Suitable crank for bb5500 bottom bracket
 

Hey everyone.

I am in the process of putting together a road bike and have a shimano bb5500 68×109.5 bottom bracket.

I'm finding it difficult to find a suitable crank to fit.

I have found a couple of cranks but they have a recommended spindle lenght of 113.

Does anyone know of a crank that would fit, preferably from a site that delivers to Australia.

Thanks

Hi Jonny, I can't answer your question - but before the experts do, I wanted to poke my head into the thread to say "Welcome to the Community"! :)

Any Octalink double crank eg fc 5500, fc 6500, fc 7700. They're pretty rare. More often, a person would choose a crankset then an appropriate bottom bracket. This is kind of like searching for a frame to suit a headset you have lying around.

- Joel

Yes, the 109.5 mm BB-5500 is a V1 (road) Octalink bottom bracket meant for a 9-speed era Shimano double crank, the 105 FC-5500 or Ultegra FC-6500 or Dura Ace FC-7700. No other crank design will fit. The BB-5500/BB-6500 series bottom brackets also came in 118.5 mm spindle lengths to match the triple cranks of these models.

As noted, these are now obsolete models and you will have to find the cranks either used or NOS. As further noted, you seem to have a "cart-before-the-horse" problem as the usual procedure is to pick the crank and then choose the matching bottom bracket.

+1

Great thanks for the replies.

I didn't pick the bottom bracket, was given it so just wanted to see if there was a suitable crank still available.

I'll see if any of the ones suggested above are available anywhere otherwise I guess I'll just have to buy another bottom bracket.

Often a crankset/bottom bracket package deal ends up being nearly the same/cheaper than just a crankset, and you can be assured that they will work together.

I could point you to a crank... but if the BB is used, there is no sense in investing in a crank for it.

+1. You may find one of the listed cranks in good condition or even NOS but the bottom brackets are getting hard to find with the BB-5500/5503 being the only ones still available. Also, are you staying with 9-speed or going to 10 or even 11-speed? If you need to buy a crank, consider one of the newer external bearing Shimano cranks like the 105 FC-5700 or Tiagra FC-4600 (both 10-speed) or 105 FC-5800 (11-speed). Their bottom brackets are very reasonably priced and are current production.