Lightweight square taper bottom bracket

My son’s cx/road race bike’s square taper bottom bracket has developed some play (and noise) and needs replacing. As it’s his race bike I’m trying to keep the weight down as much as possible so looked at titanium ones but the cost is eye watering. I’ve ordered a standard Shimano one from Ribble for the interim but would ideally like to fit a lightweight one if I can find one.

So my question is, has anyone seen any square taper titanium bottom brackets for sale for a reasonable price? Or maybe someone might have a good condition one in their spares box they could sell me?

Your help would be much appreciated by me and my 11 year old son.

If you can still get them the Shimano UN72’s were about as good as it got.

Bling ones were available back in the day but weren’t much lighter and needed special tools/facing to fit (thinking Royce).

What size?

You could have saved some weight with a BB from Token (around £30) as they are quite a bit lighter than Shimano

I think the bottom bracket is a 68/113mm by my measuring.

I’ll check out the Token one. Just to check, is the Token one purely for indoor track bikes? 

@Frogstomp

I don’t think my boy would notice the 5mm difference from his current 113mm to the 118mm one at the Kidsrace. This looks to be the main contender at the moment.

I’ve emailed Islabike and they’ve responded saying it’s a 68 x 107 square taper bottom bracket with an English BSA thread (my measuring is obviously a bit crap). 

I’ve ordered a Token one which is apparently 205g so a fair bit lighter than the basic Shimano one already fitted 🤞

But if someone comes along with a lightly used titanium one for a good price, I’d be interested in buying it. 👍

You can usually pick up a used Hope Ti square taper for around £50-£60 but it’s not going to save you much weight over the Token if that weight is accurate. My 118mm one is 192g for reference (not for sale)

Token bottom bracket arrived today and it looks very nice, especially for £30.
I compared the weight to the old Shimano B300 one and reckon I’ve saved 59g (using digital kitchen scales).

B300 (complete including bolts) 305g

Token Carbon (complete including bolts) 246g

Cheers @kerley for the suggestion.

No problem, pity it wasn’t the 205g which was listed but they do look nice – not that you really see it 🙂

I used one a while ago when wasting my time trying to get a lightweight steel track bike.

FWIW my daughter’s CX bikes have had the Token BBs in for several years and still spin as new despite the mud/washing. Granted she’s small and not powerful but they’ve been great overall.

205g is for a 102mm axle according to tokens site for 246g inc bolts is not bad.

It weighs 206g when you remove the bolts and the alloy locking insert. Cheeky. 

I had a look at ti bolts to see how much weight I’d save but not sure the ~10g saving is worth it.

Pretty sure that title is an oxymoron 😁

True but when you’re dealing with kids bikes, you have to make the best of what you’ve got. You can’t find many short arm cranksets for a reasonable price without going square taper IME.

Pretty sure that title is an oxymoron

Sort of but when combined with the lower weight crank arms a square taper crank and BB can be similar in weight to many modern external BB cranks, after all it is still an axle and crank arms whether the axle is bounded to the arm or bolted on.
Even cheap square taper arms are around 450g versus 550g for say 105 HT2 arms so only 50g more when adding BBs assuming using a standard 100g HT2 BB.

Campag Super Record titanium bb are race proven

I think the Campagnolo square taper is slightly different to others? I can’t remember which way round it is but one combination works loose and the other combination gets stuck!

Sounds like you’re describing Italian threaded bottom brackets.

Sounds like you’re describing Italian threaded bottom brackets.

No, he’s talking about the taper which is different on JIS and ISO bottom brackets (both of which are available as either BS or Italian threaded)

Yes, I was in relation to the above post about Super record, different angle to the taper, and yes, in most cases “Italian” thread. Didn’t want you to spend a lot of money on something that didn’t fit. One of the recommendations above for Shimano UN72 bottom brackets is a good one, there must be loads of them kicking around on bike shop’s dusty shelves. They were distinguished by a hollow axle and they lasted very well. Try a wanted ad with required axle length and shell size?

Slight thread hijack: anyone know where I can source a Token JIS square taper BB in 73×122.5? According to Token they exist, but UK stock seems to be patchy at best for these BBs.

Spa Cycles or SJS? Or maybe an IBS with an account with The Cycle Division?

No, he’s talking about the taper which is different on JIS and ISO bottom brackets

Pedant mode…

The taper isn’t different.

The length of the taper is though.so the longer one has a narrower end which on some cranks means there’s no way to tighten the crank on.

So they both wedgeon nicely they just can’t necessarily be secured correctly.

Spa Cycles or SJS?

Tried them, but thanks.

IBS with an account with The Cycle Division

Will investigate, ta.

Pedant mode…

The taper isn’t different.

Some people seem to think it is, by a few tenths of a degree.

Yes, I was in relation to the above post about Super record, 

I think the video is quite clearly not a recommendation for Campag super record 😉