Eccentric Bottom Brackets

Why?
How?
When?

Tension chain in singlespeed/hub geared bikes
Get a frame with one
When you get fed up with sliding dropouts/crap chain tensioners

Got one on my Thorn Raven. Easy to adjust, neater looking than tensioners and easier to get rear wheel out than with rear facing dropouts.x

What he ^ said

Work well.
Only possible downside is the weight, if that bothers you.
Go for a relived EBB – with holes drilled in it, to reduce the weight..

Nice clean dropouts.
Less faff.

IMAG0334 by pten2106, on Flickr

Now on my third EBB’d frame – easy to adjust, no creaking, all good.

I have a medium Dialled Love/Hate and a medium Singular Swift that need good homes if you are desperate to try one.

Heavy, expensive, PITA when they go wrong/get stuck, BB location changes during use when retensioning.
Some involve big bolts through your frame or a split BB.
Had one in my old INbred which worked well enough (internal mechanism type, can’t remember the brand now but the frame was an extra £100 but would run disks at the time)
Wouldn’t have another one unless it was a bargain or on a Tandem.

Track ends for me by choice.

Extremely Brilliant Bling.

Fit perfect like on my Niner.

T’is wot the world was waiting for.

Had a couple – Thorn Raven and Singular Peregrine.

They make the bike look nice.

They both slipped from time to time (to be fair, so do sliding dropouts).

Thorn was easy to adjust on the trail if needs be as it had a hole in the side you could lever round with an allen key, but suffered damage due to the method of holding it using set screws – got sdo many holes in it it would slip into an adjacnet position.
The one on the Singular was trickier to adust, but less susceptible to damage.

I wouldn’t use an EBB frame again. Sliding dropouts for the time being, but I’d like rocker/swinging dropouts like Black Cat, Salsa and erm, others….

like my EBB on my love/hate
annoyed by my sliding dropouts on my pomp.

Is their any road single speeds that have an EBB?

@taki why bolt not QR on your rear wheel? (Does that mean I should be on my Selma? – the dropouts look similar).

Love mine – carver ebb that’s been great, I’m 220lb and had no creaking so far.

Slowly slips over the period of about a year or 2 and needs a tighten – had to take it to a shop 6 months ago as it had gotten stuck fast.

suffered damage due to the method of holding it using set screws – got sdo many holes in it it would slip into an adjacnet position.

Yes, I’m not a fan of the grub screw system for that reason – plus it’s ugly. The expanding type is very good if well greased, and the old-fashioned split shell type works very, very well.

Had 3 those on my Singular and Dialled bikes Love hate were good. The one on my Fisher Ferrous was a piece of poo that creaked, slipped and made me want to drown the bike in a sack!

I’ve had zero problems with the set screw type EBB on my Singular Hummingbirds – I’ve never had any issue with setting the position exactly where I want it and I’ve never noticed any tendency for it to revert to a previous position.
Mind you, the set screws (grub screws) used are the proper cup point type which don’t cause nearly as much damage to the insert as point types do (as fitted to a mate’s Love/Hate). They’ve made a real mess of the insert and I can well imagine that fine adjustment would be nigh on impossible.

I’ve used Carver EBBs too, but much prefer the Phil Wood set screw type as used by Singular.

Andy R – Member

I’ve had zero problems with the set screw type EBB on my Singular Hummingbirds – I’ve never had any issue with setting the position exactly where I want it and I’ve never noticed any tendency for it to revert to a previous position.

I’ll use most of that post verbatim.

😛

I’ve had zero problems with the set screw type EBB on any of my Singulars – I’ve never had any issue with setting the position exactly where I want it and I’ve never noticed any tendency for it to revert to a previous position.

I’ll add: Including on my Gryphon, which is set up as a SS so tends to get a bit more of a mashing up [some] hills than it would do if ’twas geared (as I’m trying to spin a bit more going up hills now, to try to save what might be left of my knees).

I like the choice of BB position too. I’ve neither found them complex, nor unnecessarily heavy, but then, those kinda things don’t bother me anyway …

mattjg…its a leftover from when I ran a slidey inbred before the SIR.9
Plus it matches the front.

And it means I get to weild a big old spanner.

Singulars use a flat-ended grub screw, Thorns use a pointy-ended set-screw. Its the point that causes the damage IMO

So is the ebb basically a chain tensioner or can you use it to adjust bb height?

Check out the Sanderson EBB. Done proper, like…..

split type good never creaked for me. , set screw type on the thorn – crap .

i only ever adjusted it with a screw driver so not a huge amount of torque – and still the boss parted at the weld. poor.

The idea is great, but I had problems with mine.
The original screws crumbled when I tightened them, replacements were sent.
It would randomly come loose i.e in the middle of a 24.

My mates early Cannondale 1FG suffered the same, so not good experiences here.

Prefer this, my old custom Nicolai, never slipped ever.

Bushnel or split shell makes most sense but seems that others work fine too. I’m a big fan of bushnels, had faultless performance from 2 of them with a lot of SS or loaded riding. A good slider works too but isolating the drive and disc forces at the axle from the chain adjustment makes sense to me. I seem to notice change in wheelbase more than I’m bothered by slight bb position change so the ebb works well there.

I take it that they grab the frame like a taper lock, 2 pinch bolts and a removal jacking bolt

So is the ebb basically a chain tensioner or can you use it to adjust bb height?

It’s a chain tensioner.

My Thorn has been fine in the time I’ve owned it (admittedly only around 56 months), despite having several different cranks and chainring/sprocket sizes fitted so having been adjusted a fair few times.

If you are looking for one I have a spare, fits Niners.

Will all EBB frames have standard size shell, or do they vary?

I have a Charge Duster and that does have the occasional problem with getting the tension just right but not a huge isue.

Moe how right does it need to be to be ‘just right’? A couple of rides and the chain stretches a tad anyway, and they can be too tight too.

bikebouy
If you are looking for one I have a spare, fits Niners.

Is that one of those Niner EBBs that clamp to the sides of the shell? If so I’d be interested.

I regularly strip the thing down to clean and tinker (changing ratios), so ‘just right’ is how I usually manage to adjust it on reassembly. Not had that much of a problem riding with the chain slack though, I guess it’s down to getting the chainline right and a bit of luck!?