SQ taper BB users make yourself known

2x Hope Ti’s & 2x middleburn RS3’s for me, both been on various bikes since 1995

Middle burn RS7s + square taper here on my singlespeed.

So good I forget it’s there.

Still happily using square taper.

In 23 years of MTB I’ve seen one snapped axle when a friend was playing on some jumps (a hollow UN72). Quite comical where he landed it cleanly and had the lh crank dangling from spd shoes (with quite a nasty bit of spiky axle sticking out the bb).

Never rounded a crank or had them come loose during a ride (but have stripped one extractor thread).

Middleburn RS7s/Duo with Royce BB on my race bike and RS7s with sq taper Shimano on the full suss trail bike. It may not be the stiffest or lightest (although the Royce is pretty good on that) but it just works. Fit and forget for me.

Oh yeah, I’ve snapped 2 axles and worn tapers but I can’t complain, it took 20 years. (mind you, I’ve put HT2 axles through far far harder use and not had any issues with those- no doubt in my mind it’s stronger)

But then there’s the one terrible drawback of internal BBs- if you don’t ride your bike much, they last for years and get properly stuck in

any one of you square-taper-luddites is welcome to come round and help me remove my girlfriend’s outdated cranks,

(both bloody fiddly extractor threads refuse to engage)

Square taper on my road bike. My recently stolen mtb was HT2 🙁

Does anyone know someone who has snapped a square taper? It was hardly an epidemic.

Yup. Did this hopping up a curb, and I weigh 10 stone!

Wore out two LX HII chainsets, think they were made of soft cheese so went back to an old XT square taper and now a shiny Middleburn with a UN54. I’m a bit of a luddite though, one gear and all that.

Middleburn RS7 and UN54 on my commuter. I think the current BB is about 6yrs old and had lived outdoors almost 24/7/365 until we moved somewhere with proper bike storage recently.

Tbh, I’ve had good results with external ones too. Obviously not into ST territory though.

I’ve yet to own an external BB. I think I have one bike with Octalink or whatever it is, and two with square taper.

Square taper ruins cranks if an arm comes loose (just got to make sure that doesn’t happen), but internal BBs last forever. I see no reason to change.

I have RS7s on UN52. BBs last forever but have stripped two threads when trying to remove crank arms. I have external BBs on my other bikes and I do like how easy they are to remove. Both systems have their advantages.

So, those of you planning on sticking with square taper, what are you planning to use now the great UN72 is not being made?

UN55.

So, those of you planning on sticking with square taper, what are you planning to use now the great UN72 is not being made?

Like I said earlier the UN73’s I bought from Jenson in December for £8 each 8)

Oh and the various UN5x variants that are just as good 😀

Me. They last longer than the poxy outboard stuff and I bet 99% of riders wouldn’t bend a chocolate BB axle. I couldn’t. Well not if it was made of very hard chocolate.

Like I said earlier the UN73’s I bought from Jenson in December

Only 73mm 🙁 but they still have 173 of them left! 🙂

Stoner they had 68’s in all sizes as well for ages, I gave you a link back in the summer 😡

Square taper. It wasn’t broke but they went ahead and fixed it anyway.

I snapped one of the early SKF square tapers, just accelerating to change lanes over London Bridge, luckily not standing.

UN73 on the HT and Phil Wood Mag/Ti square taper on the Turner.

Me. Well, not quite yet but just bought a set of Middleburn UNOs for the Curtis which im rebuilding…

Waves hands in air.
Un52 on shimano cranks on CX bike
My other three have the bling option, Royce ti paired with middleburns.

RS8s on UN7? on the SS, and no-names on a TA Axix on the commuter.

Only BB I ever bent was an ISIS. And did it twice. Swapped to Saints. XT HTII bearings were lasting me about 3 months before I switched to Hope and got 3 years out of them before selling for £30.

Original raceface turbine on un72 on my ss 29er + square taper on the commuter and the Mrs cindercone

Original raceface turbine on un72 on my ss 29er + square taper on the commuter and the Mrs cindercone

The only things wrong with square taper are (IMHO) people not cranking them down tight enough (and lubing the tapers first), the fact that each time you install (reinstall) a crankset the crankset taper gets slightly larger, and therefore it’s not ideal for indexed shifting.

My last UN72/3 (forget, XT anyway), went from my bike to one of my sons, and is now on its third bike with another owner.

Just replaced a Token Bb which lasted just two months with a TA Axix pro. Not cheap but at least I can upgrade the bearings. The Token uses proprietary bearings so when they wear you have bin the lot. What a waste! Using ’96 Campag Chorus on mine.

I want to put a square taper crank on the little lady’s bike (after her HTII BB has just died from no more than occasional use over the last year).

If anyone has a triple crankset going begging, feel free to let me know 🙂

Shimano UN5x on all 5 bikes. One component not to have to worry about.

(and lubing the tapers first)

big argument about whether you should do that.

best method is probably what Royce prescribe – put the cranks on and torque, pump the cranks hard for a few hundred yards, retorque, and continue until the torque says.

Middleburn and Royce. Perfection year on year.

Square taper – not used anything else in 22 years. Not saying that anything else isn’t suitable, but I’m happy with ’em.

Present set-up: Shimano BBs with a mixture of Deore XT M739/Middleburn/Syncros cranks.