SD Fixed

On a purely looks basis, they look pretty decent..

https://www.businesscycles.com/tcr-fsa.htm

But on a hammer it home basis, how good are they usage wise?

sohi

they look cool. but in an older thread somebody was saying that
the ISIS BB sucks because the bigger axle means smaller and less durable
bearings.

Serbaside

well apparently FSA knows something you don't

SD Fixed

Thanks, I just ditched the idea because of the carbon fiber center...

sohi

who are you talking to and what is your point. I dont mean this as an offence I just
dont understand what you are saying.

ImprezaDrvr

I've had good luck with their roadie cranks and ISIS BB so far. Not sure about the carbon center on this one, but hopefully someone will see if it breaks for us.

Serbaside

Well you are saying that ISIS bottom brackets are not durable, but they are continued to be made. FSA is a quality brand and I feel that if ISIS is a horriable set-up then they would never have started to make them in the first place. So, it seems you don't have all the facts.
Just because the bearings are smaller doesn't make them less durable. I don't have a degree in physics so I can't give you any hard facts on force, weight load, etc. All I know is a the splined setup can take greater forces (just at in your tools at home, star > hex head > phillips > flat head). Also what is defective about the bearings? The race? because you sure as h3ll are not going to be able to actually brake a bearing.

sohi

I dont have any ISIS BB and therefore no experience. I just forwarded what I was told (by bikkhu I think).
Since he is a messenger in harsh conditions in Finland I thought he has some negative experience.
Everybody was saying in that old thread how much ISIS sucks and I asked why. Maybe its just this
oldskool reflex that everything new sucks.

SD Fixed

I beg to differ on this one point. My vehicle has torx head bolts, and I use every chance I can to remove them because they do not handle repeated use. This is real world.

ISIS does have a rep of creaking a lot. I'm not sure where I heard it, but I wanted to ask because of that and other issues.

stronzo

damn, they look so pretty too ....(was considering them for my next ride)

2Rodies

Has it ever occured to anyone that FSA has made their BB/Cranks propriatary? You want FSA cranks you gotta buy the BB to go along with it. Doesn't make it good or bad but I don't believe that FSA has stayed with the design because it's "better".

p3ntuprage

other manufacturers make isis cranks/bb's [race face are one, can't be bothered to think of others right now]

it's pitched as the alternative to shimano's patented spline system.

fsnl
sparky

2Rodies

Does RaceFace make road cranks? Still if you want to buy FSA cranks you have to buy the BB to go with it. This could also be said of Campy (tapered) and Shimano (Octalink). However my point was that just because FSA uses ISIS drive doesn't inherently make it good.

Serbaside

OK sohi I will admit a one thing about ISIS (Truvativ inparticular) I have a Team Gigapipe SL and Karsten is right about the creaking, in fact it creaks like a old house with wood floors. But I don't have yet to have any trouble with it. The creaking is not a "metal to metal" scraping and I'm not sure what it is, but it has done it ever since brand new right out of the box.

SD Fixed

Truvativ is the one I heard had problems and not ISIS in particular, though ISIS was mentioned, more as a subset to the problem. So perhaps these FSA cranks aren't all that bad. I'm curious to if the cranks won't give way under foot on me. I'm a bit harsh on things at times.

SD Fixed

I don't know, but I wouldn't/couldn't relate to heavy or light mtb'ers.

luckycat

Splined bottom brackets are stiffer, and not a new invention, they have been used on bmx bikes for years. I have a splined bb on my mtb, it is so much stiffer than the square taper it replaced. It's a race face, so I can't speak for the quality of the FSA, but haven't noticed any creaking or other problems over the past year or so. I don't know what you're willing to spend, but have a look at the newer dura ace track cranks, also splined and sweet as hell, expensive though.

luckycat

That's not quite true, the isis spline is available for anyone to use, and I don't think it was developed by fsa. The sad thing is that not many companies have picked up on it, raceface, truvativ, fsa, and I heard rumors of chris king bb's and cranks using isis a while back... I think the shimano spline(Octalink maybe? I forget.) is also availble for anyone who wants to use it, not sure who else does though.

Racing Aardvark

ISIS is an open standard, anyone can make their own parts without having to pay a penny to the group that came up with the standard. If you want to make an Octalink compatible BB or crank, you must pay Shimano royalties.

I've got an FSA Isis BB and it has just started cranking on really steep climbs. Damned annoying. If it had done it all along I'd have yanked it and chucked it in the rubbish.

jfmckenna

It seems to me that if it's creaking there is something wrong with it.

Is Isis and Octalink the same thing? Cause I've got Octalink on my road bike and it sucks. Even when properly torqued the cranks can come loose and right off the start just putting them on brand new it was all soft and just plain sloppy fit.

The square spindle on my fixie has caused no problems.

OneTinSloth

FSA makes both ISIS and octalink. i should know, i have an FSA crank on my road bike that uses an octalink BB.

the biggest problem i have heard of with ISIS was with that ONE BB that sheldon brown got ahold of (happened to be an FSA model, lower end too), that sheered off because they had machined a little gutter-type thing into it right behind the splines. haven't heard anything else about any other ISIS BB breaking in this way since.

from a basic "this looks like it would work better" standpoint, i think ISIS is better than octalink. i know that the splines are machined so that there is much more contact between the crank and the spindle, i know that the spindle is slightly tapered (like, 1 degree) so you can get the crankarm onto the spindle and make sure that you're not going to mash the splines up while tightening the crankbolts down, and i know that there is a positive STOP on there when the crankarm is on. with shimano, you get none of that, and installing an octalink crank ir you've never done it before can be tricky and kinda nerve racking "is it on straight?! i don't know, i can't see in there! what if the splines aren't aligned!?!?"

as far as the FSA track cranks for fixed on the road use? hell no. don't even think about it. the spider and right crankarm aren't one solid piece. i think you'd end up having some serious problems with it after about a month of real world riding.

Oni

Splined BB's are supposed to provide more surface for your cranks to grip. I have one on my touring bike and I really really hate it. but that's also because it's a cartridge BB. Shimano's octalink is completely proprietary and anyone wanting to make compatible parts has to pay Shimano. ISIS is like Linux in that it's a free basis to build off of. no patent there, or at least a public one if any.

p.s.- I've just spent a week listening to pro mechanics ***** about how Shimano is making everything proprietary in order to make you buy new parts and more expensive ones. Run away from Shimano while you still can.

OneTinSloth

word. (running)

SD Fixed

Wow, ask a question, get a ton of answers!!!

This is what I [/I]love[I] about a good forum...

Thanks everyone, really!

HereNT

Uh, Will, you got your backslash in the wrong spot... Maybe you spent to much time away...

And I know nothing about ISIS cranks/bb/whatever