Campy Question
 

Has Campagnolo ever made a splined BB and crankset? If not does anyone have any ideas why?
I am considering switching over to Campy but would like to have a splined BB and crankset. Are there any splined cranksets that are Campy compatible and give similiar reliability.
:confused:

as far as i know, campagnolo has never made a splined bb/crankset. why? because the square taper works well -- you don't hear people complaining about it -- and it would probably be a pain, with not much discernable value, to re-tool for a splined crankset. i don't know of anyone who has ever chosen shimano over campy on the basis of the octalink...

You could always go with a non-Campy crankset. One very popular alternative around here is the FSA cranks with FSA BB. They work just fine with Campy drivetrains and the FSA Carbon Pro Team looks just as nice if not (IMHO) nicer than Campy's carbon cranks... plus they're much cheaper. They're available with ISIS interface so you can pick any ISIS-compatible BB. I would opt for the FSA Platinum Pro Ti BB myself. Now I'm starting to get upgrade fever thinking about this. I've been contemplating switching from Shimano to Campy for the last year.

Campy's square taper design works just fine and that's why I'd assume they never went to a splined BB. FSA does however make an ISIS Splined Campy Compatible Carbon crankset. Plenty stiff and very light if you really don't want a tapered design.

Shimano 9 speed splined cranks will also work fine with Campy 10 from what I've seen people running so I wouldn't think of it as a drawback.

I have 7500 miles on a Chorus BB and Campy Crankset without so much as a squeak FWIW...

I use a FSA Team Issue Carbon Crankset (that is a mouthful), on my road bike with Campy Record and a ritchey pro cross crankset with Campy chorus on my Fuji Cross bike.

I think the history and "if it ain't broke don't fix it" rationale has been covered.

As for compatibility, any aftermarket 9 speed crank with Octalink (Shimano) or ISIS crank interfaces will work with Campy 9 speed derailleurs. Thus far, only FSA has offered the 10 speed option in the aftermarket and they offer crank options that'll work on ISO Std. square tapers (Campy), JIS Std. square tapers, Shimano/Octalink or ISIS.

You may want to take note that not all square tapers are the same. Campy continues to use the ISO square taper standard which uses shorter and slightly steeper flats than the JIS standard that Shimano and other Asian component manufactures developed. As you would expect, Barnett's and Sheldon's web sites go in the details of the differences. All you need to be aware of is that there is a difference.

Race Face manufactures its square taper BB's to the ISO standard, Phil Wood offers your choice of ISO or JIS, Campy does ISO; however, Shimano and most of the other spindles coming out of Asia are machined to the JIS standard -- regardless of what name brand they are sold under.

The reason I was asking about a splined BB/crankset is that I have had bad luck with square tapered ones. Not that they were Campy, they were Shimano. What happened was that after every ride or two I would have to retighten them. Since I went to Octalink I have not had this problem.
BikeInMn mentioned that Shimano cranks and BB's are compatible with Campy 10's. Has anyone seen or heard that they will not work?