Who still uses?
Me though i have just inhereted and external bb on a recent purchase.
on all my bikes. lasts forever, what's not to like ?
Middleburn rs7 square taper.
Not light but reliable and strong.
I still have one on my bike, has been on there for years. Thought of upgrading but being a Scot I just can't bring myself to spend the money replacing something that isn't broken.
Mixture of square taper, isis and Ultra Torque BBs I'm afraid.
Yep still use sq on serveral of my bikes
Inc my best bike and winter bike
Me. But only on my commuter now.
Why they invented a whole host of things that are worse I don't know.
Does anyone know someone who has snapped a square taper? It was hardly an epidemic.
The un72 definitely goes in the component hall of fame.
Yes tho not on my road bike or gnar mtb - it creaked on the latter adn the former is a little more bling.
yes.
Does anyone know someone who has snapped a square taper? It was hardly an epidemic.
collapsed bearings and seized retaining things, took a lot of persuading out. HTII with Hope miles ahead for me.
Me...all my bikes
Middleburn rs8 on un73 on the mtb
Stronglight on un54 on the cross
and old xt on un72 on herself's bike
I'm sticking with it till someone invents something better 😉
Raceface taperlock on the SS
Bolt
I was running raceface taperlock with my Middleburn RS7 but mashed the cups (seriously are they made of cheese?) Changing frames a while back, im now running some NOS japanese thing that hasnt missed a beat.
Just gone back on one bike. Was thinking it would be a stop gap but think I'll keep using it now. UN71 with lx cranks.
Got sick of getting through external BB's. went square taper a few years ago with some nice shiny Middleburn cranks.
Reliability far outweighs the weight disadvantage over external BB. I just works well and lasts for ever.
A mixture of square taper, HT2, octalink and UltraTorque... Luckily I like tools 🙂
I've got one of each: Sq Taper, ISIS, HollowTech II.
The ISIS is in the worst nick, but is probably the most used of the 3.
Yes Phil Wood 100mm BB 8)
Middleburn RS7, WI Eno, Shimano Arabesque, RaceFace, all square taper. Only run Hollowtech 2 on other bikes and they are slowly migrating back to square taper.
Royce bbs on two and picked up Un73 BBs from Jenson USA for £8 each in December to use with them 8)
Oh yeah and have BB90 on one bike 🙄
Yep... The lovely white industries cranks on some old stock ti BBs.
There were some shite square taper cranks around 15+ years ago, and the bb crank interface arsed up if you rode hard
So they invented Isis, but the bearings were too small and wore out.
So they invented external BBs, where the interface and bearing life is still occasionally a problem.
But it you use quality square tapers and don't do massive drop offs all that evolution was not required.
Yes. Ultra Torque on the summer road bike and the latest MTB (Trance) has some press fit job, but the other six bikes in the household all have square taper of some sort. Wish you could still buy a UN72 though, I'm on my last one.
Sticks hand up, another user here. Mind you, my crank draw is a bit like my sock draw ~ got a few odd RH ones in there collected over the years 8)
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I was using one of these with my Middleburn Uno crankset. Though it was nice and light it wasn't particularly more robust than ISIS BBs. These days I just go with a cheap and cheerful Shimano number which is only a few euros to replace when its needed.
Yep on both my singlespeed 69er Unit and my fixie Langster, and they never miss a beat...
yes all bikes, why change if it ain't broke?
Never felt the need to change/never fell for the marketing man's spiel. So far they've outlasted the ISIS/Octalink fad, will probably outlast the HT2 genre too.
Oh yes. 9 out of 10 bikes in the Stoner household on square taper.
A collection of Middleburns, On-Ones, Ye Olde, Truvativ cranks etc on
a collection UN54, UN72, UN26 and Phil Woods
No plans on changing anytime soon....
Yes on my SS and I had been considering it on others as I have a couple of good sq taper chainsets spare but my SSC HT2 bb won't die.
UN54 for me - cheap, hollow axle and not too heavy.
Does anyone know someone who has
snapped a square taper? It was hardly an
epidemic.
Quite a few actually but that was back in the day and hardly common.
I have a rather retro Real Designs, Shimano & RPM bb's in the collection.
Still running 3 of my bikes on square taper. I like it, bottom brackets last forever so don't know what all the bollox was bigger external bearing. My External BB's have all had shit bearing life.
Yep, i use one for my winter mtb set up, i find the HT2 system much easier and quicker to work with and replace, but for winter use in this country nothing lasts like a UN54 for me.
Yes on the ss 29er with middleburn rs7s the commuter and the road bike which has a campg athena bb from around 1998 which is still going strong
Still got a UN54 in my commuter, it's alright. HT2 on all the good bikes.
If my BB life on the HT2 bikes was as bad as some people say, then I'd be tempted to stick with square taper, but I don't do anything special to mine and they last well so.
[i]Does anyone know someone who has snapped a square taper?[/i]
I did, and I'm 11 stone dripping wet. missed out octo-link/ISIS and went straight to external 5 years ago, haven't changed them since, still smooth as...
whatever works for you I s'pose
the road bike is on a square taper, some Token Campag thing i think, the other bikes use HT2,
Yep, as I got fed up of cleaning, regreasing and changing HT2 units, and got rid of a BB30 frame (On-One Whippet) largely because everytime there was a threat of rain in the forecast the BB gave up.
Anytime I've had a square taper unit meanwhile they've lasted for several years and much use.
