Originally Posted by
Road Fan
I want to install a Campy Record Triple crank on a road bike, and Campy recommended a Record 111 mm Asymmetrical BB for it...
What Campy recommended for this crank is dependent on the fact that this crank was designed specifically for a 130mm dropout spacing.
What frame is this? What is the dropout spacing?
Whether a particular bb length is ideal for a particular crank/bike setup actually depends on a lot of things.
The bb specifically designed for this crankset is conservatively long, for use with a great majority of bike's chainstay configuration and seat tube diameter, but is not necessarily the best choice for you and your bike.
I would first try for something that is effectively a little shorter, but in my case I have parts here to test out in a matter of minutes, so I can guess and then confirm at no cost.
I do this all the time, but I don't "worry" about it or stay up nights "thinking" about it.
Sometimes the outcome is marginal, and I can either true the crank so that there is a good couple of mm clearance all the way around the crank's rotation, Or I can pull the bb and install a spacer. Either way, it gets done, and the final test is whether the front derailer than has enough "authority" to pull the chain down to the granny ring while under pedaling forces.
I test-ride a lot of road bikes with triple chainsets, and am often dismayed by what seems like excessive chainline on many of them.
Unfortunately, today's cranksets with integrated bb spindles don't allow for any tinkering with the chainline measurement.
Some setups have such severe chainline that running the big-to-big has the chain trying to derail itself with nothing but the front derailer pushing it back up.
Not gonna have that on my bikes, but it should be said that I'm not a tourist and so won't need to make much use of the smaller rings with many of the smaller cogs.
Like I said, I think this Record symmetric bb is great because it potentially allows the owner to choose how they want the chainline to play with any chosen frame spacing, cog stack width and riding style.