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Old 01-06-06, 05:26 PM
  #11  
well biked
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Originally Posted by thekorn
When the crank is attached to the bottom bracket, without the chain on, it should spin freely and smoothly. When the crank is not attached to the bottom bracket, and you are turning the bottom bracket spindle with your fingers, there is more resistance but it should still be smooth.
In my experience the cheapo shimano bottom brackets are good for at least 5000 miles, including insanely wet mountain bike excursions when the bottom bracket is occasionally submerged.
I do not have any experience with octalink or ISIS bottom brackets. I have heard they have shorter bearing life compared to a traditional square taper bottom bracket because they are forced to use smaller bearings. I don't know if this is true, and I would be interested in other riders opinions on this, as I am currently building a cyclocross bike with an ISIS bottom bracket.
I've got an old road bike with a Nashbar ISIS bb in it, with a couple thousand miles on it so far, absolutely no problems. I've used the heck out of Octalink bbs on mountain bikes, with my share of creek crossings, all-day mud, etc. and I've yet to wear one out. When the Octalink/ISIS stuff first hit the market, it seemed like there was a lot of negative feedback on the ISIS bbs, presumably because of the smaller bearings, like you say. Personally, I've got nothing but good things to say about Octalink, and so far I'm very pleased with the ISIS bb I'm using-
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