Originally Posted by 79pmooney

I am one who sees BBs as simply a tool for the job. Yes, better tools often last longer and may require less maintenance. Provide marginally better friction loss or maybe a shade stiffer. But usually, I am looking at the details of what it does. Now I have knees that love my feet being close together (low Q-factor). So much so that they announced to me they were going into retirement early if I ignored that request. (Ie, I'd have to get knee replacements to continue riding.)

So, for me, there is strong incentive to use BBs that are both as narrow as possible and fit cranksets with arms as straight as possible. So, I first find that crankset, then obtain the BB that fits it and is narrow. If I cannot find that, I will buy a Phil Wood BB, either stock or custom, that fills the bill. Expensive, yes, but my knees love the setup and I get to keep riding those cheap OEMs (knees). If my knees weren't so fussy, the $30 Shimanos would do the job just as well.