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At 3745 miles on my Soltera 7, I began to notice what felt like a bit of lateral play in my crank (i.e. a very slight side-to-side movement while riding the bike). Although the crank was still rotating OK, engaging the motor and propelling the bike forward through all PAS levels and all 7 gears, I could sense just a slight amount of play in the crank while pedaling. While holding the pedals steady with my hands (and not allowing the crank to rotate), I attempted to rock them back-n-forth which confirmed my suspicion that the bearings in the BB (Bottom Bracket) were worn to the point of needing to be replaced. BBs do wear out and need to be replaced on most bikes at some point; however, the Soltera 7 uses a square taper type BB and these older technology, but typically very reliable BBs regularly provide many thousands of miles of service before needing to be serviced and/or replaced. Indeed, the square taper BB on my original, beloved Aventon Level has over 8K miles on it and still spins as free of play as the day I first rode it (love my Level...MEGA, MEGA!).
Fortunately, for a very reasonable price, I was able to purchase from Aventon, a perfect fit and function replacement bottom bracket for my Soltera 7. This BB has a 122.5mm spindle length and 73mm shell width. ... AND MOST NOTABLY (although it's not shown in Aventon's photos of this BB on their website) IT HAS THE INTEGRATED CADENCE SENSOR with an ~7 in. black wire and 3 pin male, waterproof connector plug for attachment to the female coupler lead for the cadence sensor which is connected to the controller in the bottom of the Soltera 7's down tube. Whew...what a mouthful!
Now, was this easy, to remove/replace/install? Well, not really, but If you have the necessary tools (e.g. a crank puller and a square taper BB removal/installation socket) you can do this yourself. Without going into much more detail than I already have, I would suggest you do the following 2 things:
1) After removing the old/original BB and cleaning out the BB housing in the Soltera's frame, ensuring the threads are as pristine as possible, I suggest (unlike the videos you may attempt to follow on YouTube) you actually install the NON-CRANK side of the new BB first. This is because that CADENCE sensor wire which extends from the bottom of the new BB needs to be pulled through a pre-drilled hole in the bottom of the bike's frame and yet you need to thread the new BB into the bike frame's threaded BB housing. I found that if I tried to install the new BB by threading in the crank side first, the cadence sensor wire would start flopping round-n-round which is not good. It's one of those things that you just have to attempt to have what I'm trying to explain here suddenly become quite lucid.
2) Just take your time and be very careful and persistent when removing and replacing the controller in its very tight space inside the bottom of the Soltera 7's down tube. You may have to clip/replace a zip tie or two to give some slack to the many wires that lead from the bottom of the controller through a hole in the Soltera's down tube to things like those super cool lights we all love, the cadence sensor in the new BB, and the main lead for the motor which is near the middle, inner side of the right chain stay (close to the spokes of the rear wheel). If you've read this far and think this is just all to complicated and too much for you...well, take it to a bike shop if you must but if you're moderately handy, and like to work on your bike(s) as I do, you CAN replace the BB on your Soltera 7. It'll give you a great sense of accomplishment, get your Soltera 7's crank turning smooth as silk and save you a few bucks too boot.
A BIG THANK YOU to Merlin with Aventon Support for working with me to ensure this BB would be just what I needed for my Soltera 7!
Hi M.,
Thank you for sharing your detailed experience with the Soltera 7 and the replacement of the bottom bracket. We appreciate your feedback and are glad to hear that you were able to find a suitable replacement from Aventon. We also appreciate your recognition of Merlin from support for their assistance. If you have any further questions or need assistance in the future, please don't hesitate to reach out. Happy riding!
Aventon
my Aventure started making a clicking sound, so i got this in case i need a replacement.
We hope this helps with the noise! Thank you for the review!
Thank you for not making it a hassle to get a part replaced within my warranty time. All aventon needed was the pictures of the ruined part and then sent me the new piece with no issues. I never leave reviews but they definitely deserve some good praise for treating their community correct
Hi Gabriel,
We are happy to hear our team was able to assist you!
Aventon
Tried everything to eliminate crank creaking. This did the job. You will need the Shimano 20 tooth BB removal tool and the crank puller tool (each $10 on Amazon) but it is a super easy removal and install.
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