ISIS question
 

Not that I want to go ISIS, but it's kind of heading this way. Here's the situation, the wife / stoker needed longer 175 cranks. We currently have square taper Race Faces in 175 / 170 and she wanted to keep that look. She found a set of 175 / 175 ISIS Race Face cranks and bought them.

I've been trying to decide on BB's to fit them to the bike. The horror stories of failures abound, but then there are also some that last a while.

I'm kind of narrowed down to what seems to be the SKF's or the Truvative GigapipeTeam DH.

The Truvative sounds good on paper for a tandem since it has 2 bearings per spindle end. The SKF, while not having the two bearings per end uses a roller or needle bearing to support the drive end.

Appears most others use either 2 or 3 bearings total.

Regardless, I'm open to suggestions.

Any thoughts either good or bad?

PK

The FSA platinum Pro is the best ISIS BB I've installed, but I don't know if they make the spindle length you need.

I had the steel version, and I would probably avoid ti, based on groundless fears...

If
 

you have a 113mm length, either 68/73, try Crank Brothers BB. They're expensive, but warrantied for failure for 5 years. And light. After trying others, and having multiple failures on my mtb bike, these are doing great. They take a beating and have lasted 2 years now. So if they're warranteed for 5 years, and they give you a discount for the failure years, then you're still = to or better than another type. Crank Bros CS is superb in my experience. And I don't hop over logs on my mtn bikes, I bash into them, so the bearings are great. I've had the gigapipe and they were OK. Probably on a tandem they would be fine since its not taking all that abuse as I gave it on my mtn bike.

Prior to ordering, I called Co-Motion. They advised me the length needed for a Speedster is 118mm.

I did some looking and opted for the Truvative Gigapipe DH. The cost was decent. They arrived yesterday. While not exactly diet light, these do have two bearings per side, which should help on the rear which is double loaded.

These will only see road use so contamination should be minimal. After inspecting these BB's, I also believe they can be overhauled with new bearings when needed by pressing it apart. The two sealed ballbearings were easily seen on the one side, the other cup is pressed on but should be a non issue when the time comes.

FWIW, I did look at the Crank Brothers, these were just less expensive and were offered in the 118 recommended length. The CB's were up to 113mm. Maybe the 118 is on account of the 145mm rearwheel.

PK