advice sought on bottom bracket

My best tourer needs some work on the bottom bracket. I took it apart today
for routine clean & grease and discovered the RH bearing cup is pitting at
one side. So, time for some replacement parts.

The bike is a circa 1990 Nigel Dean World Tour (531 frame, drop bars, etc.).
Chainset is a triple, standard taper fit, BB has English threads. The bike
avoids the salt of midwinter, though is sometimes ridden in mucky & wet
conditions and occaisionally along farm tracks, bridleways, etc..

Options I see are to either fit a sealed BB as fitted to most modern bikes,
or to search around for a quality cup and ballrace set (do such things exist
anymore ?).

So, seeking recommendations for either a sealed BB for taper cranks with a
decent life expectancy on a road bike, or a source of quality cup, axle and
ballrace sets.


I suspect this will need a trip up the road in the boiling heat to Madgetts.

Nigel

On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 20:31:04 +0100, NC wrote:

So, seeking recommendations for either a sealed BB for taper cranks with a
decent life expectancy on a road bike,

Are shimano XT BB cartridges still available with square taper? If
you can find one I'd recommend that. Mine (in my Dawes) has something
like 10 years at 4000 or so miles per year year-round and teh
occasional submerge (my main route to work floods for a couple of days
or so about once every two to three years).

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

The only problem is... that 10 years ago, bb's were wider. I finally
managed to get a replacement for my 531 Joe Waugh from about the same
time by buying a Campag record triple bb, which is 110mm wide.
Probably cost more than the bike's worth!

All the new stuff is narrower, to make space for the 9 and 10 cogs at
the back, so be careful... I don't know how wide an old triple is. You
may end up with the only option being replacing the cups and ball
races, and keeping the original axle.

HTH,

Steve

On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 20:37:17 +0100, "Tony W"
wrote:


"NC" wrote in message
...
My best tourer needs some work on the bottom bracket. I took it apart
today
for routine clean & grease and discovered the RH bearing cup is pitting at
one side. So, time for some replacement parts.

The bike is a circa 1990 Nigel Dean World Tour (531 frame, drop bars,
etc.).
Chainset is a triple, standard taper fit, BB has English threads. The
bike
avoids the salt of midwinter, though is sometimes ridden in mucky & wet
conditions and occaisionally along farm tracks, bridleways, etc..

Options I see are to either fit a sealed BB as fitted to most modern
bikes,
or to search around for a quality cup and ballrace set (do such things
exist
anymore ?).

So, seeking recommendations for either a sealed BB for taper cranks with a
decent life expectancy on a road bike, or a source of quality cup, axle
and
ballrace sets.

Old style still exist -- but fit a sealed unit and forget it for the next
few years.

That's what I did about 3 years back -- and I've still forgotten it.

T

"Ian Smith" wrote in message
...

Are shimano XT BB cartridges still available with square taper?

Duno, but I just fitted a 127mm long square taper UN72 BB to my tourer, and
if that's not long enough then you're into Royce and some serious wad :-)

Guy

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:

"Ian Smith" wrote in message
...

Are shimano XT BB cartridges still available with square taper?

Yes. Wiggle would call it something like:
Shimano UN72/3 Bottom Bracket - Tapered Shell 68 Axle 122.5
^^=XT^ ^^=square taper^^=BB width ^^=length

Duno, but I just fitted a 127mm long square taper UN72 BB to my tourer, and
if that's not long enough then you're into Royce and some serious wad :-)

That sounds like the sort of length which could lead to bow leggedness!

--
Jim Price

http://www.jimprice.dsl.pipex.com

Conscientious objection is hard work in an economic war.

"Ian" wrote in message
...
Peter B must be edykated coz e writed:


"NC" wrote in message
...

So, seeking recommendations for either a sealed BB for taper cranks
with a
decent life expectancy on a road bike, or a source of quality cup, axle
and
ballrace sets.

Here's wot I use:


http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/v...ttom+Brackets&
ModelID=49

UN72 XT sealed unit for 16.99 squids, post free, a bargain sir.
113, 115 and 112mm in stock.

Pete


I would go for the Truvativ Isis Gigapipe with the 3 bearings.

going to be fun fitting this to a square taper crankset, isn't it?

Or something from Campagnolo.

Do campag still have different tapers to shimano?

FWIW I use UN52 on the tandem, since I can't get 72 in the size I want (I
run a 73mm shell BB in a 68mm shell in order to get the LHS sticking out
more. It works very well!)

cheers,
clive

Clive George wrote:

Or something from Campagnolo.

Do campag still have different tapers to shimano?

Yes. The angle and length of the tapered bit is different so they are not
properly compatible. Also unlikely to find one with a long enough axle
anyway.

~PB

"Peter B" wrote in message
...

"NC" wrote in message
...

So, seeking recommendations for either a sealed BB for taper cranks with
a
decent life expectancy on a road bike, or a source of quality cup, axle
and
ballrace sets.

Here's wot I use:


http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/v...ttom+Brackets&
ModelID=49

UN72 XT sealed unit for 16.99 squids, post free, a bargain sir.
113, 115 and 112mm in stock.

From the comments in the thread, this seems the way to go. Campag is out -
wrong length, probably wrong taper. And wacky 3-bearing systems with splined
cranks might be OK for some, but look like a very expensive upgrade when
I've thrown everything else away :-(.

I'll check a few other online suppliers, as I need some other bits and might
as well go for the best overall deal including carriage costs.

I'll need at least 122mm (various attempts to measure give circa 124mm on my
current axle, but loosing 1mm each side would not cause any problems). Shell
appears to be 68mm face-to-face. More importantly, its the same dimensions
as my more modern MTB which has a Shimano cartridge bearing.


Nigel