I am considering switching to a Mega Exo Bottom Bracket for road\tri. (English). I haven’t pysically put my hands on one of these but wondering if they are fully compatable with Hollotech 7800 Shimano Cranks?
Any feedback with the Mega Exo stuff would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
-t2mann
You might be able to kluge something together, but I would say it is a stretch to say that Mega Exo BB is fully compatible with Shimano cranks. The Sram/Truvative/Bontrager technique for bearing preload is different than how Shimano does things so you would most likely have some issues, particularly with the non-drive side bearings.
Why would you go through the effort to change just the bottom bracket?
Edit: I spaced things out and forgot that Mega Exo is FSA while GigaXPipe is Sram/Truvative/Bontrager. The FSA left side attachment looks a little more similar to Shimano’s style, but they are pretty firm in their FAQ that their BBs should be matched with their cranks. Don’t know if they are so firm because the match is really bad with Shimano, or if they just want to make sure if somebody does mix and match they don’t get sued. I don’t know if the Pro Tour mechanics have to do any special work to get the Shimano cranks to work with the FSA ceramic BBs.
Short answer would be yes.
An FSA mega exo ceramic BB is Compatable with Dura Ace cranks.
Source for this is a Slowtwitch thread about Tour Day France teams using components that were not those of their sponsers.
One had a link to an article that showed picture of a ‘Shimano’ team bike with FSA BB and Dura Ace cranks.
Perhaps someone here can find the thread/link for you. I would but I am definitely search challenged.
It’s not that I can’t learn to search. It’s that my mind never formulates intuitive search arguments.
So for all those folks that post a ‘It’s already been discussed, search for it’, this is the perfect opportunity for you to step up and help this guy out.
I believe Excel in Boulder sells a Dura Ace BB with ceramic bearings. (If it isn’t Excel try Colorado Cyclist. I know I’ve seen these at one of the up market shops in the last few weeks.)
with the exception of the ceramic bearing version, there is absolutely no upside to switching. the DA BB is lighter and more durable.
I am running a Mega Exo ceramic BB with a Dura-ace crank - its completely compatible, even though the BB instruction manual says otherwise.
The Bottom bracket comes with this metal sleeve that the crank spindle goes through (its kind of weird, shimano BBs dont have them, Im not sure what its for), but if you are runnning a shimano crank, you just run it without the sleeve - this is straight from the lips of FSA. This is how I installed it, and it works perfectly.
Comparing the ceramic Mega Exo to a Dura-Ace BB - It feels like you are pedaling underwater on a DA BB, its a noticable reduction in friction and drag.
the ceramic BB is my main reason for wanting to do this. I like the MEx0 FSA BB but also like my DuraAce 7800 crankset. I don’t mind switching out the cranks if I have too but seems there is some unknowns still w\ compatability…
-todd