frenchie86

Question for people with "Retro Roadies":

I have been looking into a crankset with an external bb for my miyata. Will the additional stiffness of the crankset be noticeable? I feel like a stiffer crank would just cause more flex in the frame, am I thinking about this wrong?

brockd15 

I'm not super attentive to things like frame flex and small differences in ride characteristics so I may not be the best person to answer, but......I've never noticed a difference with outboard bearing bottom brackets.

CardiacKid

I put external bearing cranks on my '87 Trek 520, just for the heck of it and it seemed to accelerate faster with no noticeable side effects. I didn't attempt to prove this in any scientific method, so it might have all been in my head.

frenchie86

two conflicting opinions, anyone else for the tie breaker?

Oregon Southpaw

I put new black 10-speed 105 cranks on my bike and love them. Love.

RobbieTunes

I'm not fast enough or strong enough to tell the difference, as if I ever could.

I only have one external BB bike now, and it's steel, and it doesn't feel any different.

With older steel frames, I'll bet few of us would be able to pass a blindfold test on them.

On full carbon bikes, I never could get used to that hollow sound, but I didn't blame the bb.

I think drrobwave has them on all his bikes, incl his Ironman and his Miyata Team. Maybe ask him.

mazdaspeed

I don't think the external bearings are noticeably stiffer on most steel frames because the frame will have flexed long before the cranks themselves.

Henry III

I noticed that with my bikes. All of my road bikes have external bearing setups. Two steel lugged bikes...Ciocc with aluminum Campy Centaur crankset and my custom 650 frame with 11spd Chorus. I don't notice the cranks but the bottom bracket to flex area to flex more. I've got carbon Centaur cranks on my aluminum Colnago Mix and FSA Gossamers with Ultegra cups on my Guerciotti Atos cross bike and their both extremely stiff setups. I like the external cups better as their really easy to setup and no worries about them loosening or tightening up through out the season. Just install and forget about them. I also have an external bottom bracket setup on my Ti mountain bike with Sram X0 carbon cranks. Can't ever say that'd I want to go back to a loose bearing cup setup or even sealed bearing/spindle setup over a two piece crank setup like on my newer stuff now.

John E

The cranks are so stiff compared to the frame that I doubt it makes any difference.

frenchie86

This was my thought on the issue, I just wanted to confirm that my thinking was correct.

That being said, is there actually any reason to switch if you have a steel frame?

mazdaspeed

Lighter cranks that require less maintenance and effort to service, 9/10/11 speed compatibility

RobbieTunes

What he said, plus you can sometimes get a pretty decent external BB Bontrager triple crankset for a lot less than a vintage one. A lot of cranks can use the GXP bottom bracket cups, and a lot can use even better cups that are often much cheaper than an older, square taper BB. I think I have new Ultegra bb cups on my only external BB crankset, cost me something like $9 on line. I think the new Campy stuff is all external BB, but check on the tools needed before you think they're a bargain.

Puget Pounder

I'm in the external BB group. Not that you would remove cranks and BBs all too often, but using an allen wrench to remove the cranks vs a crank puller is much easier and you don't run the risk of damaging threads. Performance wise, I'll just +1 what everyone else says.

buldogge

I love me some UT...If it wasn't for Century Grey Centaur gruppos, and a couple vintage Athena 8s cranks, I would go all UT all the time.

My 2c.

mazdaspeed

Even though external BB's are disposable they seem to hold up surprisingly well. Ridiculously easy to work with too, and also interestingly campy, shimano, and sram (gxp) cups use the same tool. Anyhow I do think modern cranksets themselves are actually stiffer than older ones but it would probably only be noticeable on a very stiff (not vintage) frame.

dundas

I put a 105 BB and crank on my Miyata 710. I like the setup a lot for what it's worth.

a77impala

Just put a FSA compact crank on my '87 Ironman. Got it at a Frankenbike swap meet 50/34, like new. $35.00. I
am impressed, very smooth, and my Shimano 600 front deraileur works great with it. I love how easy it was
to install.

Henry III

I believe the tool for almost all external bb's is the same. I've got sram cups, Shimano cups, Campy cups and I can use the same Park tool to remove them all with no issues. Now when's the last time brand new Campagnolo bb cups cost less then $30? I think that look better also *bites tongue and grabs his flame suit*. I think Ultra Torque standard size cranks are one of the nicest looking cranks around. I've got both compact and standard but the std's do it for me. It's right up there with the timeless beauty of C-Record cranks arms.

RobbieTunes

The BB tool is pretty universal, but I had to make a tool to get my Veloce cranks tightened in.
I'll have to buy the tool to get them off.

Henry III

What tool is needed to get them off? I never had a problem getting any of my Ultra Torque crankarms off?

thirdgenbird

new veloce cranks are powertorque. you need a gear puller to remove them.

ciocc_cat

Ditto!

muzpuf

im still waiting for my titanium super record bottom bracket to wear out they just turned 30 (grin)