell (i.e. the bit that will be making contact with the inside of the frame) so that when you push them back in, they get bonded/stuck into place and that should solve any noises.

It's certainly worth a try before trying to change the bearing system with adaptors.

You might need to repeat this if you let too much water get into the bottom bracket - BB30s like to go rusty if you don't look after them.

The PF part means that the frame itself doesn't have a screw thread in it.  You need a BB where the two sides screw together and pull themselves into the frame, rather than relying on the crank to hold them in.  

This is one example - http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Wheels-Manufacturing-PressFit-30-To-Outboard-Bot... - I found a cheaper equivalent when I had the same problem on my Boardman and it works beautifully.

Your bb problems are common and you pretty much have no option but to change it out for a better one. Wheels Manufacturing will sell you what you need. They sell virtually every variant but their bb's have a thread-together action which secures them, and the bearings are serviceable. You prb want a PF30 threadfit with inboard bearings, and they do three grades - cheapest, middle and expensive. I bought the middle one (comes with angular contact bearings).