4 ms·

A flip side of GAS is that the market optimises for gear acquirers. A decent square taper bottom bracket is perfectly good for 99% of cyclists, and maintenance

by twic 2y ago

A flip side of GAS is that the market optimises for gear acquirers. A decent square taper bottom bracket is perfectly good for 99% of cyclists, and maintenance free for a decade or more. But gear acquirers are only interested in the latest and greatest ultra-stiff super-light external bearing BBs, so now square taper is dead except at the cheapest, shittiest grades. Which means that i, as someone who just wants my cranks to go round, am forced to enter their world.

sudosysgen 2y ago
I agree with you regarding press fit BBs, but aren't externally threaded BBs also better for casual cyclists and more reliable? I don't care in the slightest about BB stiffness and weight, but I would much rather have a BSA threaded external BB. That way if something happens and I need to change my cranks (or god forbid, bearings) I don't have to worry about needing a specialized crank puller or anything like that, an Allen key is enough, and I never have to worry about stripping my cranks, and I never have to worry about my cranks falling out and marring from the bolt getting loose. Something like an ISIS spline two/three piece crank that's either self extracting or bolted like Shimano MTB cranks is perfect. Simple, cheap, no specialized tools needed, and no risk of catastrophic failure. And I'll never need to repack the bearings ever again. Plus, as someone who lives in a place where they salt the roads, I'd much rather deal with a rusty threaded external bearing BB than a square taper that might never come out of the frame.
- twic 2y ago
  The bearings in external bottom brackets are much less well protected, and so more vulnerable to water and dust and so on. That means they need to be regreased or replaced more often. I see people talking about doing that monthly, annually, whatever. I have been riding the same square taper bottom bracket since 2012, and it's doing fine. The square taper per se may not be as good as a bolted spline or something. It is annoying to need a crank puller, but for me, it's been something i need once every five years or so, so not much of a problem in practice. So, compared to external bearing bottom brackets, a small disadvantage that buys you a big advantage. I have no opinion about the splined internal bottom brackets!
  - sudosysgen 2y ago
    I've been riding the same external BB since 2015. The only people I've ever heard of replacing their external BBs are hardcore mountain bikers or people with exotic weird BBs. It's nothing special, just a run of the mill Shimano BB-52. While the bearings are a bit more exposed, they're significantly larger which means they can be sealed better. In practice they are pretty well protected fully sealed bearings. There's not really that much of a reason they'd have to be less protected than internal bearings.

by twic 2y ago

sudosysgen 2y ago

I agree with you regarding press fit BBs, but aren't externally threaded BBs also better for casual cyclists and more reliable? I don't care in the slightest about BB stiffness and weight, but I would much rather have a BSA threaded external BB. That way if something happens and I need to change my cranks (or god forbid, bearings) I don't have to worry about needing a specialized crank puller or anything like that, an Allen key is enough, and I never have to worry about stripping my cranks, and I never have to worry about my cranks falling out and marring from the bolt getting loose. Something like an ISIS spline two/three piece crank that's either self extracting or bolted like Shimano MTB cranks is perfect. Simple, cheap, no specialized tools needed, and no risk of catastrophic failure. And I'll never need to repack the bearings ever again. Plus, as someone who lives in a place where they salt the roads, I'd much rather deal with a rusty threaded external bearing BB than a square taper that might never come out of the frame.

twic 2y ago
The bearings in external bottom brackets are much less well protected, and so more vulnerable to water and dust and so on. That means they need to be regreased or replaced more often. I see people talking about doing that monthly, annually, whatever. I have been riding the same square taper bottom bracket since 2012, and it's doing fine. The square taper per se may not be as good as a bolted spline or something. It is annoying to need a crank puller, but for me, it's been something i need once every five years or so, so not much of a problem in practice. So, compared to external bearing bottom brackets, a small disadvantage that buys you a big advantage. I have no opinion about the splined internal bottom brackets!
- sudosysgen 2y ago
  I've been riding the same external BB since 2015. The only people I've ever heard of replacing their external BBs are hardcore mountain bikers or people with exotic weird BBs. It's nothing special, just a run of the mill Shimano BB-52. While the bearings are a bit more exposed, they're significantly larger which means they can be sealed better. In practice they are pretty well protected fully sealed bearings. There's not really that much of a reason they'd have to be less protected than internal bearings.