Road bike recommendations

I'm sorted for crank and chainrings- I'd really only be interested in rear mech and shifters.

Not sure I would gain anything useful enough to justify the expenditure to be honest.

With all of todays talk of Di2 I'm developing a hankering for push button shifting though!

move towards BB386 too which looks set to become the dominant new industry standard.

FFS - better not happen, I thought I was being sensible by making sure I got a frame with BB30

If only it didn't have Planet X written down the side in big letters

This basically - especially the newer logo - I didn't mind the old 'light' weighted one at all - looked quite handsome on the black frames. The new logo makes the bikes look like you've bought them in Argos.

There's some speculation that Shimano will go BB386 as well in a year or two. But I think you will be able to fit BB386 cranks onto a BB30 frame just by using different cups/spacers.

Hopefully this should be mine sometime next week :)

This is were I start doubting the suitability of low-depth rims.

I'm 85Kg with ambitions of hitting 90Kg before next spring.

I'm riding around with stiffer rims than needed. Shimano wheels (with the c24 rims) are the exception.

I'm 90kg and change and have no problems with Shimano C24 rims. The carbon laminate is structural (unlike some hybrid rims), and makes them much stiffer than all metal rims of similar shape and weight.

There's some speculation that Shimano will go BB386 as well in a year or two. But I think you will be able to fit BB386 cranks onto a BB30 frame just by using different cups/spacers.

BB386 with an adaptor will also work on traditional threaded bottom brackets > http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/fsa-release-bb386-evo-adaptors-for-existing-frames-31113/

That's an interesting article, suggests that BB30 is still technically a better standard (stiffer, lighter) but BB386 is easier for the manufacturors so will gain traction over BB30.

BB386 with an adaptor will also work on traditional threaded bottom brackets

Zipp have been stuffing a 30mm aluminium spindle into a BSC threaded shell since the launch of the Vuma cranks in 2008

Hopefully this should be mine sometime next week :)

Nice one.

:)

Cheers for the nudge.

It does have a hideous colour combo tho. But I'm hoping once I turn the wheels/tyres and contact points black it'll look a bit better.

Soooo....anyone want to buy a bright orange and yellow Graham Weigh made from Reynolds 835? Or a DA 7400 groupset?

That's an interesting article, suggests that BB30 is still technically a better standard (stiffer, lighter) but BB386 is easier for the manufacturors so will gain traction over BB30.

The gains come when frame manufacturers use the 86mm width to beef up the BB area not from the cranks themselves.

The gains come when frame manufacturers use the 86mm width to beef up the BB area not from the cranks themselves.

Do we need the shell to be more than 68mm wide? Anybody concerned about Q-factor, ankle clearance and aerodynamics will surely go for BB30, which already provides plenty of shell width for attaching the other tubes, along with a slight increase in shell diameter to allow deeper (but not wider) down tube and chainstays. BB386 just moves the bearings back to where they are with external cups, with the corresponding long axle and tight space between the bearings and your ankle bones into which they have to squeeze a thin crank.

FSA are touting the 30mm axle as some kind of revolution, but as Zipp has shown, the 1.370"x68mm shell can already accommodate that. The good thing about BB30 was not the (non-existent) increase in axle diameter, but the return of the bearings to a 68mm spacing making more room for the crank. As any fule kno, cranks are usually fine if you get the torsional stiffness about the long axis right; everything else looks after itself. As a first approximation, the torsional stiffness of a non-circular beam is barely more than the torsional stiffness of a circular beam which will fit inside it, so making space for the crank to be thicker from side to side without reducing ankle clearance or increasing Q-factor was a genuine advance introduced with BB30 compared with external bearing designs on 1.370"x68mm shells. BB386 throws this away merely for the logistical convenience of crank manufacturers, who now only need to make one axle to rule them all.

