Nice Shiny Middleburn RS7's
switchback18
Posts: 617
Lately, I've been sooo fed up with HTII bottom brackets giving up I decided to go drastic and return to the past (only slightly).
Just had my RS7 cranks turn up - went for them as they're guaranteed for life, even for DH & dirt jumping, even tho they're one of the lightest around!
Matched to an FSA ISIS downhill BB for paranoia's sake, we'll see how they go. Had to transfer my Middleburn rings over from the XT cranks, then remembered the slightly different size - so after 1/2 hour of filing, the middle ring fitted like a dream!
Awesome company, MIddleburn, and Activesport on e-bay (Mark Anthony) are doing them cheaper than on their own site (& cheaper inc P&P than CRC). Choice of spider & arm colours/lengths & you can get the RS8's if you want lighter again for solely XC use
edit: pics added
Just had my RS7 cranks turn up - went for them as they're guaranteed for life, even for DH & dirt jumping, even tho they're one of the lightest around!
Matched to an FSA ISIS downhill BB for paranoia's sake, we'll see how they go. Had to transfer my Middleburn rings over from the XT cranks, then remembered the slightly different size - so after 1/2 hour of filing, the middle ring fitted like a dream!
Awesome company, MIddleburn, and Activesport on e-bay (Mark Anthony) are doing them cheaper than on their own site (& cheaper inc P&P than CRC). Choice of spider & arm colours/lengths & you can get the RS8's if you want lighter again for solely XC use
edit: pics added
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Comments
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pics or it didnt happen please. :P0
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Oh dear, ISIS last even less time."Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
Parktools :?:SheldonBrown0 -
Pics will follow. I've not seen anything last as badly as HTII - we'll see how it goes!
I know some ISIS BB's are no good, but at least there seem to be some that work as well. I've not seen an HTII that works yet...
Would've got square tapered ones, but couldn't find a quality BB the right length.0 -
...so far, all is good, no sqeaks, noises, roughness etc from the ISIS BB. I know it's only 2 months, but the last HTII BB only lasted 3 rides before seizing! I'll post something long term either if it lasts or when it fails...0
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Well, an update on the FSA Platinum DH ISIS Bottom Bracket. Faultless so far after 8 months of heavy use. So it seems it's possible to make an ISIS BB that works for an OK price.
Will post when it eventually dies!0 -
I hope to God oyu haven't used crappy alloy crankbolts. Mine rounded off in effort to tighten them, and then had to use E-Z outs to remove. Fine for me as an engineer, but others might not be so lucky to access to the kit...Boo-yah mofo
Sick to the power of rad
Fix it 'till it's broke0 -
Oh no, never used alloy bolts for anything! Wouldn't trust them...0
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My Isis XT's have lasted 4 years and are still going strong, no doubt thanks to the middleburn rings on it!0
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Schmako wrote:My Isis XT's have lasted 4 years and are still going strong, no doubt thanks to the middleburn rings on it!
Is that ISIS or Octalink? It's the HTII bottom brackets I've had problems with, not the cranks themselves.
Middleburn rules! The rings seem to be the best, except for these so I've heard, but looking at prices, they need to be seriously good!0 -
switchback18 wrote:Schmako wrote:My Isis XT's have lasted 4 years and are still going strong, no doubt thanks to the middleburn rings on it!
Is that ISIS or Octalink? It's the HTII bottom brackets I've had problems with, not the cranks themselves.
Middleburn rules! The rings seem to be the best, except for these so I've heard, but looking at prices, they need to be seriously good!
Its a hollowtech I ISIS. Bought them, then hollowtech II came out shortly after. No bother whatsoever with them, but a few of my mates have HTII and they've been alright too..0 -
Yeh, the HT I were always good.
I had 3 sets of BB bearings on my HTII XT set & they all died way too quickly. Even XTR ones.
The Hollowtech bit of the name just refers to the hollow crank arms, which is fine. It's the HTII bearings I've had trouble with.
