Carbon Unit

At the end of my Saturday ride, I stopped in at a bike shop that specializes in Specialized bikes.They had a nice looking S-Works frame with their new BB30 S-Works cranks on display. A bike shop employee told me that BB30 will be in the industry standard in a few years and that Shimano was gearing up to start selling them.

He said that BB30 was lighter, stiffer and allowed the average rider to produce 50 more watts.

Some of the reading I have done on BB30 said that they also require more maintenance and are prone to creaking noises.

So, should I consider a BB30 bottom bracket in my next bike purchase?

ElJamoquio

Well, anyone who tells you it's worth 50 watts is lying to you. But it is stiffer and lighter, and parts should be available for a long time.

rail157

aham23

if the 50w thing was true you wouldnt have to ask this question.

i don think it is here to stay, but you will not see it take over the market since shimano isnt doing it. later.

umd

This. And probe to creaking. I need new bearings for mine.

mzeffex 

I have a BB86 bottom bracket on my Giant and like it. Similar I guess. Seems pretty stiff, light, and I have had creaking issues.

Flatballer

lots, and lots, of creaking...

I'm tired of BB30 personally. If I had it to do over again I'd go back to a threaded English or something. I've got a date with my mechanic in the morning to tear down my BB30 and let him see what's wrong. Personally I can't find anything wrong, it just makes noise all the time, no matter what.

luker

most everything in cycling is a fad. Some fads just last longer.

Carbon Unit

Having to press in the bearings and the creaking seem like big draw backs to me. The bike shop employee that told me that it allowed the rider to produce 50 more watts said that it was because riders lose power because of too much flex in the bottom bracket. I think there are a lot of bikes with standard cranksets that do not flex much if at all.

jrobe

If cranks were made from noodles, you wouldn't lose 50 watts .

Flatballer

he actually said 50 watts? You should've laughed and walked out. A track sprinter putting down 2000W might lose 50W to a really crappy BB, but that's about it.

Carbon Unit

Yes, he did actually say 50 watts. Since I don't ride with a power meter, 50 watts doesn't really mean a lot to me, but I am skeptical of bike shops sales guys anyway. I have heard them feed BS to unknowledgeable victims before.

ciocc_cat

Like "brifters" and carbon fiber?

Atol

Cycling is a fad. It's just a fancy form of walking.

That makes all of you a bunch of hipsters.

Herbie53

crap.

I was hoping it was worth 50 watts.

BigSean

[QUOTE

He said that BB30 was lighter, stiffer and allowed the average rider to produce 50 more watts.


So it does come with a motor.

grolby

Creaking? Damn, that's annoying... I've been pretty optimistic about BB30, since it appears to resolve two of the major issues with outboard bearing BBs: wide Q-factor (which is a problem for me), and exposure of the bearings to the elements. So you get the benefits of a big, oversized spindle, but stance width is returned to what it was in the square-taper days, and the bearings go back inside the bottom bracket shell, where they belong.

I'm not happy to hear of the creaking; I was strongly considering BB30 for my next bike. I wonder if it's a design or a quality-control issue? Given that everyone in this thread with BB30 has mentioned it, I'm inclined to think it might be the former. Bummer; creaking may not be a problem, but it sure would be annoying.

Flatballer

It's a design problem. They're not as clean as you think. The thin grease film on the spindle where it contacts the inside of the bearings wears away and gets replaced with grit. This then wears away at the spindle/bearing interface. After this the spindle starts to rock just a tiny bit and creaks. This leads to the bearings getting worn unevenly, and then they start making noise too.

kleinboogie

It is stiffer and lighter. No creaking yet on my supersix but time will tell. Pressing in the bearings yourself is a snap but scary the first time. I did see a 15W bump in power but no way I'm creating it. Maybe the stiffer frame is letting more power to the PT hub or it could have been adrenaline. More testing to do. GL

umd

I seem to get about 20k miles on a set of bearings. Last time I replaced them the creaking went away. I can definitely feel some side to side play in the cranks.

Hunt-man

Few months ago I built up a Pedal Force QS3 w/ bb30. Had a local shop install the bearings. It took special tools I did not have and I have almost all of the normal bike tools. After about 1,500 miles or less, I started getting creaking / loose metal sounds out of the BB. Made noise when I pedaled hard or stood up to climb. Sounded like loose metal in there. Had the shop overhaul the BB but when I picked it up they didn't know what the mechanic had done.

All better now but I only have 150 miles on the "new" BB30.

brianappleby

I think there are a lot of press-in bearing systems sort of fighting to be the "standard" There's bb30, bb86, bb90, and something called BBright, which i believe has different sized bearings on either end of the bottom bracket shell.

I hope that in the next few years, everything gets ironed out, and there will just be one press-in standard that's compatible with all modern frames and cranksets. I have no idea if this is what will happen, but I hope...

The other option is that each frame maker will have their own standard, and frames will start getting shipped as frame/fork/seatpost/crankset. This is how the Cervelo R5ca and the newest LOOK frames ship.

go4gr8

Interesting discussion. I'm about to buy the BMC SLR01 which has a BB30 spec. Wondering if i should do it?

umd

I still like mine

pdedes

being that the bearings in bb30 are press fit into the bb shell, creaking is likely coming from the cartridge bearing outer against the shell.