In my the same way that buying pre-owned square taper cranksets is a bit of a crap-shoot with regards to crank taper enlargemnet/deformation, does the same apply to Octalink cranks?

I’m guessing, from the number of posts one can find from people complaining about squeeking and cranks falling off that the answer is a definate yes, but I’d appreciate some first hand experience on the subject.

http://www.highpath.net/highpath/cycles/info/bbkts.html

Thanks for the link.

However, on that page it’s stated Octalink has early bearing failure like ISIS. That’s far from the truth because Shimano used needle roller bearings in their design and patented it, so ISIS had to stick with inferior balls. Bearing life in Octalink is pretty good, obviously nowhere near as long lived as square taper, but way way better than ISIS.

Secondly, I found nothing that answered my actual question.

The octalink fit is pretty positive IME – they’re not tapered slots

I’d guess that poor fitting or riding when the crank is loose would damage but otherwise solid, I’d say