Would've got Chris King's if they'd been out at the time.
What you have to watch on HTII BBs is that the cranks will often still turn even when the bearings seize solid, because of the plastic shield in between. So when the axle starts to wear out you may not even be aware of the problem.0 -
Doesn't sound too good! Got all that to look forward to when my current cranks die.0
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Sounds like your bottom bracket shell may need facing. That's the trouble with HTII, the bearings are totally separate so any slight misalignment with the shell just destroys the bearings in no time.
ISIS and the like, with both bearings and the axle being in one unit don't seem to suffer from this issue.0 -
Mancunianfightingcat wrote:Sounds like your bottom bracket shell may need facing. That's the trouble with HTII, the bearings are totally separate so any slight misalignment with the shell just destroys the bearings in no time.
ISIS and the like, with both bearings and the axle being in one unit don't seem to suffer from this issue.
The BB was faced. The original XT bearings lasted longest, the XTRs that replaced them lasted about 3 months and the Superstar set lasted 3 rides! (Not trying to start a discussion on how good/bad Superstar are!)
I expected to find that the seals were rubbish & they'd filled up with muck, but the bearings were always clean. Just not an ideal design I think. Hopefully they'll start producing them to fine enough toleances.
But I'm happy with this setup, it doesn't matter to me that there's some rubbish ISIS units, there only needs to be 1 good one - but I didn't find any with HTII. I would think that the Hope & CK would be good though. They should be for the price. I don't get why a quality ISIS BB can be £40 whereas a quality HTII is £60 or more when there's no axle & less assembly to do in manufacture.0 -
im strangely attracted to those cranks... i prefer basic looks over all the fancy colourschemes of Sram and the like. also i love silver and chrome silver rather than black (handlebars, stem etc)Ribble Gran Fondo
Focus Black Hills
Raleigh Chopper0 -
Yeah, I got the same on my On-One SS ride. Doubt they'll ever break!
BEEEEEEAST
8)Boo-yah mofo
Sick to the power of rad
Fix it 'till it's broke0 -
Well, 1 year on & the FSA BB is still going strong. Even Dalby sand & Peak Gritstone have had no effect, still smooth. Maybe I need to buy a few just in case ISIS dissapears! Have to get the most out of the Middleburn lifetime guarantee!0
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check the spider regularly, a guy i know who runs them has cracked a couple, but he is a really big guy...0
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switchback18 wrote:Well, 1 year on & the FSA BB is still going strong. Even Dalby sand & Peak Gritstone have had no effect, still smooth. Maybe I need to buy a few just in case ISIS dissapears! Have to get the most out of the Middleburn lifetime guarantee!
Oh bloody hell... wish i'd never read this now
Been looking at the middleburn SS crankset but was put off by the isis BB... going back to being tempted by it now 0 -
ride_whenever wrote:check the spider regularly, a guy i know who runs them has cracked a couple, but he is a really big guy...
Will do - not too heavy so hopefully not a problem!
Mark Anthony/Activesport were cheap when I got them - can't remember if it was their main site or ebay shop that was cheapest. CRC had them as well, but more expensive.0 -
i didn't mean to imply there was anything wrong with the RS7 by the way, the guy really rates the cranks, but has had a couple of spiders fail now (ironically the spider on two seperate sets of cranks went at the same time!)0
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My isis xt's came to a nasty end. Trying out this HT2 malarkey, if it fails i'll have to try the Middleburn's. 2 months of abuse and the HT2's are still going good though.0
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Must be something wrong with your frame if a BB only lasted 3 rides, or you're fitting them wrong. So many people seem to over-tighten the pre-tension cap.
Oh, and Shimano never made ISIS cranks. They had octalink on their original Hollowtech chainsets, which was not compatible with ISIS, and lasted ok, bearing wise.
