brabham79

i ride omnoms, and sug's 75's in the grand mighty trim that retrogression now sells with the super lap bb and for regular commuting and casual riding like i and probably most all do. that said they are generally indistinguishable.
bear in mind i live in southen calf and weather is always dry and clean, so bb options are more forgiving vs fixies in lets say ny or chicago during winter.

Scrodzilla

The BB you're talking about is called the Protype, not Prototype. My shop stopped selling them in favor of the Tange 109mm ISO BB because I found the spindle lengths and tapers to be inconsistent.

GromCake

wow ive been reading it as prototype for like a year, whoops. haha. uhh yeah op replace my recommendation with scrods i trust his judgment, and have never compared the two personally. all i can say is im happy with my protype, but airing on the side of caution i would go for the tange in the future.

/whydontpostquotesworkonmobile

Scrodzilla

I had very good luck with several Protype BBs on my own bikes too so I'm not sure what happened on the manufacturing side of things. One of the squares was cut so poorly on one of them I was trying to install on a customer's bike that the crank arm would sit crooked on the spindle when tightened down.

At any rate, the OP is obviously looking for fancy over practical. If it were me, I'd use a sealed bearing BB and put the extra money on a better frame.

samzy

Yeah I want speed over sensibility now, but I don't wanna sell my Transfer frame just yet I just got it in like September last year and I want to get a few more years out of it.

taras0000

Are you trying to cut the time it takes to get between stoplights by thousandths of a second? That's all it's going to get you. If you ask me, it makes no sense to put a "pimp" part like that on a street bike because a) it won't make any noticeable difference at all in that environment, and b) no one will ever see it, therefore never know it's there. In fact, you'll probably forget what kind of BB you are running after three months anyway. And c) as mentioned earlier, you're going to wreck the tapers on your crank by servicing the BB constantly.

Sounds like a lose-lose proposition all around except you win out when it comes to ego stroking.

Scrodzilla

Just get a Phil Wood BB for the best of both worlds - unseen bling factor and no fuss, ultra-smooth sealed cartridge bearings.

samzy

Y'all are really putting the fear of loose bearings into me. Are loose bearings really that bad? :/ it's the one that fits into my budget currently

Dannihilator

Weird, haven't had a single issue with the external cranks on my steamroller.

johnnytheboy

I'd take outboard over sq taper any day.

Scrodzilla

I'm the exact opposite.

Nagrom_

I don't have a preference. They're really both fine.

taras0000

Loose bearings aren't bad, they just have their place. That's typically on the velodrome, and not on the street. There are plenty cartridge bearing bottom brackets out there that fit your budget. Going that route will save wear and tear on your cranks and BB threads by not having to pull everything apart twice a year to clean out your BB.

I just don't see why you wouldn't want to go with the item that is practical and will prolong the use of what you already own. You can go with the loose balls, but you're just paying extra for more inconvenience and less durability with no noticeable increase in performance. You can purchase bling and speed in more noticeable components that will have a greater effect on your ride with no detriments. The only place it makes sense to use a loose ball BB is on a clean velo. Even there you're not likely to notice or be able to measure an increase in performance from a sealed bearing BB.

veganbikes

A-ha...that doesn't leave out the possibility of multiple issues ; )

"I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long." - Mitch Hedberg

I like Scrod would go with square taper over external any day.

GENESTARWIND

I like tacos.

Cute Boy Horse

People with the fear of unsealed bearings lmao.

You know what has unsealed bearings? 20 year old mountain bikes DUI types commute on and chain up in the rain. You know what those bearings need? A bit of grease, you can buy big tubs for three quid. Good as new.

Dannihilator

First step to avoiding those issues is avoiding GXP like the plague, terribly flawed design.

My 105's are going strong, has a good chainline, been through some nasty stuff.

hairnet

More maintenance, which some are unwilling to do or unable to do. I can and will do it if I have to, but I prefer the BB to be cartridge so I can set it and forget about it.

Cute Boy Horse

If you can't unbolt a thing then screw a thing in, screw another thing in then lift the thing off when it gets loose, then unscrew that last thing and grease the things inside, you're probably not at the level where you need to care if it's sealed or not anyway.

Leukybear 

LBS's have gotten into the habit of severely upcharging customers who need a repack $35+ per wheel/ BB.

T13

Loose balls in the headset, but personally, prefer sealed bb, especially for everyday riding on the street. Way more practical.

Like Scrod mentioned, if yer dying to drop a bunch of money on a part that you can't see, then get the Phil Wood bb. Just make sure you have Phil Wood hubs to match, hehe.....

Scrodzilla

And customers have gotten into the habit of not wanting to pay bike mechanics for time spent working on their bikes.

T13

Ever bought milk in a "convenience store"? Convenience ain't cheap. If yer not competent enough to repack bearings, don't have the time, etc etc, then 35 bucks(someone mentioned) to have a shop do yer bb, and both wheels is totally worth it, as long as the shop is a good shop.

Back in my tattooing days, i used to hate someone coming in to the shop, to ask me for a "quote", and then tell me that Joe Hepatitis over at Diseases R Us Tattoo Shop "said he would do it for $50 less". So why the **** are you bothering ME?


If yer gonna wanna learn to repack a bb, so that you can do it, whenever it needs it, cool, do it. But maybe keep a spare sealed one in yer toolbox. Can't hurt.

brabham79

alot of people have strong negative feelings about gxp bb's. for most if not all street riding applications they are more than fine. and if not f@ck it, get a phil wood bb from scrods shop for a buck sixty

veganbikes

Thank you Scrod!

If it were up to the average customer the LBS would burn to the ground with all the employees inside and whatever person owns Bikes Direct and Jeff Bezos from Amazon will become gods.

If doing this stuff were easy and quick and didn't require any parts or grease or lubes or rags or cleaners or lights or tools or anything like that, then everyone would be able to do it and the LBS wouldn't need to exist but we exist for those folks who can't always do the work themselves or don't have the money for all the tools and whatnot or respect the experience many mechanics have.

Why shouldn't bike mechanics be able to live and make enough money so they aren't just scraping by? Why is working as a bike mechanic look so down upon even though we keep a lot of people moving who might otherwise not be moving? Why do we respect some jackass in a suit and tie who has a plush office he doesn't deserve and gets paid a ridiculous amount to do very little but someone with which many people couldn't live without is "upcharging customers, ripping them off, breaking their bikes (usually it is people who ride a lot and are hard on their parts and blame us for their wear and tear)"?

Respect people who do work for you or do the work yourself!