Is it safe? Ti bottom bracket spindles

I remember the famous case of Laurent Fignon's bottom bracket spindle
breaking. Are the newer Ti bottom brackets reliable?

-Eric

"E Goforth" wrote in message
nk.net...
I remember the famous case of Laurent Fignon's bottom bracket spindle
breaking. Are the newer Ti bottom brackets reliable?

Phil Wood states its ti bb spindles have a 225lb weight limit.

E Goforth wrote:
I remember the famous case of Laurent Fignon's bottom bracket spindle
breaking. Are the newer Ti bottom brackets reliable?

-Eric

I would say a big NO to titanium BB spindles or pedal spindles. They do
nuthin there, can break, hurts lots when they do.

On Thu, 06 Apr 2006 22:34:44 -0700, bfd wrote:

"E Goforth" wrote in message
nk.net...

I remember the famous case of Laurent Fignon's bottom bracket spindle
breaking. Are the newer Ti bottom brackets reliable?

Phil Wood states its ti bb spindles have a 225lb weight limit.

A friend did some calculations on these once (square taper axles),
comparing them to steel, and came up with a safe rider weight about half
that. Is there an engineer in the house (of Phil)?

Matt O.

Maybe the question should be whether your "friend" who did these
calculation is an "engineer?" Has he examined a Phil Wood ti spindle?

Phil ti spindles are solid, not hallow like alot of other ti spindles.
Further, it is supposedly "heat-treated," presumably for greater
strength. If you contact Phil Wood, they will tell you that the ti
spindle has a weight limit of 225 lbs!

For more on PW ti bbs, go he

Phil Wood premium ti bb:
http://www.philwood.com/Price%20List...racketSets.pdf

Phil Wood Proprietary Magnisium Titanium bb:
http://www.philwood.com/Price%20List...racketSets.pdf

Why bother? What do you think you might gain?
Larry

"bfd" wrote in message
oups.com...
Maybe the question should be whether your "friend" who did these
calculation is an "engineer?" Has he examined a Phil Wood ti spindle?

Maybe he's a former metallurgist...

In article ,
"Hank Wirtz" wrote:

"bfd" wrote in message
oups.com...
Maybe the question should be whether your "friend" who did these
calculation is an "engineer?" Has he examined a Phil Wood ti spindle?

Maybe he's a former metallurgist...

Now I have to clean the monitor screen.

--
Michael Press

Matt O'Toole wrote:

On Thu, 06 Apr 2006 22:34:44 -0700, bfd wrote:

"E Goforth" wrote in message
nk.net...

I remember the famous case of Laurent Fignon's bottom bracket spindle
breaking. Are the newer Ti bottom brackets reliable?

Phil Wood states its ti bb spindles have a 225lb weight limit.

A friend did some calculations on these once (square taper axles),
comparing them to steel, and came up with a safe rider weight about half
that. Is there an engineer in the house (of Phil)?

I'm a relatively light 150-155 pounds, and thought I was probably in
the "safe zone" for using ti pedal spindles (which had a similar
weight restrictions). They did last quite a few years before the
right one snapped off instantly, sending me into the curb (a hairy,
scary ride in traffic that somehow didn't result in hitting a car or
the ground).

I'm not too bright, but I did learn a lesson that morning. Ti is
great stuff, but not for everything. In the case of pedal spindles
and bottom brackets, you really don't want to take a design that's
optimized for steel and convert it to titanium if you can't make other
changes (ie make the BB or pedal spindle diameters larger).

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

E Goforth wrote:

I remember the famous case of Laurent Fignon's bottom bracket spindle
breaking. Are the newer Ti bottom brackets reliable?

If you replace them regularly, which would be a fairly ruinous cost. Ti
does have a fatigue limit, but it's not as usefully high as that for steel.