Unfortunately, I've managed to wreck every single set of crankarms I've ever had in under 6 months, apart from my HTII saints.0 -
hooligan :roll:
out of interest what have you broken yeehaamcgee?0 -
What crankarms? Bloody hell, there's quite a list, and I don;t sure I remember all of them, but here's a few I DO remember
Shimano XT square taper and octa-link
LX square taper
STX-RC square taper
Truvativ Firex, Blaze and something else (revolution, or something!?!)
Truvativ DH cranks, although I can't remember their name - something like hosselfeltzer, I used to refer to them as the "Hasselhoffs" )
Some ancient mid to late 90s Middleburn "DH" cranks that I can't remember the model of
Sherman Cranks
Erm, what else.... Everything I've ever had apart from the saints, basically - oh and the SLX ones. The SLX are fairly similar to the saints though, so I guess they should last alright.
That's abotu all the ones I can remember.
It's always been the interface between crank and axle that has buggered up, and some of the square taper cranks would have to be tightened and re-tightened all the time, to the point that they'd just crack eventually.0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:Must be something wrong with your frame if a BB only lasted 3 rides, or you're fitting them wrong. So many people seem to over-tighten the pre-tension cap.
Oh, and Shimano never made ISIS cranks. They had octalink on their original Hollowtech chainsets, which was not compatible with ISIS, and lasted ok, bearing wise.
Unfortunately, I've managed to wreck every single set of crankarms I've ever had in under 6 months, apart from my HTII saints.
Nowt wrong with the frame, was faced at the factory & came with a Truvativ external BB that I changed for the XT set up - and you'd really have to try hard to get too much tension with the plastic Shimano tool. Out of the 3 BBs I had, the XT lasted about 6 months, XTR 3 months, then a Superstar was 3 rides - didn't let any dirt in but seized up. Realize some people are a bit rubbish with maintenance, but I actually do know what I'm doing & the HTII set up isn't exactly hard to fit. The XTRs were dissapointing, not up to the usual XTR standard.
I've seen Race Face externals in a worse state.
You're right about ISIS/Octalink. People seem to think they're the same thing, but they're obviously different when you compare them. I think the whole thing comes down to quality & machining tolerances.0 -
hmm, the pre-tension cap is only meant to be finger tight, you could eaily go way over the limit with the shimano tool. You can nearly reach the right torque just by sticking your finger in and twisting it.
I'm just a bit perplexed, because my sain BB had survived nearly two years, and had a hell of a lot of use, and jet-washing.0 -
the problems i've had with pre-loading is that in my opinion you need to pre-load then tighten the pinch bolts to see if you've taken the play out... which is where people are going wrong. To take the play out without doing up the pinch bolts you need to massively over pre-load them.
That's just my theory, it's probably complete balls.0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:hmm, the pre-tension cap is only meant to be finger tight, you could eaily go way over the limit with the shimano tool. You can nearly reach the right torque just by sticking your finger in and twisting it.
I'm just a bit perplexed, because my sain BB had survived nearly two years, and had a hell of a lot of use, and jet-washing.
yeh, I was surprised, and I'm not anti-Shiimano. Maybe the first ones were a bit dodgy, then they improved things. But the basic tool they supply doesn't give tons of leverage - OK you could maybe give it a bit more than you should, but I guess I'm saying it doesn't encourage it. But if you know how to adjust a headset, you know how to adjust an XT HTII set-up. Remove the play, tighten the bolts evenly & thats it. if, without the chain on, the cranks spin perfectly freely, then there shouldn't be too much tension.
The other thing is, statistically I guess, one person having 3 fail a bit quick doesn't necessarily prove anything, but if it's you then it makes you more inclined to try something else rather than test out whether a fourth is going to do the same!
On the reverse, the ISIS I've tried has been fine, but some people won't touch them as they've only heard bad stuff.
If the Hope or Chris King had been around at the time, I would have tried them maybe.0 -
^^fair point.
I actually went for a hope replacement BB for the saints, and hopefully it will be a long long time before I can tell you how long it lasted
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