deadforkinglast

So that road racers will have to buy new bottom brackets every time they upgrade their cranksets? Shimano has done some great things, IMO, but they have a bad habit of making things obsolete for unclear reasons.

Aeroplane

Shimano doesn't make things obsolete, you do. If you like square taper BB's and cranks, you can still find them and use them.

If you absolutely must have the newest, highest end everything available, that sounds like more of your problem than anybody else's.

chase.

outboard bearing crank systems place much more emphasis on the specific design of the crankarm-to-spindle interface, whether it's the thru-axle type or the campagnolo ultratorque type. arguably it's more stressful than ISIS or octalink because the torque between one crank arm and the other is bearing on one joint alone (rather than two), but there is also one less point of failure. hypothetically the size/depth of the splined interface and the tolerance of the machining would determine the ultimate strength and longevity of the joint.

shants

As far as complaints about octalink stripping are concerned, my understanding is that this is virtually always due to installation error. Octalink can be a bit finicky. In my personal experience, it is not very difficult to think you have the cranks properly seated when they, in fact, aren't. They can "catch" a bit and seat slightly askew or without full engagement. When you then torque down the bolt and start riding, the likelihood of stripping arises.

andre nickatina

Prolly gave the go-ahead for the Omniums, saying no problems at all. I'd say that's enough in my mind, Prolly is doing tricks!

diff_lock2

Guys, bigger axle, same diameter housing, SMALLER BEARINGS.

chase.

this is enough of a problem that shimano issued technical bulletin flyers for octalink V1 and V2 as part of their 08 literature, fwiw. apparently it's too easy for shop mechanics to arse it up as well.

idiq

That's why the bearings are external. The bearing as a whole unit is much larger (bigger circumference). If the bearings as a unit were smaller, how would they still be on the outside of the BB? The actual ball bearings inside are the same size. That's why external BB bearings look so out of proportion to regular bearings - they're much larger in circumference, but maintain the same ball bearing size on the inside. Even if you're right, isn't this a bit of a moot point? The cranks will only spin as fast as you can turn them. A reply might be that smaller bearings = harder to turn, but even that's questionable.

operator

You also limit your selection to a bunch of **** cranks and **** the q factor. Great compromises otherwise though.

BB30 is just around the corner. Thank god outboard bearings are going the way of the dinosaurs.

sneaky viking

not interested in non-backward compatible stuff.

You limit your selection of frames to hypothetical ones of the future.

chase.

how's that direct current power treating you?

legstwelve

LOL at Nerdy Edison joke.

~Stuart~

well then i guess its time to grab the dremel and make my frame fit this new stuff

Nblinko10

Stiffest, period. Stiffness is more important than lightness and looks. Buy this crankset.

letsthrowfries

DA cranks and Theo Bos/Chris have a bone to pick with your imperceptible stiffness observations!

I'm not really deriding these cranks for any particular reason, it's just that the only real objective advantages over the other cranksets/bb's are the purported stiffness of the bb interface compared to square taper /price point. Until someone who's a definitive expert who has ridden all the high end track components on a rig that you can perceive or see an appreciable difference- I'll keep saying these cranks aren't the undisputed champ.

arosusi

I have Shimano's outboard bearings (Saint cranks and BB) on my bike currently, but will change back to square taper as soon as I get new cranks. The outboard bearings only lasted about 3000 km of winter-time riding, and at that rate I'd go through two or three sets of bearings a year. Definately not worth it for me.

andre nickatina

My friend is an Men's group A match sprinter. He rides this frame:

He rides the octalink Dura Ace cranks on his bike.

I asked him about the Omniums, his face lit up and he told me he had ridden them on his coach's bike and thought they were the best thing ever. While this story is not that meaningful to you because you don't know me or my friend, it sold me on them.

Besides, crank stiffness isn't going to matter for most dudes riding steel bikes on the street anyway... You have to be riding a track gear (above 80") to actually feel these things out IMO.

Nblinko10

True, for most people on the street they are unnecessary. On my track bike I am currently running a 90.1" gear and I love my omniums

or398

Hello. I just fitted up an Omnium Track with GXP BB on my Italian threaded frame and the chainline measures about 42mm.

Aint ridden it yet so I can't tell you how it feels but my other experience with external bearing cranks is that they are noticably stiffer which is a Good Thing.

Cheers

Oliver

sp00ki

what does "stepped" mean in this context?

sp00ki

Dinosaur? You realize every major cyclist in the peleton is riding outboard, right?
Someone whose livelihood depends on riding the best performing components isn't going to ride on "dinosaur" cranks...

More made up facts, eh?

I read this and got curious. I immediately realized that this is complete BS, so i took a look at a few things (i also have a set of 08 ultegra road cranks, but i figured we can do apples to apples); all thumbnails are clickable.

The silver crank is the ever ubiquitous sugino messenger. Pretty representative of the typical utilitarian fixed gear crank. The black one is the SRAM s300 courier crank.
Same purpose, both for the street, both for fixed:


Once you put them side to side, both on the same plane, you immedately see a big difference. There's way more material on traditional cranks where the crank meets the spindle than the newer outboard style:



There's also the BB to account for, however. This does push the crank out a bit, so let's look at numbers...

The SRAM's GXP bottom bracket comes in at about 1/2":


Add that to the SRAM crank's height of 1", and we get 1 1/2":


That sounds like a bit until you realize that the messenger stacks up to the same thing on its own:


Once you consider that mounting the messengers to the appropriate bottom bracket adds roughly 1/4", you see that the SRAMs actually reduce the q factor from a comparable set of traditional cranks.
Now, comparing the Omniums to say, 75s would be a better comparison as both pedals are optimized for performance exclusively and are built for chain stays with less flare, but i'm quite sure that putting them side by side would produce similar results (or at least show no difference).

Where you come up with your stuff i'd like to know... don't you work at a shop?

loser

I've been riding this crankset since late december. I live in montreal and let me tell you that it is probably the ultimate test for a crank to be ridding everyday for more than 7 hours in those condition. I can say that the omniums works well in 20 cm of snow, on minus 25 celsius days, in freezing rain that would cover the crankarms with ice and ridiculous amounts of salt without any sign of failure. They still feel as strong as the first day I bought them.

I'm also very rough with my bike, the crankset i used before that one had to be replaced because I broke around ten teeth of the chainring by pushing myself over a snow bank and needed a new chainring to finish my day and just end up buying the omnium instead. My old crankset was a sugino.

My Winter bike is the mercier frameset on bike island (haha). My hubs are miches and I have a soma cog on there with a normal/easy ratio of 48/17 and the chainline is slightly of, just to say that it is not perfectly straight.

On the aesthetic and q factor, I can't give you any information because I really don't give a **** about those things.

I hope this will help more than the octalink versus gxp versus square taper debate going on in your thread.

Paul Proteus

I've been riding my omniums for about a year now and have loved them to death. For the price, ease, and ride quality I can't complain at all. I'm not one to jump on the "stiffness" concept because I simply don't have much to compare to these (only some older road cranks). However, on the street and in the ****ty Chicago weather, they have held up admirably and are extremely easy to service and clean.

adriano 

while the topic is stiffness, shorter cranks would be stiffer right?

cc700

stiffer but less powerful. it's more important to have a longer crank arm when the material is as stiff as hardened forged aluminum like in crank arms. then again the gear ratio can just be changed.