Italian BB & wits end ?

davgtrek

Hi All
i have a 68 x 107mm italian BB for my colnago dream. ( 9speed )
It has FSA ISIS compact cranks at moment so theres only one BB available online I could buy. The second one of these BB's in 18months is about to go......

( bike came with chorus cranks but ratio too big for me ) I still have the chorus square taper BB that is in good shape on a shelf.

So with that BB size i'm limited enough but I feel the ISIS cranks are limiting me further.

What new crankset could I get to help me have at least a few reliable BB options available ?

This is F%&@ing doing my head in ! You spend all the money on gear and time training and a BB lets you down !!!!

Thanks

Lemag

davgtrek wrote: »

( bike came with chorus cranks but ratio too big for me ) I still have the chorus square taper BB that is in good shape on a shelf.

Can you swap out the rings for rings of your desired size? Make sure that the BCD is the same for the replacement rings as for the rings which are curently on the cranks.

Lumen

You can get Italian-threaded BBs for modern campag chainsets, so maybe consider picking up a used 10sp ultratorque chainset.

redmaxi

Ultra torque's are by no means reliable. Water ingress is common, although plenty of grease helps. They can be creaky auld things as well and are definetly not cheap.
What about summit like this onto the original Chorus square taper BB which is bullet proof and should last a very long time especially if re-greased once a year.

countrykid

davgtrek wrote: »

Hi All
i have a 68 x 107mm italian BB for my colnago dream. ( 9speed )
It has FSA ISIS compact cranks at moment so theres only one BB available online I could buy. The second one of these BB's in 18months is about to go......

( bike came with chorus cranks but ratio too big for me ) I still have the chorus square taper BB that is in good shape on a shelf.

So with that BB size i'm limited enough but I feel the ISIS cranks are limiting me further.

What new crankset could I get to help me have at least a few reliable BB options available ?

This is F%&@ing doing my head in ! You spend all the money on gear and time training and a BB lets you down !!!!

Thanks

i have a brand new COMPACT ultratorque veloce crankset and italian threaded cups to match.... any interest?
easy to strip and grease regularly

davgtrek

thanks lumen/lemag and all for great advise.

the bb size for my bike is 68 x 107mm.
the bike is 9 speed so i need to suss out will a 10 speed new crankset work with it !

@ redmax thanks for link. will have a look. my gut tells me to get back to the original bb type and go from there.

@ countrykid - thanks- leave that with me for a few days until i suss out my options.

countrykid

No hassle
It won't be expensive if your interested..
As for ultra torque .... Whilst redmaxi is right that sometimes it can have water ingress it is also one if the most serviceable of the outboard bearing BB varieties..
5 minutes has the crank off ... Greased ... And replaced.

sbs2010

If you stick with the Chorus BB you have to watch out for spindle type and length. The crank RedMaxi linked to is JIS but your BB is ISO I think. And different cranks need different spindle lengths too.

Obviously the ideal solution is to find the compact equivalent of your 9 speed chorus crank but I've no idea if there was one made. The 10 speed version is like gold dust and if you ever find one, let me know cause I want it.

If you stick with square taper and really want to have a hassle free life then get one of these:
http://www.philwood.com/products/bbhome.php
Just use lots of thread locker.

The crank Red Maxi linked to would be fine (but check 10 speed crank is ok with 9 speed chain) and you'd get a Phil Wood to suit - you just need to find out what the recommended spindle length is for it.


Finally - the ultra torque one country kid (?) is selling is probably the easiest/cheapest solution but make sure it will run smoothly with your 9 speed stuff. Downside is it won't look nearly as cool.

countrykid

sbs2010 wrote: »

If you stick with the Chorus BB you have to watch out for spindle type and length. The crank RedMaxi linked to is JIS but your BB is ISO I think. And different cranks need different spindle lengths too.

Obviously the ideal solution is to find the compact equivalent of your 9 speed chorus crank but I've no idea if there was one made. The 10 speed version is like gold dust and if you ever find one, let me know cause I want it.

If you stick with square taper and really want to have a hassle free life then get one of these:
http://www.philwood.com/products/bbhome.php
Just use lots of thread locker.

The crank Red Maxi linked to would be fine (but check 10 speed crank is ok with 9 speed chain) and you'd get a Phil Wood to suit - you just need to find out what the recommended spindle length is for it.


Finally - the ultra torque one country kid (?) is selling is probably the easiest/cheapest solution but make sure it will run smoothly with your 9 speed stuff. Downside is it won't look nearly as cool.

Good post! What type of chorus 10 you after? I have a carbon 10 speed...standard rings...square taper if interested

sbs2010

I want 10 speed Chorus or Record compact. Have standard Record on a 102mm square taper BB and I want to be able to swap to compact without changing the BB.
From what I've seen the compacts go for £150+ on Ebay which is too much for me. So OP, that's what you're looking at to use your Chorus BB.

davgtrek

Thanks for advise SBS2010. At this stage i couldn't give a s@*t about cool all I want is some reliability and to get at least 2 years of moderate riding out of a bb at least......

the original BB that came with it has Chorus 36 x 24T - 102mm square taper.
Its just the original cranks were too big for my humble legs and i wanted a compact.

So I could put this old but still good BB back in and stick with a square T compact 9spd crank ( if i could find one ) The im faced with having a source for a new BB if it ever failed.

Other option is CountryKids crankset.

davgtrek

SB2010 yea our messages crossed paths.

If it meant that replacement square BB's were somebit reasonable then it would be worth it but otherwise not.

Surely there are some cheaper FSA Campag compatible compact cranks around.

sbs2010

I've seen loads of the 102mm campy BBs for sale so I dont think there would be much problem replacing that when it comes to it.

It's just I've never seen or read of a crank that goes on a 102mm ISO spindle other than the Campagnolo Record or Chorus.

Post 30 in this thread
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/components-wrenching/compact-crankset-classic-campagnolo-chorus-2-x-9-setup-i-cannot-identify-mine-304127-2.html

Gives me hope but the link is to a standard not compact.

sbs2010

And never give up on cool. You've got a Colnago with Campagnolo for God's sake.

davgtrek

good stuff SBS2020 . Tis true about colbago/campy & cool.