Given that this is the only reason for the introduction of this spurious standard, it's no surprise that it comes from the manufacturer with the greatest exposure to the OEM crank market, FSA. Their whole business is founded on creating an illusion of value by pricing their aftermarket components, and especially cranks, at least 100% above what they are actually worth next to other manufacturers' offerings, and then selling them at their true worth to OEMs as substitutes for the main groupset manufacturer's crank.

pwned

The Q-factor is unchanged. The extra width of the BB shell is offset against the bearings. A 68mm shell plus 2 outboard cups is 86mm all they've done is swap the use of outboards for press-fits allowing frame manufacturers more scope for beefing up the BB area and the removal of an alu sleeve.

I read loads of your posts MDCC and it seems unlike you to be such a Luddite. I am disappoint.

As you know it's the money from selling [us] new fangled products that funds the R&D that keeps the tech improvement cycle turning. One crank for every BB shell is exactly what's needed to bring the big S into 30mm axles so they can forge us something special.

My personal preference is for Looks Zed 2 crank, the adjustable crank length is very smart (although I've heard the inserts are prone to squeaking).

I read loads of your posts MDCC and it seems unlike you to be such a Luddite. I am disappoint.

I'm not a Luddite; I recognise the benefit of the big BB axle, and I recognise the benefit of increasing the shell diameter to fit this big axle's bearings inside the shell, as well as the corollary benefit to frame structure of the bigger BB shell. BB30 is a good thing. I'm simply pointing out that BB386 is a retrograde step which is being introduced for logistical convenience, not improved performance.

Yes, you can maintain a sensible Q-factor with BB386, but if you do, the 'freeboard' between the Q and the outside of the bearing is 9mm less with BB386 than BB30. This is the space into which you have to squeeze both your medial malleolus and the thickness of the crank, all in a gap which is just 39mm wide with BB30. Cutting that by a quarter just to reduce inventory seems like one of the more idiotic ideas presented as 'progress'.

One crank for every BB shell is exactly what's needed to bring the big S into 30mm axles so they can forge us something special.

It's already possibly to fit a 24/25/30mm BB axle with 86mm spaced bearings into either a 1.370"x68mm threaded shell or a 68mm x 40/46mm dia press fit shell, using appropriate adaptor cups. BB30 improves on this by shortening the axle and increasing either crank thickness or ankle clearance or both, for a given Q, while also providing scope for even lower Q should there be a demand for it.

I'm sure they could do Open Pros or even better CXP33s on those hubs on request.

I know a few people that bought Open Pro on Ambrosio fixed wheelsets from them when they sold them for £110. No problems with them AFAIK.

Ended up just getting the Open Sport package for £130 - the addition of cheap tyres and tubes made it too good to resist at the moment as I'm poor and broke my "spare wheel" today :(

Cheers for the nudge.

It does have a hideous colour combo tho. But I'm hoping once I turn the wheels/tyres and contact points black it'll look a bit better.

Soooo....anyone want to buy a bright orange and yellow Graham Weigh made from Reynolds 835? Or a DA 7400 groupset?

Just the rims and tyres would do it IMHO. White contact points for the best bike, black for the commuter.

Generally agree, but white on a white bike? Too much imo. The saddle and stem will probably go. I have no idea what the saddle's like, but I've pretty much decided I'm a flite man. Altho I'm trying out a stripped carbon/ti slr, which is better than expected.

But this is what it looked like otp:

But apparently it's just been posted, so :)

Look what I got in the post thread here I come :)

Ended up just getting the Open Sport package for £130 - the addition of cheap tyres and tubes made it too good to resist at the moment as I'm poor and broke my "spare wheel" today :(

Have Dave Hinde sorted themselves out ? Legendary bad customer service and build quality from what I've read

oh don't bloody say that. Customer service was excellent when I spoke to them on the phone - wheels will be here in a week, so I'll know then...

That was years ago.

They are were still moody and (understandably) indifferent when I called up trying to buy some NOS Ambrosio rims, but they've built enough good wheel sets for internet-rep-redemption by now surely?

Have you ever done a Google search for 'Dave Hinde customer service'? Avoid like the plague!