Functional bikes. Not Porn not Anti

Not really sure I'd regard the UN55 as 'cheap'. When you think about it. It's probably had millions in money+man hours spent to develop it over the span of what...25 years? That's a long time to perfect the main spinny thing.
Most unappreciated yet most perfected bottom bracket ever?

Most unappreciated yet most perfected bottom bracket ever?

You know, that is an excellent point, there are so many bicycle components that had extensive R&D that spanned for more than a decades.

Another good example is the old external headset, like the FSA Pig, a monster of a headset (ball bearing type) whose bearing felt much nicer than even a Chris King for little money.

The lower bearing on this headset is gigantic and designed to withstand the impact on downhiller bike.

The Pig? Had one it's decent but definitely not as nice as Chris King. Cane Creek 40 is definitely the nicest headset! #2pence🙋

Cane Creek 40 is a great headset.

I liked the Pig mainly because it's very easy to service because of the ball bearing rather than cartridge.

Pig is the pig! Might not be the prettiest, but sure as shit keeps on going. If it goes wrong, even a pig could take a stab at it and hey presto. It runs again.

MTB has a Hope headset and the monsteur bike has a CC40. In three years the Hope has needed two sets of bearings. The 40? None.

The 40? None.

Imaging my surprise when a customer brought in a bike for a service with a completely worn and fucked 40, only to realised he been running with a loose headset since new not realising that wasn't normal.

I have always used to consider pedal bearings as an important part on a bike. A bit like the hubs, the tires, the frame ... And it's true that next to this future frame in 853 oversized, with 4 couplers S and S, rolhoff, hub Son, gebla ... I was leaving On something similar.
The manufacturer thinks that the G30 crankset will have a bad chain line, it's a shame. I had to rethink the material at this level.

I have always used to consider pedal bearings as an important part on a bike.

I'd look into hubs, a tandem specific Phil Wood Touring hubs IMHO a better buy than a Phil Wood bottom bracket.

Thought I'd drop my tuppenceworth in the square taper convo. You can find Shimano UN-72 BBs in good/NOS condition for cheap. I took one out of a 90s KHS Montana Pro and it's been in my daily driver/tourer for about 6 years operating flawlessly.

Shimano UN-72.

Isn't the current Shimano UN-26 is the replacement model?

I honestly have no idea but I was hoping that someone would know something about it.

I just had a very good experience with that particular component and felt like sharing :D

Fair enough, I had another look and the UN-72 is one of the old design where both cup are not fixed to the body.

I think the UN55 is the replacement of the UN-72 (the UN-26 have a plastic non driveside cup), the newer Shimano threaded bottom bracket nowadays have an intergrated cup on the driveside.

Be careful it's pig and not pig pro then as pro one has cartridge.

That it does, I haven't tried the Pig Pro DH because the original Pig was more than plentiful, and the ball bearing is bigger too (bigger = less wear).

Having said that, the Pig Pro DH is massively cheap in the notorious Planet X webstore.

I have one of each, I'll be honest being super oversized they are both far beyond what I'll need as I don't plan to jump on them.

I have an order not arrived from planet x from mid december so waiting on paypal refund so I'm going to say just get an FSA hammer instead as it's the same bearings again.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/fsa-hammer-headset-th-877-/rp-prod57088

I'll be honest being super oversized they are both far beyond what I'll need as I don't plan to jump on them.

Oh they're far beyond even for downhiller! knowing how strong and durable they are, I'd happily have those on a touring bike to embark on a long tour.

Talking about square tapers, Raceface taperlock crmo or ti! Little gems, the alloy cups are a bit soft, but totally rebuildable and adjustible chainline.

Just built this up for my girlfriend. Going to get mudguards and racks further down the line.

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Was it not that UN-7x was like xt/xtr lever with the metal n/d cup, un-5x was the deore/lx type spec one and the un-2x is fairly recent and much lower budget (so presumably poorer quality addition to the lineup?

I thought the un-7x series stopped being produced when square taper went out of favour so we are now left to choose btween the 5x and 2x series.

To be quite honest, I don't know.

I know this:

UN-7x = both cup are metal and removable.
UN-5x = NDS cup are metal and removable.
UN-2x = NDS cup are plastic and removable.

I cannot comment on the cartridge bearing as I don't know if it's any difference thorough the series.

However with bicycle components, they often get tinker down as technology advanced, such as the latest Nexus 8 speed hubs whose internal is basically the older generation Alfine 8 speed.

This is why I assumed that the UN-5x replaced the UN-7x.

The Ti ones are great for BB squeaks too!

@edscoble the UN-7x have nicer spindles (both in material and machining) The removable cups also mean you can can move the same BB between a BSA and Ital frame by switching the cups.

But really, if you want the best Shimano square taper, try to find a UN-91. They're essentially 7410 DA sealed BBs that come in more sizes.

Surprised no one has brought up White Industries...

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^that is a beauty!

Surprised no one has brought up White Industries...

Because where do you draw the line in performance vs. price?

The very best you can get is the SKF bottom bracket, beyond that it just spending more for not a lots of improvement.

Plus the SKF come with a 10 years warranty, including the bearing.

That look so good. Good on you!

That looks the bomb. Kojaks remind me of a similar GT build from way back.