I went shopping for a cheap non sealed bottom bracket for a new build and cant find one anywhere ---- even eBay has less of them than I thought they should.

Anyone have a source where they get a 68 x 108 or 110 square (non campy) bottom bracket?

Thanks
Jeremy

Im not sure you'll find a loose ball BB with a spindle that short. Just buy a sealed BB and be done with it.

Lots of Stronglight loose ball BBs still for sale/auction at eBay, but not many on sith the shorter spindle sizes noted. they do pop up once in a while though, most sre 118mm and longer, but I've seen shoter ones advertised for pista applications, so just be patient and be on the lookout. Otherwise, just get a sealed bearing BB as there's more available choices for spindle legnths out there for them. Anyway, they don't look different from loose ball units from the outside.

Chombi

For new, probably a NJS approved one could be found, not cheap. I would look for a Sugino, but I don't exactly know the width.

There was a another still making them, but I forget off hand.

Why gone?

Speed of assembly, way too much work to assemble in a production line, and skill is required to adjust them.

Nobody wants "old" technology, and shop mechanics are apparently adverse to the idea of applying grease with their fingers.

Cup-and-spindle BB's are "not good enough" for those who marginalize mechanical aptitude as an uncouth and vulgar symbol of blue collar America.

-Kurt

Campagnolo BB's dont work with a Sugino crank right? different slope to the taper IIRC?

They're all 2 degrees.

I have a 68 x 108 Shimano Sante BB I'm not using. PM me if you're interested.

Slope is the same on all of them, as Grand Bois points out. The taper cutoff is what differs.

-Kurt

+1

People today can't even seem to figure out how to install a fender

I had a shop mechanic tell me a few months ago that the high end, modern stuff had gone back to loose bearings. I'm not interested in modern stuff, so I never looked up anything about it, but is that not true?

NB: It wasn't me that said that!

SP
Bend, OR

So I have a Campy BB you're saying it'll work? or will the taper cutoff mean it wont work?

And besides, if everything goes sealed BB, sealed BB hubs, and sealed headset bearings I don't get to talk about playing with my balls all the time.

Guess I'm just blue collar.

Those guys should just get some of these:

Two by two, hands of blue!

Seriously, I use a plastic disposable butter knife ($.99 for a box of 100 from the dollar store) and spread it into the races of the BB, wheel, headset -any bearing for that matter that needs grease. That way you don't ever have to get your hands dirty/greasy and if you use a clean tool every time you dip into the grease tub you never have to worry about contaminating it with dirt, metal filings, or anything you wouldn't want to get into another bearing down the road. I've seen other people treat a grease tub so nonchalantly that it was filthy enough to use as valve-lapping compound.

High end bottom brackets are all outboard or Exo bearings that are ceramic. Bearings are in a sealed race but replaceable.



Lighter, stronger, more round than the best steel bearings. Expensive.

The old cup and ball brackets are gone because when the cartridge ones came out, people preferred them. Easier to install, maintain and manufacture. If there was a suitable demand for them, they would still be around.

Soma lists a loose ball Sugino BB. 68x109. For -- hang on -- $139.99. A few places still sell the spindles if you have cups in good shape. Harris and Rivendell have recently listed some, I think.

The demand isn't a high because a suitably-maintained cup&ball system will last forever with just the addition of grease and the occasional new set of balls. The need to manufacture a ton of new ones isn't there if the new bikes aren't using the technology any more.

I bet the labor cost to install a cartridge BB at a bike factory/assembly plant is much less than putting together loose balls. This is the reason many older low-end bikes used bearing keepers to simplify assembly on the line even though it usually makes them less efficient. I'm sure the higher cost of the newer BB's was offset by the reduced time/labor required to assemble the bike when they first came out. Then, as the price of the new technology came down due to economies of scale it just became the new de-facto standard.

As Robert Heinlein once said, "When it is time to Railroad, people will build Railroads. Until then people will use buggies and carts" (or something like that).

It's kind of hard these days to find buggies and carts on the cheap.

Heck!, in the 80's I was drooling for anything sealed bearing equipped as they were mostly considered better than loose bearing ones in most manufacturer's model lineups (No one can deny how nice and smooth a Mavic 500 series sealed bearing hubset rolls and seem to last forever)......Now I have sealed bearing everything on my Vitus.....even the Stronglight A9 headset on it is the newer cartridge bearing version, and I love it that I don't have to worry about servicing/regreasing the bearings in the future when I get caught in the rain......plus fiddly bearing cone adjustment is mostly a thing in the past for me

Chombi

ok ok

so does anyone have experience with FSA BB's? link

I generally like their other stuff.

Although the taper is the same, the Campy is slightly thinner (for lack of a better description) so it's likely your crankset will slide too far onto the spindle. You can often get away with the reverse situation, although in that case the Campy crank sits a couple mm further out on the spindle than designed, so you need to factor that into your chainline.

hahahah, and they wear those blue Park gloves all day. pshaw.

FWIW, the sugino loose-ball BB is for the 75 track crank, and has an ISO/campy spindle.

No one is selling new non-sealed BBs for the reasons above. No one is selling a lot of NOS/used ones on ebay b/c the market isn't demanding them. If you truly love 'em, i'd suggest buying or otherwise obtaining lightly used sets from a local co-op/flippers/crusty bike ppl. Or, buy some complete old bikes for a song, many of which will have completely salvageable tange or similar-quality BB's in em. Not likely to find them in 110mm JIS, though, as these tended to have considerably longer spindles. I was amazed at how nice the BBs I've pulled off some 70s and 80s era bikes just recently; after you remove the old, gelled up grease from the bearings and cups, the surfaces are often in good shape. (Bearings remain cheap and plentiful in most sizes.) Spindles tend to "win" the battle with the crank-arm, too, and the spindles are often in good shape on lightly-used-but-neglected old bikes. Also, you can buy new spindles for about $10 from several online sources, but in a very limited run of sizes. I have no problem with sealed BBs, but most of the surviving square taper units are either really janked-out with plastic cups(eg, un54), or pretty expensive (eg, phil).

-rob

I figured there was something that got you sidetracked from our discussion in regards to my ISO post.