Originally Posted by poopncow
WHy are we as FG and SS people still using square tapper BB and cranks? The rest of the world sort of moved on. Is there a sound reason, i.e. the industry for FG and SS has yet to catch on?
Matt Chester (one of a VERY few sound bike authorities, in my opinion) uses square taper cranks. The WI ENO crank is only made in square taper. As are most other "bling" boutique cranks. Wonder why? Because they work. The supposed advantage of an octalink or ISIS BB is that since the diameter of the spindle is bigger, it will be stiffer.
But guess what? Your frame will probably flex long before your BB. And if you increase the spindle diameter without increasing the shell diameter, you have to use smaller bearings, which wear out a lot quicker. I've heard of some SS mountain riders going through two or three ISIS BB's per year.
The new external bearing cranksets solve this bearing life problem while allowing the spindle diameter to increase, but they widen the q-factor, which is not good for most folks' knees. So, why buy a whole new crank/bb setup, when you can just keep using your cup and cone system (just overhaul occasionally with new bearings) or use a UN53 which you have to replace every 5 years or so, and costs around $25?