Better or just a fad? I keep reading about “issues” (high wear rate & BB’s falling out on Specialized bikes)and of course its much easier to change an external BB by yourself.

Of the two new bikes I’m looking at one has BB30 – should I avoid?

I’m building a salsa spearfish that has a bb30 but have opted for a kcnc adaptor so I can use my SLX cranks.

My experience was poor on a Whyte 19 Steel. Bearings were tight when in the frame, and fine when removed. Bearing removal and fitting requires fancy tools or a big hammer. I am happy to be back on threaded bottom brackets… even if that sometimes means PTFE tape and other faffing about… at least they are usually hammer free which means less chance of breaking something.

My cannondale six road bike had been faultless for a bit of balance. Its damn stiff too. came with fsa cranks which weigh about 5 tons though and you only have FSA, SRAM and cannondale hollowtech( rare as hens teeth) to choose from for upgrade

Really not sure if it’s an ‘improvement’ having to hammer out bearings on potentially an expensive frame. The DIY guide in Cycling Plus just looked scary and I’m a reasonably competent bike fettler.

Sounds like one of those things that are possibly better for manufacturers when they are on the production line but don’t translate as well to real life (though the hype says otherwise…).

Good point Titusrider – the FSA Afterburner BB30 cranks on my Whyte were boat anchors when compared to SLX… there was no weight saving to the BB30 standard in that set up.

I’m not an engineer but outboard bearings seems quite daft to me. Placing the bearings back in the frame gives frame designers a lot more width at the bottom bracket to fix the seattube, downtube and chainstays to. This should help to create a laterally stiffer, stronger frame. The larger BB axle is also stiffer and lighter (usually aluminium).

Fitting and removal should be fine with the proper tools. If you bash the bearings in with a hammer then they’re not likely to go in square and you run the risk of bashing the inner race into the bearings, pitting the races before you even start.

With the larger axles it should be stiffer…As for weight savings it obviously depends what crank and axle you use. If you want real lightweight performance, the BB30 Cannondale hollowtechs are stiffer and something like 100g lighter than an M980 XTR setup. The spiders and axles are interchangable too, so you can even run them on a road bike. They are expensive though, unless you can pick one up 2nd hand

I’ve never owned a bike with this new standard but I think this is the main reason it’s happening;

possibly better for manufacturers

I’m guessing that pressing in the BB is faster and easier – so they’re selling it to us as a technical improvement 🙄

Anyone doing a reasonable priced bearing extractor for bb30 yet?

I’m guessing that pressing in the BB is faster and easier – so they’re selling it to us as a technical improvement

On cheaper bikes, I think it’s a cost saving. On expensive bikes, as I said above, where there’s more custom shaped tubing (and people tend to be more bothered about such things) it’s a performance improvement (stiffer, lighter axle, lighter BB and greater lateral stiffness in the frame)

It’s pretty similar to headsets – pressing the bearing directly into the head tube helps you to get the lowest stack height for the biggest headtube (no space taken up by external bearing races)

This explains why you would want to do that:- (1:25 onwards)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqm3hyVaDTQ[/video]

It’s the same for the BB of course, just in a different plane.

I’ve got FSA BB30 SLK cranks on my Whyte 19 Ti SS, no problems for me but the replacement ceramic bearings are frikin expensive when they do wear out.

BB30 on my Jake the Snake, no problem over about 1000km so far. Certainly better than BB92 on my race bike which are lasting about 400km before needing replacing.

Please note that the kcnc bb30 adaptor will not work with spearfish FFS. Does anyone know who has the problem solvers in stock?

The BB30 on my road bike has clocked up just under 2000miles this last 9mths and still running smoothly with no problems.

That said ..
A friend of mine has BB30 on his Focus Cayo. It lasted 5-6mths and probably only about 500miles.
He is very competent mechanically – but managed to crack his bottom bracket area whilst renewing the bearings.

Mine will be visiting a good bike shop when they need replacing .. anybody know of a good one in the Caerphilly area??

Caerphilly go to Castle Bikes by the railway station and see Jimbo and Steve and tell them I sent you – good fellas and Jimbo is top on the spanners 😉

@mooman really?? I have had a cayo since May and I have done 3000+ on it and they are fine.

Fitting/removal tool
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/park-tool-bbt303-bb30-bearing-tool-set-prod24901/
and a piece of threaded bar+2 nuts.
HT2 adaptors
http://wheelsmfg.com/content/view/785/54

lol Valleydaddy – even Halfords are a safer option than castlebikes without doubt.

I’ve been lauding this as a new standard that makes sense. 🙁

Can’t we adopt BMX BB shells and be done with it?

The idea of smacking bearings right out of the frame is a little scary, especially as the last eleven years of marketing, engineering and product design have made BBs last a tenth as long as the square taper system they sought to replace.

Had to change FSA BB30 bearings after about 800 miles dry weather riding on my bought this year carbon framed road bike.
I`m not sold on them. 🙁