Is the dark side stronger?

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11-21-15 | 04:30 PM

#26

tashi

Senior Member

Joined: Apr 2005

Posts: 1,304

Likes: 40

From: Victoria

I LOVE Shimano external BB's and cranks. For function, they can't be beat. Basically essential equipment for mountain bikes for me, although ISIS was pretty good. I run 'em on my mountain bikes, cyclocross bike and my wife has one on her roadie for the compact chainrings. Mine look good on their bikes cause they're modern; hers are on a 80's Marinoni and they're shiny shiver Tiagara so they're passable.

The bearings don't last as long as most internal styles.

I don't ride road hard enough to worry about the benifits of lighter, stiffer, faster so I stick with the vintage kit, including the BB/crankset. 7402 works for me.

11-22-15 | 11:32 AM

#27

RobbieTunes

Banned.

Joined: Dec 2007

Posts: 27,199

Likes: 1,463

Quote:

Originally Posted by devinfan

Im sure new bikes ride great. I wouldn't know because I have never ridden one, and have no interest in doing so. I just look at them and for me it's like looking at a refrigerator: no reaction at all. Show me an old frame with faded decals, tubulars and ratty cloth tape and that's another story. Whatever floats your boat, in the end. There's nothing morally superior about old bikes, I just like them better.

I get sort of excited looking at refrigerators. Mainly for the ice cream.

11-22-15 | 11:36 AM

#28

RobbieTunes

Banned.

Joined: Dec 2007

Posts: 27,199

Likes: 1,463

Swap the rings to polished, and you'll be just fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by icepick_trotsky

The crankset in question. I wouldn't call it pretty, but I've seen uglier.

11-22-15 | 11:41 AM

#29

RobbieTunes

Banned.

Joined: Dec 2007

Posts: 27,199

Likes: 1,463

+1 I have had great success with the ISIS and the Octalink version of FSA cranksets, and they can come amazingly cheap, even on the eek!bay.

Not only that, the best crankset I've ever had, and the lightest, was ISIS, a Stronglight Pulsion. The "newer" version requires a proprietary bottom bracket, which is just another example of a french firm shooting itself in the foot. I do count weight on my modern bikes, and one Pulsion, with an Omni bottom bracket, was 505g total. The other, with a Deda bottom bracket, was 502g. Extremely stiff crankset, extremely smooth.

I like the FSA Gossamer, coming in both silver and black. Ritchey used to do that with an Octalink version, as well.

If you go square taper and want a reasonable crankset for it, the FSA Vero is not bad at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldsCOOL

I went with a splined ISIS (not a terrorist) cartridge style BB unit on my Cannondale. Really enjoyed the simplicity of plug-n-play and very cheap. This is the final outcome:

I would NOT go with anything BB30.

11-22-15 | 12:30 PM

#30

catgita

Senior Member

Joined: Oct 2014

Posts: 764

Likes: 5

From: Long Beach

Bikes: Fitz randonneuse, Trek Superfly/AL, Tsunami SS, Bacchetta, HPV Speed Machine, Rans Screamer

I am so done with black. On my latest bike I wanted 46/30 chainrings, and polished, so wound up with square taper TA Carmina cranks and SKF bottom bracket. Definitely heavier, but also durable. And soooo pretty!

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11-22-15 | 01:23 PM

#31

rhm

multimodal commuter

Joined: Nov 2006

Posts: 19,810

Likes: 597

From: NJ, NYC, LI

Bikes: 1940s Fothergill, 1959 Allegro Special, 1963? Claud Butler Olympic Sprint, Lambert 'Clubman', 1974 Fuji "the Ace", 1976 Holdsworth 650b conversion rando bike, 1983 Trek 720 tourer, 1984 Counterpoint Opus II, 1993 Basso Gap, 2010 Downtube 8h, and...

Does anyone know where I can get an external bearing bb, English thread, for cottered arms?

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