There's no carbon sleeve on my 7700 BB, just the usual plastic sleeve similar to what they put on the current outboard BBs. Are we talking the earlier rebuildable ones or the later sealed Dura Ace ones which can't be worked on? I've had great luck with mine. As a note, when you install an octalink crank make sure that the splines are engaged in the grooves on the crank, not on the bumps in there. I've seen a couple smart guys strip off part of the inside of the crank because of this.