On the one hand, I gotta confess these oversized bottom brackets look pretty badass on a lot of new bikes...the sheer size of some of them conveys a solidity/rigidity that, in theory at least, suggests some sort of perfomance benefit.

On the other hand, the puny normal-sized bottom bracket on my TIG-welded steel Strong frame is so freakin' solid I can't imagine anything else being perceptibly more rigid, or offering any perceptible performance gains.

I know, "Failures Of Imagination Are Not Insights Into Necessity", yadda-yadda-yadda.