I’m in the market for a new crankset, and currently have an Ergomo powermeter (ISIS). Since I’d rather not (and couldn’t afford to anyway) but a new powermeter just to get new cranks, I’m looking for a crankset with an ISIS interface. But everywhere I look, and every brand I look at (Shimano, SRAM, Rotor, FSA, etc, etc), the cranks either require an integrated BB or have some new type of interface (GXP?). I don’t mind buying a used set off Ebay, or a set of BMX cranks, or something like that, but is that really the only way to go now? Is this type of BB now completely a thing of the past? I guess I missed the revolution.
Nice. Several of those were listed but ‘unavailable’, but a few seem to actually exist. I feel kinda stupid now, but that’s nothing new for me. The bulk of my question about the movement towards integration remains.
Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger…I was happy with square taper bb’s and never saw the need to go with the external cup sets. I currently run a Power Spline which to the untrained eye looks a lot like ISIS. The boys who devised ISIS soon found out it wasn’t going to be the end all be all. I don’t think you can find anyone manufacturing new ISIS spline cranks and will have to go used to answer your question.
I will say the external cup sets are very slick, but are they better than the old squares? My square taper bb’s lasted FOREVER. Exernals? I burned up 2 MegaExo(FSA) in 18 months and my LBS finally gave me cash back and I went to SRAM. Love the GXP and for that matter everything SRAM makes…it has just worked flawlessly for me from day one from shifters to brakes to bb’s to derailleurs. FSA lost me long ago.
The good thing is that you can certainly find some smoking deals on ISIS splined bb’s/cranks.
Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger…I was happy with square taper bb’s and never saw the need to go with the external cup sets. I currently run a Power Spline which to the untrained eye looks a lot like ISIS. The boys who devised ISIS soon found out it wasn’t going to be the end all be all. I don’t think you can find anyone manufacturing new ISIS spline cranks and will have to go used to answer your question.
I will say the external cup sets are very slick, but are they better than the old squares? My square taper bb’s lasted FOREVER. Exernals? I burned up 2 MegaExo(FSA) in 18 months and my LBS finally gave me cash back and I went to SRAM. Love the GXP and for that matter everything SRAM makes…it has just worked flawlessly for me from day one from shifters to brakes to bb’s to derailleurs. FSA lost me long ago.
The good thing is that you can certainly find some smoking deals on ISIS splined bb’s/cranks.
Off topic, but since you’ve got some experiance with square tapers, what do the Phil Wood BBs provide over the Shimano BBs (say, UN54) for the price premium? Longevity? Stiffness? Less friction? If you happen to have info in this area, thanks.
Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger…I was happy with square taper bb’s and never saw the need to go with the external cup sets. I currently run a Power Spline which to the untrained eye looks a lot like ISIS. The boys who devised ISIS soon found out it wasn’t going to be the end all be all. I don’t think you can find anyone manufacturing new ISIS spline cranks and will have to go used to answer your question.
I will say the external cup sets are very slick, but are they better than the old squares? My square taper bb’s lasted FOREVER. Exernals? I burned up 2 MegaExo(FSA) in 18 months and my LBS finally gave me cash back and I went to SRAM. Love the GXP and for that matter everything SRAM makes…it has just worked flawlessly for me from day one from shifters to brakes to bb’s to derailleurs. FSA lost me long ago.
The good thing is that you can certainly find some smoking deals on ISIS splined bb’s/cranks.
Off topic, but since you’ve got some experiance with square tapers, what do the Phil Wood BBs provide over the Shimano BBs (say, UN54) for the price premium? Longevity? Stiffness? Less friction? If you happen to have info in this area, thanks.
You will get differing opinions on this, but mine are the following. Phil Wood, Chris King…just totally over priced. I have owned both Wood and King products and was happy with them, longevity was fine sans my ceramic bearing experiment which was a HUGE disappointment(less than 1 season). Stiffness? Eh, I wish bottom bracket stiffness was what was holding me back. I put that one up there with bb shell stiffness and crank stiffness…not an issue for me that amounts to anything. Friction on ceramics? Leonard Zinn did some work on that and debunked it down to about .2watts…not 2 watts, but .2 watt advantage on bb’s. Not a thing wrong with buying a $200 ceramic bb, but I would say the only difference for my $ would be the name on the cups as the performance difs are way beyond me to discern.
I have about 10 cranksets of different lengths and they are all square-taper. If I upgraded one I’d have to get rid of everything or I could never swap out sets. I think it is pretty safe to say that the external BB is here to stay.
ISIS was created by Truvativ and 2 other small mfgs, they really had no market presence and their attempt to create a standard was pretty quickly demolished.
Also, ISIS, like Octalink, tried to stuff an oversized spindle in a small bottom bracket, which specified small bearings which had a very low service life. Hence why the bearings were moved outside the frame.
ISIS is pretty much dead, but why do you need a new crankset in the first place? Did your old one snap into pieces?
See if you can find a set of the 1st generation Zipp cranks. They were ISIS. I got some off of chainlove.com cheap. There have to be some around somewhere…
See if you can find a set of the 1st generation Zipp cranks. They were ISIS. I got some off of chainlove.com cheap. There have to be some around somewhere…
Funny, that’s what I’m riding now. Good cranks, not sure how many lengths they come in.
After using Campy square taper BB’s for … forever, it seems, a few years ago I got a bike that had Dura Ace with the external cups. I was shocked at how much friction there was. With my Campy crank a flick of the finger would send the crank arms spinning. With the DA I got a few revolutions.
I’ve got a square taper SRM that I’m going to put up for sale, cheap (relatively). (hope it’s not against the rules to mention that here). If interested you can PM me.
