My view of BBs revolves around correct dimensions, function and service. Those that are the correct spindle length and permit snug but safe clearance of stays, have accurate fit of tapers with the crank arms never used odd interface BBs and don't abide with external bearings and their cranks), stay installed and last under my use get my vote. My MB-0 made me a Mavic BB fan and put them in my bikes before the cartridge units hit the market.
My Rambouillet started with a TA Zephyr triple on a Phil, more recently I dropped the inner ring, spacers and hardware to run as a wide double and needed a shorter spindle. At nearly the same time I was dong a post-winter cleaning of my commuter and its two year-old Phil's bearings were trashed. In response to these collective observations of service life and cost to refurbish, I put an SKF for the Ram and threw an appropriate size Shimano UN-51 into the commuter. The 14 year-old Phil not regularly operated in the winter slop was smooth as butter. I never got around to dropping $46 plus cross country postage to rebuild the Phil and it sits in my tool box with its much older, still serviceable kin, the commuter got demoted in my stable, its replacement and OEM UN-55 that remains serviceable after two winters. I agree with Jan Heine that winter differentiates the durability of cartridge bearing vs sealed BB units. No snow/slush service of my SKF, so I cannot say definitively that it is my new all-around answer, but I can add that I didn't have a very good front fender/flap situation during the short-lived Phil use on the commuter compared to my current set up which may be prolonging the garden variety unit's service. Keeping the spray and slop off your bottom bracket is the first step, a sealed unit is the next if your objective is a BB that keeps working. Andy Cheatham Pittsburgh On Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at 4:27:49 PM UTC-4, dstein wrote: > > Why are more expensive bottom brackets more expensive? What do you gain? > Is it just durability? Or is there any sort of performance gain (ie, does > it roll smoother, faster, etc)? > > I've worked on most bike parts now minus the bottom bracket and headset. > About to change cranks on my hunqapillar form the Sugino triple (with a 107 > or 110 bb) to a White Industries Eno (with a 113 bb). Trying to figure out > if I go w/ the $40 bb on Riv's site? Or a White Industries or something > similar? This bike will see 500-1000 miles a year on dirt and some mud. And > support the occasional overnighter. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
