All:
Does anyone have any experience with the Rotor BB system?
A friend is basically giving me a Rotor BB (NOT CRANKSET) with Ceramic Speed bearings that I might out in my Dura Ace cranks. Rotor says it is compatible, but I am out if there are any compatibility issue or quality issues I should be aware of in advance.
Thanks,
Bob
Not sure about compatibility, but watch the pedal stroke - if you have an efficient pedal stroke right now, you’ll need to adapt to them - might even blow your current stroke to bits - if your stroke is good now, you’ll likely have huge dead spots for a while. Wonder how long they’ll be around - remember biopace from 15 years ago?
But then again - free is free, and its $800 worth of free!
BB, not crank / rings.
Styrrell
Sorry - my sin for not reading carefully.
No direct experience, but the concept makes great sense from a mechanical standpoint.
I plan to upgrade to it one of these days.
I’m not sure if I like it or not. Bearing alignment is critcal, so self aligning bearings would be good, but bearings wiggling around as you ride would seem to be bad (not sure if these do, but the possibility seem there).
Styrrell
They’ll only wiggle if the BB shell flexes. Spherical roller bearings tend to have slightly more friction than cylindrical or ball bearings, but that’s in a perfectly aligned condition. If the bearings are slightly out of line, you’re probably better off with a set of spherical bearings.
It’s splitting hairs really, but a good idea.
You sound like you know this stuff so one other question. Wouldn’t normal cartridge bearings that are slightly misaligned wear straight? It would take some riding, but I remember the days of loose ball bearings where the wisdom was not to reuse the balls as they would ovalize after a time. Would the same break in occur?
Styrrell
I just looked at the site and I they actually work differently than I expected. The entire bearing actually pivots, it sits within a spherical housing. I thought the bearing itself had spherical rollers, which are common in machinery.
The bearings should wear any differently than they would on a standard outboard cup set, but due to the degree of freedom they have, they’ll probably wear a lot less.
Paramount, would be keeping the ‘ball and socket’ assembly clean.