Yes they are a rediculous price. Probably why you don't see so many bikes around here with them. The only reason why I have / had them is because the bike came with them standard. My replacement was a BB7, I expect the same cheap crap (my opinion) as the BB5. I paid 1000 yen for the BB7 as my LBS had it lying around and I only had 1000 yen in my wallet.