Myosmith

I had a lot of response to my thread on cup and ball vs. cartridge bottom brackets. Thanks for the input.

A couple of respondants mentioned "high end" cartridge bottom brackets. I have both square taper and ocatlink BBs in the stable. I know that Shimano UN54 are probably the most popular for square taper but what are some options for "high end" and are they really significantly better. Two I have looked at are Velo Orange Grand Cru and SKF Heavy Duty ranging in price from $35 to $129 compared to $21-$25 for the UN54. Are these a significant step up from the UN54?

Soil_Sampler

SKF and Phil Wood would be considered "High End" BB's.

HillRider

Shimano has discontinued it's own higher end square taper cartridge bottom brackets (UN 7X and UN 9X versions) and high end Octalink bbs (6500 and 7700) since they no longer make either square taper or Octalink cranks. Unless you can find them NOS they are gone.

Campy's square taper bb's are still offered but in limited versions. They would be considered high end also.

Al Criner

The Velo-Orange BB is a nice product, more expensive than a UN 54 but lighter than Shimano with a hollow spindle so it is easy to use a skewer to hold it in place while you install or remove it.

surreal

The White Industries ST BB is supremely hott; only available in a few options: stainless or Ti; 68mm or 73mm BSA thread; 113 or 121mm spindle. Only offered in JIS taper.

https://whiteind.com/bottombrackets.html

I'd think that phil is the obvious/easy choice, as they offer sets for virtually any threaded BB shell, in a dizzying array of spindle lengths, with some JIS and some ISO tapers on offer. It is my understanding that SKF are supremely overbuilt and really, really good, but availability in the USA was limited when last I checked. That may've changed these past few years.

UN54s have that plastic cup, which bothers me. Some of the other cheapo cartridge BBs (truvativ, tange, IRD) have all-steel cups, which is a plus IMO. I can't comment on the VO bottom bracket, but I have to say: I have my doubts.

-rob

HillRider

As long as the plastic cup isn't abused by being over-tightened when installed it gives perfectly fine service. It can't corrode and is very quiet.

surreal

You're probably right; I broke one once, and in hindsight, it probably wouldn't have broken if we'd bothered to chase the BB threads. I could see how over-tightening would cause problems, too. I still try to avoid plastic on my bikes wherever possible. While it's true that it cannot corrode, it absolutely can fail in about 100 other ways. I guess it might not, in the case of a BB cup, but I know we've all seen busted plastic cups on new acquisitions or other ppl's rides...

-rob

well biked

Then you're the perfect customer for a UN55.

surreal

Holy crap!! Ive never seen one of those!! Thanks for puttin' it out there! Might be just what the OP needs.
(Still not the ideal customer; i don't run any compatible cranks...)

-rob

Grand Bois

Maybe not so nice. See #199:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...w-Thread/page8

davidad

The shimano will out last the Phil. I have two phils and have had to rebuild each. It isn't an easy job.

fr333zin

For external BBs, I like Hope or Rotor ceramic - check out their new Self Aligning BB. Chris King look nice but no experience of them. Would pick Campag for ISO square taper but have a 20 yr old UN52 still running smooth... Funny the stigma around the plastic bearing holder on the non-drive side. It's a good engineering material, does not corrode, ideal for a low strength application. *** BBs use glass filled nylon bearing holders on both sides; it was one of the first cartridge BBs available. I had one of these in late 80's but that bike was sold long ago.

fr333zin

Unfortunately it seems the censors don't like the name of a well-known German bearing manufacturer, which is 'GAF' backwards. I can see the issue, but that's the company's name!