Campagnolo & BB30

g00se

Hi,

I'm in the process of buying a second hand frame which has a BB30 bottom bracket. I'm going to kit the frame out in Campag - probably UltraTorque kit - either Chorus or some older UT Centaur stuff I have.

I'm not too enamoured about having to use BB30 but the frame is very nice so I'm going to have to put up with it. It comes with some ceramic bearings installed which I assume will not be an issue to remove (it had previously had SRAM Red installed).

So I'm looking for recommendations on what to use. As far as I see it, they are:

Wait for the Campag Overtorque chainsets - reviews seem good but too expensive.

BB30 chainsets from other manufacturer. Basically, SRAM, FSA or Rotor. I don't like the SRAM aesthetic, and the FSA and Rotor kit seems expensive for what it is.

So the options I seem to be limiting myself to are:

1. Go with Campag BB30 conversion cups. Probably the most straightforward solution but I'm worried it'll creak depending on the quality of the BB.

2. Use a BSA threaded through-adaptor (like the FSA one) with standard threaded cups - which seems to be less prone to creaks but may effectively be a permanent conversion.

Any thoughts on the above - or other options?

Cheers.

nicklouse

Look at the KCNC BB30 to 68mm BB width bottom brackets.

Should take a standard Campy crankset that uses external bearings.

It is not actually listed as Campy compatible but.... Might be worth a look if you can find one.

Of you have the wheels manufacturing adaptors that push into the BB30 bearings allowing a 24mm diameter crankset to be used....

g00se

Cheers - I don't think those KCNC things will work though as campag outboard cups don't have the bearings - they're installed on the cranks themselves. I've done a bit more googling and it looks like PraxisWorks will be making a similar thing for Campag in the spring - but no definite date.

I'll check out the other one.

ta

gfk_velo

Hi there ...

First, some notes about BB30 generally:

Creaking is an inherent problem of BB30 and occurs even in a "straight" BB30 assembly, because the system tends to induce the bearings to try and "walk" out of the frame, unless there as an absolutely rigid "tie" between the BB bearings themselves. Since many BB30 assemblies contain a pre-load washer, they don't have that rigidity.

As a general rule, the older the frame is and the more times bearings have been installed and removed, the worse the problem tends to get ... so, be careful of a second-hand BB30 frame - the bearings might have been fitted and removed any number of times in an attempt to fix a creaking BB problem.

Generally the best thing to do with a new creaky BB30 assembled as intended, is to remove the bearings once, fit with a strong bearing seating compound, and accept that they'll be difficult to remove when the time comes.

Your current choices where Campagnolo are concerned are:

For UltraTorque, there are metal BB30 adapters which are a press fit into the frame. These can occasionally creak, although this noise can be reduced by use of a strong bearing seating compound on the cups NOT the bearings.

For PowerTorque, as above.

New OverTorque with the BB30 fitting kit is designed differently to many BB30 installations and indeed differently to UT and PT adaptors, in that there is no pre-load washer. Instead, a rigid method of clearance recovery is used which serves, if correctly installed, to both slightly pre-load the bearings and to provide a completely rigid structure, so discouraging the problem of "bearing walk".

I have been using OverTorque Comp One for the early part of the season in a BB30 shell and so far it's been silent.

The Praxis sleeve allows the mounting of Campagnolo cranks, with their captive bearings, directly into cups formed into a sleeve that tightens up on itself in the BB shell - this is scheduled for Spring 2014 launch but as I think an earlier poster notes, there is no definite release date yet.

On balance then, if Campag is the direction that you want to go, first choice is OverTorque for BB30 - but USE THE CAMPAG BEARINGS! They *are* different to most others in that they are properly designed self-aligning units.

Second choice would be to use the Campag adaptors for UT or PT (depending on chainset choice) and to seat them in a strong Loctite bearing seating compond, but bear in mind they will not be easy to remove when (if) the time comes - you should not need to do so of course, if you stick with Campagnolo for the life of the frame.

Third choice would be to sit tight and wait for the Praxis unit. We know of lots of riders who have used the Praxis Shimano-fit unit successfully ... what we don't know is the tolerances to which the bearing seats will be manufactured so we can't commend on whether you might get noise from that source.

HTH

g00se

Cheer for the reply - is that Graeme? i liked you bit on: http://velocast.cc/portfolio-item/graeme-freestone-king

The OTs look a great solution but budget is too tight I'm afraid. I don't plan on moving from Campag so using Locktite on the cups might be an option.

Any thoughts on something like the Cannondale or FSA threaded BB30 to BSA adaptor, if the conversion is to be permanent?

http://www.cannondale-parts.de/SI-brack ... -incl-tool
http://www.totalcycling.com/a-z/bottom_ ... APTER.html
http://www.labicicletta.com/components/ ... apter.html
http://www.amorecycles.com/product.php?id_product=57

nicklouse

g00se wrote:

Cheers - I don't think those KCNC things will work though as campag outboard cups don't have the bearings - they're installed on the cranks themselves. I've done a bit more googling and it looks like PraxisWorks will be making a similar thing for Campag in the spring - but no definite date.

I'll check out the other one.

ta

pull the bearings off the axels?

or the campy pressfit reducers.

mattythemod

g00se wrote:

Cheer for the reply - is that Graeme? i liked you bit on: http://velocast.cc/portfolio-item/graeme-freestone-king

The OTs look a great solution but budget is too tight I'm afraid. I don't plan on moving from Campag so using Locktite on the cups might be an option.

Any thoughts on something like the Cannondale or FSA threaded BB30 to BSA adaptor, if the conversion is to be permanent?

http://www.cannondale-parts.de/SI-brack ... -incl-tool
http://www.totalcycling.com/a-z/bottom_ ... APTER.html
http://www.labicicletta.com/components/ ... apter.html
http://www.amorecycles.com/product.php?id_product=57

Goose

I have the FSA adaptor here along with a Tripeak one that i picked up from Planet x will send back whichever one my LBS dont use ...will be installing it later to my frameset so i can use PT cups and PT Chainset ...i have had nothing but grief with campag bb30 cups fresh out of the box notchy bearings that bind once fitted ..NO more Campag bb30 for me

cycleclinic

Do not use the campag BB30 cups they are long enough and users often complain of creaks. Try the wheels manufacturing adapter kit for 24mm axles or Tokens take on it. No one comaplains about those.

Overtorque is campagnolo proper solution for BB30 and there are even BSA threaded cups for it due at the end of the year. It is one of the lightest production cranksets as well if you like that sort of thing.

mattythemod

Did you mean " NOT long enough " ??