When the ISIS bottom bracket standard first appeared (and was up against Octalink) they seemed to wear out ridiculously quickly and seem to still have a poor reputation today. The thing is though, when HTII came out people seemed to be wearing those out in weeks, but over time they’ve improved.

Is ISIS still as dreadful as it always was or are there some good units around (I’ve heard that the Superstar ones are pretty good)? Equally, does it have much future as a standard? I’ve found some cheapish ISIS Middleburn cranks but there’s not a great deal of point in buying them if I can’t get bottom brackets a year of so down the line.

Anyone?

I went through 2 in 10 Years, never any trouble.
I no longer have the bike but the bb lasted a year with the new owner with daily peaks use.

It’s certainly better than square taper.

I’ve seen one that went in the car park after fitting….

It’s probably going to be very limited in terms of choice going forward.

I got ISIS when it first came out and between then and now I’ve gone through about 6 BBs (had 2 bikes running ISIS, now only got the one) – most of the BB were replaced under warranty.

Running an FSA ISIS now and it’s still fine (although I hardly ever use that bike anymore so no reason it wouldn’t be…) but you’d be very limited in terms of cranks to fit now.

It’s certainly better than square taper.

In what way? 😕 My ST BBs have lasted far better than my ISIS BBs.

I had a Superstar ISIS BB and it lasted 2 years which I was happy with and replaced with the same but my UN52/53/54 BBs have all lasted longer.

There are reasonable deals about on Middleburn ISIS cranks, which is what I’m thinking about; other than durability the issue is really how long ISIS BBs will remain available.

In what way? My ST BBs have lasted far better than my ISIS BB

In the way that the crank spindle interface doesn’t deform. I’ve created a few parallelogram cranks over time.

I really liked it when it came out and had great performance from it. However, it’s an old standard on its way out. I’d not be spending money on converting to ISIS now. I’d only buy stuff to keep existing kit going.

Whatever Shimano chainset is the same price as the cranks you’ve seen will most probably perform as well and will be more future proof.

+1

Isis was solution to a problem that did not exist ON QUALITY SQUARE TAPER IN XC SITUATIONS.

Apparently we thought we were all so damned rad breaking our soft alloy £25 afterburner cranks, that we needed a better system.

Isis is still a bit bollocks. A bit hit and miss. I prefer square taper white industries on a shimano or Royce bb.

I have Isis on my fat bike due to lack of options.

I got a surprising amount of time out of the superstar ISIS BB compared to race face ones but I certainly wouldn’t be buying anything ISIS now at this stage in human evolution.

I have 2 RF ISIS BBs for 1 bike + the RF tools for bearing changes. I wouldn’t buy ISIS.