As far as ISIS bottom brackets are concnered, I wore tried the Tru Vativ Giga Pipe, FSA Platinum Pro Ti, and the American Classic bottom brackets and all wore out within 300-500 miles but the American Classic lasted the longest but was replaced earlier this week with K-Force cranks with Mega Exo bottom bracket. Since I am still going to be using FSA ISIS cranks on my TT bike, I have ordered a FSA Platinum Pro MegaQuad Bottom Bracket which has two sets of bearings per side and is supposed to improve longevity.

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300-500 miles? Are you serious? I've got three bikes, all of which have FSA ISIS bottom brackets, and each of which have over 2,000 miles. What are you doing to your bike?!?!

Which ones have you had the most success with?

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"In the blocks you're a prisoner, the gun releases you."

To be honest, I've never had a problem with a bottom bracket in my life. Used Shimano (105, Ultegra, DA) and FSA (Platinum ISIS). But I'm light (155 lbs), which might have something to do with it. 2 of my bikes have FSA ISIS bottom brackets and they're just fine (knock on wood).

Thanks jhendric. It may have made good sense to go with the FSA K-Force but it was a bit too steep for me. Hope it works out for you.

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"In the blocks you're a prisoner, the gun releases you."

I bought it for 2 reasons: I was interested in checking out the external bearing bottom bracket and because it looks cool. I'm not afraid to admit it.

Heading out for another ride in 5 minutes. We'll see how it goes.

Ya... there is something 'wrong' if you're only getting 300-500 miles!!!!



JB

You know in retrospect you have a point.

After doing some more realistic math, prior to switching to ISIS style cranks mid-year last year, I managed about 6-months of riding on Ultegra Octalink BBs - thats while riding 10,000+, hard road miles per year with about 2,000 of those miles on the TT bike (Giant TCR Aero) and the rest on the road bike (TCR Team Composite). My thinking was that the ISIS standard would be a better bang for the buck so I switched to FSA ISIS cranks in September of last year with the FSA Platinum Pro Ti BB. That BB was creaking within 2-months so that actually equates to about 1,800 miles which is more in line with what you indicated. The replacement was a Tru Vativ Giga Pipe and it did not actually wear out but was replaced by the lighter (and more delicate) American Classic ISIS BB - so actually the Tru Vativ is still in service as it found its way onto a friends bike with FSA Compact cranks. The American Classic was installed around November and despite regular maintenance, the BB began creaking mid February so you are right - in reality I managed about 2,500 miles on the American Classic but since it was far less than what I had experienced with Octalink style BBs, I guess I lost sight of actual numbers. At 6' and 175 off season and 165 in season, I imagine lighter riders might experience better service life from the ISIS BB's but for me, I am going to give the external bearing style BB a shot and see what happens.

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Can the external BB be used with the carbon pro team crank?

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"In the blocks you're a prisoner, the gun releases you."

No.

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Well don't I feel foolish - smacking forehead head with hand. First ride on the new K-Force cranks (really like them) and guess what - the creaking noise was back within 20-minutes on a 70-mile training ride! After finishing the ride, I did some investigating and it appears that the source for the noise is apparently either the result of the Sapim spokes 'meshing' together at the cross (3x) or the interface at the hub on my American Classic CR-350 rear wheel. I was convinced it was the bottom bracket but no way a brand new crank/bottom bracket is going to be the culprit so I checked the spokes and everyone one of them 'creaked' when stressed for a loose spoke. I don't imagine too many people use the CR-350's as training wheels so I am going to have to clean the wheel/spokes and apply a drop of triflow to the poiint where the spokes cross as well as at the hub (front and back) to see if that takes care of the problem - oiy.

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