ISIS BB on a fixie?

What's the deal with ISIS BB's?
Do they cope when riding a brakeless fixed-gear-commuter?

The fit and chain line will not be a problem for me, just want to hear your experiences about the durability?

Any recommendations - brand /model?

ISIS durability = poor, very poor.

Ask any member of the mountain bike community, ISIS as a standard stinks ! (really).

ISIS implementation has been a bit hit and miss. A lot of the early stuff had issues with creaking and spindle breakage.

For fixie stuff, theres no real quality bits (its all converted road stuff AFAIK) apart from the FSA cranks which have their own issues with Spider/arm separation.

However, my ladys 5 year old Bianchi Pista has its original ISIS BB in there (with a single rim version of a truvativ road crank) and its still going strong. But she's very nice and kind to her bikes and doesn't treat them badly.

So all in all its pretty mixed. If you expect to beat on your cranks+bb , then you may want to look elsewhere.

I've just fited FSA carbon cranks, with ISIS BB. I'm getting a slight "slip" between fore/aft pressure, not much but enough to notice. Feels like the cog is slipping slightly, but I know it's not. I thought it was the chainring bolts, but have just checked with a buddy and its not that either. Everything's been fitted properly.

Then I thought that maybe the crank is slipping against the splines of the BB until I found this thread. Is this the FSA spider / arm separation problem? I can't find much on t'internet - but don't see how they can slip and not come clean off. Any suggestions as to what else I could check? it's really annoying.

well at least something can be done to fix that (at a price thought).

did you take off the crank to check the BB?

well at least something can be done to fix that (at a price thought).

did you take off the crank to check the BB?

no but what's to check? that all the splines are there? I've only just fitted it. Sorry, confused now.

the thing is that the spider is alloy and the crankarm is carbon, so there's a join.

I must admitted I don't know much about it, but usually worth taking off the crank to see if the teeth isn't deformed.

I've got FSA cranks and isis BB and haven't had any major issues with them. Loose chainring bolts have been an issue, though you have covered that, so I am unable to be of any assistance.

Crank Bros do Isis BBs for road and MTB with two sets of bearings on the drive side. They come with a 5-year guarantee. Worth a look, maybe?

if there is fore and aft movement, i would put it down to the rear cog.

I've got an Ambrosio Track BB + Cranks with Isis Spline... It's pretty good!! Nothing wrong with it at all

Does anyone have a spare isis bb tool or one that I could purchase/borrow long term?!

I need to borrow one for a couple of days? anyone, please

monday morming bump

Well I haven't had a reply in 4 months, so don't hold your breath! I think I ended up going into a bike shop. Luckily I have a few friends who work in bike shops and let me use tools if I really need to. Speak nicely to someone!

I got offer a couple of them by the library tool thread.

Where abouts are you?

London, Stokey n16

ah. SW here, but have one if no-one else gets you one

thanks a lot for the offer Sir

I've just received a nice new (to me) frame and fork which I plan to build up for commuting. It came with a splined bottom bracket, which I think is ISIS.

Having had a quick look, it seems that this interface is mainly used on road builds, so I'm assuming that I'll be best off swapping to a square tapered BB, based on the availability of chainsets for track use. (I was expecting to ahve to change the BB anyway in order to get the chainline right, so it's not a big issue)

What's your question?

FSA make ISIS track cranks.

Unless its an uber quality ISIS BB you'll probably kill it in no-time using for SS/Fixed purposes as they have pretty small bearings compared to equivilent square taper etc.
Saying that I've been using the same ISIS BB on my SS MTB for 6years without fault, cost about £120 though.