What's wrong with Isis bottom brackets?

[kaydee]

SKF or Trialtech. Better designs than other brands

Yes Shenlong,but they still don’t last,same old problem ,thats why no-one fits them anymore.

 

[Shenlong]

Yes Shenlong,but they still don’t last,same old problem ,thats why no-one fits them anymore.

Interesting. Have you tried either the SKF or Trialtech Sport Lite yourself personally? How many miles did each last you?

Echo used to make a unique ISIS bottom bracket that used external cups back in 2006. Bearings could be extracted & new ones pressed in like a Shimano, Gusset or Hope Hollowtech 2 BB can. If someone asked Hambini, he could make an external cup ISIS bottom bracket similar to the Echo pictured.

 

[dirttorpedo]

I was destroying square taper non-drive side crank arms on my old Norco Sasquatch with STX-RC regularly so Octalink/ISIS made sense to me from that perspective. I don't know how long I ran my ISIS set up before I got a Hollowtech style crank. But I'd say go square taper or hollowtech just because getting an Octolink/ISIS bb is such a PITA these days.

 

[kaydee]

Interesting. Have you tried either the SKF or Trialtech Sport Lite yourself personally? How many miles did each last you?

Echo used to make a unique ISIS bottom bracket that used external cups back in 2006. Bearings could be extracted & new ones pressed in like a Shimano, Gusset or Hope Hollowtech 2 BB can. If someone asked Hambini, he could make an external cup ISIS bottom bracket similar to the Echo pictured.

Personally no,but my friend who has run his own dealership for 38 years stopped fitting isis bb’s.
He stopped fitting all of them,every make because they varied between completely lousy and marginally better than lousy.
The makes you mention are probably the best of a really bad bunch.But he still wouldn’t fit them and always pointed his customers towards other options.
Their life expectancy can be measured in months ,very very few reached 12 months.

 

[Shenlong]

Personally no,but my friend who has run his own dealership for 38 years stopped fitting isis bb’s.
He stopped fitting all of them,every make because they varied between completely lousy and marginally better than lousy.
The makes you mention are probably the best of a really bad bunch.But he still wouldn’t fit them and always pointed his customers towards other options.
Their life expectancy can be measured in months ,very very few reached 12 months.

Has your friend ever worked with trials ISIS BBs like the Trialtech Sport Lite and the Echo External?

 

[kaydee]

Has your friend ever worked with trials ISIS BBs like the Trialtech Sport Lite and the Echo External?

Shenlong,sorry but you are getting too specific.It is generally accepted in the bike world that Isis bbs were a bad idea,that’s why there are very few people using them.If you are determined to stick with Isis then good for you.But with respect the question you are asking relies on someone going back in time to try and remember whether they worked with a specific few makes.
The question you should be asking is this “Why does no-one use Isis anymore,”
The answer is “because they are crap”

 

[suburbanreuben]

I have an old SKF that has been fitted to my SS for at least ten years, and has seen thousands of miles of use. I no longer use it. The bb Is absolutely fine but the ti pedals have seized in the cranks and the bearings are phut...

 

[kaydee]

I have an old SKF that has been fitted to my SS for at least ten years, and has seen thousands of miles of use. I no longer use it. The bb Is absolutely fine but the ti pedals have seized in the cranks and the bearings are phut...

I am very pleased for you Suburban ,but your experience is far from typical and the fact remains that Isis bottom brackets simply don’t last .If they did everyone would be using them….And they arent
glad you;re happy with yours though
.

 

[Shenlong]

Shenlong,sorry but you are getting too specific.It is generally accepted in the bike world that Isis bbs were a bad idea,that’s why there are very few people using them.If you are determined to stick with Isis then good for you.But with respect the question you are asking relies on someone going back in time to try and remember whether they worked with a specific few makes.
The question you should be asking is this “Why does no-one use Isis anymore,”
The answer is “because they are crap”

No. That's quite an assumption you're making that I'm "determined to stick with Isis". Actually, I like square taper, ISIS and 24mm Hollowtech.

I'm pointing out that not all ISIS bottom brackets are created equally. Just because the majority of MTB brands are using cheap clones - does not mean every single ISIS BB out there is inherently bad. There are many riders out there who want to keep using their ISIS Middleburns, including the OP of this thread - so I have offered 4 alternative ISIS BB solutions:
- SKF
- Trialtech Sport Lite
- Echo External
- Asking Hambini to make you an external-cup style ISIS BB.

What solutions have you offered?

I have worked in bike shops. So am aware that the general perception of owners, managers, and ground level staff tend to assume only negative things about ISIS. None of them are trials riders, and thus they are totally ignorant to the fact that certain trials companies like Echo and Trialtech have gone out of their way to manufacture ISIS bottom brackets that are far more reliable than the standard MTB branded clone offerings. People assume too much.

Consider how poor the bearing life is in almost every brand of external-cup Hollowtech-style threaded bottom bracket. Especially for 30mm external cup BSA threaded BBs. Less so for the 24mm Shimano HT2 ones, though the bearing longevity issues still remain, even for nicer BBs like Hope, WMFG and Chris King. Not uncommon for many brands' non-drive side external cup to have gritty or dead bearings in under a year, sometimes under a month for some people with some brands of BBs. Sounds similar to problems people had with catalogue cloned ISIS BBs.

"Why does no-one use Isis anymore." - Actually the majority of Trials riders still use ISIS bottom brackets & cranks to this day. Many out there still using several-years old Trialtech Sport Lite BBs. Some still rocking the even older Echo External BBs. Most trials cranksets are still ISIS. Most brand new complete trials bikes still have ISIS BBs and cranks.

Not only trials... look at modern E-Bikes - why is ISIS ubiquitous amongst E-Bikes. We can go a step further and include off-road mountain and trials unicycles - why do they still prefer ISIS as the dominant standard.

 

[kaydee]

Fine,I think this has gone as far as it needs to bud,Signing off,
As for ebikes the axle runs through the motor,it may have splines but it aint isis
All the best