Wheels Manufacturing PRESS-7-PRO Bottom Bracket Bearing Installation Press Tool

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Eventually, bike components wear out or break. Installing a new part can be a real headache or can be relatively painless with the proper tool for the job. Our friend Scott walks us through his experience using the Wheels Manufacturing PRESS-7-PRO Bottom Bracket Bearing Installation Press Tool. Check it out! 

Overview

I purchased the Wheels Manufacturing Press-7-Pro shortly after buying a unique bottom bracket from a company called BBInfinite. BBInfinite makes one-piece bottom brackets and touts them to be the cure-all for creaky carbon frame bottom bracket shells. Along with this new bottom bracket, they also shipped a very simplistic bearing press with which to install the new bottom bracket. They included drifts that specifically matched up with the DUB bearings as well. Turned out my BB shell was slightly narrowed in the center, and I never noticed this prior because the stock BB was a two-piece and never interfaced with the center area of the shell. I’m not saying anything bad about this BBInfinite BB...or the press that BBInfinite sent along with it, but I really needed a bearing press that was a bit more stout and one I could get much more leverage with. In the end, the BB got stuck. The bearing press I warped and the drifts destroyed the bearing of the BB so I ended up having to hacksaw out both the stuck press and BB to remove from my shell.

BBInfinite was great about it. They sent me another BB gratis so I sanded down the center of the shell so the new one would slide through the shell as intended. However, I just felt like I needed a much better…more professional…bearing press for this second go-round at this. So I decided on the Wheels Manufacturing Press-7 Pro. I chose this press for its stout design and stellar reviews. It also comes with a pair of great universal multi-diameter stepped drifts to accommodate a myriad of bearings/cups sizes. I also purchased a pair of 29mm DUB-specific Wheels Manufacturing drifts as well. The large handles of the Press-7 screw directly onto the ½” threaded rod and the drifts fit snugly on the rod which eliminates any movement or play when attempting to press bearings or cups. It’s a really well designed and precisely manufactured tool that I would highly recommend.

I’m quite happy to report that this press performed beautifully on the second attempt to drive the BBInfinite one-piece BB all the way through the shell. The large handles were the key to success, as I still did encounter a bit of resistance. In the end, the BB was installed properly and also happy to report that the creaking has disappeared. I highly recommend a BBInfinite one-piece BB for anyone with a press-fit carbon shell. They should purchase one of these. If you do though…you should also go ahead and grab one of these Press-7 bearing press tools too.

Final Thoughts

I’ve also used my Press-7 to install a set of press-fit headset cups. I was able to match up the universal drifts to both the top and bottom of the head tube with no issue. This worked perfectly to install the Cane Creek Hellbender 70 headset cups. I’m confident in saying that this press will probably be the last press I ever purchase with how versatile it seems to be. I can unreservedly recommend the Wheels Manufacturing Press-7 universal press to anyone that is looking to undertake any type of bearing or bearing cup installations.