So, those of you planning on sticking with square taper, what are you planning to use now the great UN72 is not being made?
What are we going to do when all frames are oversized bb shells??
Anybody know of a fix?
2x Hope Ti's & 2x middleburn RS3's for me, both been on various bikes since 1995
Middle burn RS7s + square taper here on my singlespeed.
So good I forget it's there.
Still happily using square taper.
In 23 years of MTB I've seen one snapped axle when a friend was playing on some jumps (a hollow UN72). Quite comical where he landed it cleanly and had the lh crank dangling from spd shoes (with quite a nasty bit of spiky axle sticking out the bb).
Never rounded a crank or had them come loose during a ride (but have stripped one extractor thread).
Middleburn RS7s/Duo with Royce BB on my race bike and RS7s with sq taper Shimano on the full suss trail bike. It may not be the stiffest or lightest (although the Royce is pretty good on that) but it just works. Fit and forget for me.
Oh yeah, I've snapped 2 axles and worn tapers but I can't complain, it took 20 years. (mind you, I've put HT2 axles through far far harder use and not had any issues with those- no doubt in my mind it's stronger)
But then there's the one terrible drawback of internal BBs- if you don't ride your bike much, they last for years and get properly stuck in 
any one of you square-taper-luddites is welcome to come round and help me remove my girlfriend's outdated cranks,
(both bloody fiddly extractor threads refuse to engage)
Square taper on my road bike. My [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stolen-bike-winchester-area ]recently stolen mtb[/url] was HT2 🙁
Does anyone know someone who has snapped a square taper? It was hardly an epidemic.
Yup. Did this hopping up a curb, and I weigh 10 stone!
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Wore out two LX HII chainsets, think they were made of soft cheese so went back to an old XT square taper and now a shiny Middleburn with a UN54. I'm a bit of a luddite though, one gear and all that.
Middleburn RS7 and UN54 on my commuter. I think the current BB is about 6yrs old and had lived outdoors almost 24/7/365 until we moved somewhere with proper bike storage recently.
Tbh, I've had good results with external ones too. Obviously not into ST territory though.
I've yet to own an external BB. I think I have one bike with Octalink or whatever it is, and two with square taper.
Square taper ruins cranks if an arm comes loose (just got to make sure that doesn't happen), but internal BBs last forever. I see no reason to change.
I have RS7s on UN52. BBs last forever but have stripped two threads when trying to remove crank arms. I have external BBs on my other bikes and I do like how easy they are to remove. Both systems have their advantages.
So, those of you planning on sticking with square taper, what are you planning to use now the great UN72 is not being made?
UN55.
So, those of you planning on sticking with square taper, what are you planning to use now the great UN72 is not being made?
Like I said earlier the UN73's I bought from Jenson in December for £8 each 8)
Oh and the various UN5x variants that are just as good 😀
Me. They last longer than the poxy outboard stuff and I bet 99% of riders wouldn't bend a chocolate BB axle. I couldn't. Well not if it was made of very hard chocolate.
Like I said earlier the UN73's I bought from Jenson in December
Only 73mm 🙁 but they still have 173 of them left! 🙂
Stoner they had 68's in all sizes as well for ages, I gave you a link back in the summer 😡
Square taper. It wasn't broke but they went ahead and fixed it anyway.
I snapped one of the early SKF square tapers, just accelerating to change lanes over London Bridge, luckily not standing.
UN73 on the HT and Phil Wood Mag/Ti square taper on the Turner.
Me. Well, not quite yet but just bought a set of Middleburn UNOs for the Curtis which im rebuilding...
Waves hands in air.
Un52 on shimano cranks on CX bike
My other three have the bling option, Royce ti paired with middleburns.
RS8s on UN7? on the SS, and no-names on a TA Axix on the commuter.
Only BB I ever bent was an ISIS. And did it twice. Swapped to Saints. XT HTII bearings were lasting me about 3 months before I switched to Hope and got 3 years out of them before selling for £30.
Original raceface turbine on un72 on my ss 29er + square taper on the commuter and the Mrs cindercone
Original raceface turbine on un72 on my ss 29er + square taper on the commuter and the Mrs cindercone
The only things wrong with square taper are (IMHO) people not cranking them down tight enough (and lubing the tapers first), the fact that each time you install (reinstall) a crankset the crankset taper gets slightly larger, and therefore it's not ideal for indexed shifting.
My last UN72/3 (forget, XT anyway), went from my bike to one of my sons, and is now on its third bike with another owner.
Just replaced a Token Bb which lasted just two months with a TA Axix pro. Not cheap but at least I can upgrade the bearings. The Token uses proprietary bearings so when they wear you have bin the lot. What a waste! Using '96 Campag Chorus on mine.
I want to put a square taper crank on the little lady's bike (after her HTII BB has just died from no more than occasional use over the last year).
If anyone has a triple crankset going begging, feel free to let me know 🙂
Shimano UN5x on all 5 bikes. One component not to have to worry about.
(and lubing the tapers first)
big argument about whether you should do that.
best method is probably what Royce prescribe - put the cranks on and torque, pump the cranks hard for a few hundred yards, retorque, and continue until the torque says.
Middleburn and Royce. Perfection year on year.
Square taper - not used anything else in 22 years. Not saying that anything else isn't suitable, but I'm happy with 'em.
Present set-up: Shimano BBs with a mixture of Deore XT M739/Middleburn/Syncros cranks.