Just blew $150 on a 'universal' bottom bracket tool that stripped the splines on a customer's bike. | Bicycle Mechanics

Ugh that's the worst feeling. I had the same thing happen with a cheap tool. I only use the park tool BBT-now, it's way more solid. The extra money hurts up front but it hasn't failed me yet. Those universal ones just don't grab enough material on the splines.

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dixon.nathan7mo ago

Maybe the tool was fine and the part was just junk.

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karen3687mo ago

Honestly, sometimes you just get a bottom bracket that's been cross-threaded or installed with a gorilla's strength from the factory. That hidden damage can make any tool slip, even a good one. It's not always the tool's fault like dixon.nathan said, but a universal one has no margin for error when the part itself is messed up. You can't see that problem until you're already trying to turn it. That's why a lot of shops have a sacrificial cheap tool for the really stuck ones, to feel it out first. Ruining a customer's part with a new tool is just a special kind of frustration.

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