Last year in May, my bike was going 'clank clank clank'. The bottom bracket was failing...I didn't order one right away because I couldn't afford another bike repair that month. We kept tightening it every few days. But before the new one came in, the old one had BROKEN. It took them an entire day to carefully chip the pieces of the old bracket out of my frame without damaging the threads. (The bike is 15 yrs old...I have replaced every single component except the fork & stem.)

A couple weeks ago I heard a familiar 'clank clank clank'. "It can't be the bottom bracket again," I thought, "because that is new." But the more I heard it the more convinced I was that is exactly what it was.

I took it in, we tightened it, and I headed off. 'Clank clank clank' I heard, very softly. I turned around and went straight back to the bike shop. And ordered a new bottom bracket.

I've ridden ~5000 miles since getting this one, pulled some awfully heavy loads on a regular basis. So, is it me, or is this normal wear and tear for a bottom bracket?