ls0725

hello,

i was wondering if anyone could shoot an opinion, experience, advice or any help to help me avoid or lean me towards the purchase of a Bontrager Race Lite Triple Crankset w/ Giga X Pipe external bottom bracket.

Or is a Shimano 105 Octalink w/ BB-5500 bottom bracket better? I am particular about which would come out lighter of the 2.

Thank you for help.

CCrew

Bontrager is nothing but Truvativ rebadged. The BB is more stout on the Bontrager, but the 105 is the better crank.

operator

+1

Bontrager cranks are nothing special. The BB's however, are extreme garbage as is with most of truvativ's stuff. The only problem with the octalink crankset is the low availability of replacement bottom brackets. The 5500/6500 bb's are no longer readily available. I suggest looking at more options before settling on having to decide between the two.

ls0725

thanks for advice, as you may have picked up on my choices, my budget is not that big. could you suggest other options that i might consider. I see a lot of under $100 used shimano ultegra cranks c/w BB already on ebay. are they acceptable models?

HillRider

Which model Ultegra crank and what design of bottom bracket? Ultegra cranks came in square taper, Octalink and external bearing designs depending on their vintage. They were all good.

Operator is correct that the Ultegra level Octalink bottom bracket (BB-6500) is out of production and hard to find but the 105 version (BB-5500) is still in current production and readily available. Licktons sells both the double (109.5 mm) and triple (118.5 mm) models for $40. Look at www.lickbike.com

operator

Hmm, must be different in the states. Our distributors all seem to carry only the DA level octalink bb.

Chris_W

Lots of info about options of two-piece cranks here: Index and Comparison of 2-piece Road Triple Cranksets. I haven't had a problem with the BB, but I do know that the chainrings on the Bonty / Truvativ cranks are rubbish compared to anything from Shimano.

davidad

Don't worry so much about weight. It just isn't the factor it's made out to be unless it's on your gut.
shimano's Tiagra is a nice set https://www.bikeparts.com/search_resu...p?ID=BPC332229 as is the Sugino
https://www.bikeparts.com/search_resu...p?ID=BPC314973.

HillRider

Are they English threaded? There were Ultegra Octalinks still advertised by several dealers for quite a while after they were officially discontinued but they were all Italian threaded.

Both lengths of the 105's listed by Licktons are available in English threading and the 109.5 version is listed in both English and Italian threading.

operator

We have 0 stock of eng octalink bb's, but about a million italian ones. We'll probably never sell them all off ever.

Chris_W

I agree, it's not just about weight. There are several factors that make the 105 crankset nicer than the Tiagra that do not involve weight: the chainrings on the Tiagra are not as stiff or well-ramped as those on the 105, the cranks are not hollow on the Tiagra and so are probably not as stiff as the 105, and lastly the cranks of the Tiagra are made the same for all crank lengths, the 170mm version just has the pedal hole drilled in a different position - this leaves a pointless and slightly odd-looking extra long crank beyond the pedal hole which I don't like (the 105 and above cranksets are actually different lengths and so always have the pedal holes the same distance from the end of the crank). However, all of these things are quite minor, and all are directly related to why the Tiagra crankset is significantly cheaper than the 105 crankset.

For a square taper crank, I agree, the Sugino is great, and I like the versatility that the 74/110mm BCD offers.