Originally Posted by
stilltooslow
When well designed and manufactured, it's both lighter and stiffer, the elusive formula all cycling component developers seek. Some are certainly built better than others though.
Lighter? A Shimano 600 crank from 20 years ago weighs about 600 grams - add in 300 grams for a square taper BB and the weight isn't that far off a modern crank - a new Ultegra double and BB combo weighs 960 grams. As for stiffer, the small amount of torsional bending in the spindle isn't worth mentioning, and the external cups don't do a thing for lateral deflection anyway.