isis or square taper? advice please

[stubbsy]

i am gathering parts for a single speed project.

i have descided to go for a middleburn singlespeed crank/ring set up

just want some advice with regards isis or squre taper.

your thoughts and opinions are very welcome

cheers

stubbsy

 

[jonnyboy666]

avoid isis like the plague! the cranks are ok (and you might find them a bargain) but the b/b's are rubbish!!

if you are going down the middleburn route stick with square taper unless you want to try the new external middleburn cranks, use them with a hope b/b, that would be a nice combo.

 

[REKIBorter]

Nothing wrong with taper. It is simple to maintain and it works better than any other system.

 

[Andy B]

ISIS BB's are utter garbage, they have the lifespan of a gnat

SQ taper all the way they're reliable and easy to source

 

[losidan]

wierd....I just signed in to post a question asking about square taper BB shells and compatibility with newer BB types....

Now I'll stick with my square taper...result

 

[oldave]

+1 for the square variety. And this is not just the nostalgia of age....I usually welcome most innovations! In theory splined SHOULD be better in engineering terms IMO, but somehow don't deliver - certainly not in my budget.

 

[jonnyboy666]

isis was brought about by several companies getting together to make a standardised product that WAS NOT shimano compatible to help reduce the strangle hold that shimano had.

unfortunately when they increased the axle size to make it stiffer the bearing size had to be reduced to fit inside the shell of the b/b, this meant the bearing life was quite low. i heave known people kill them in less than 3 weeks!

the shimano equivalent, octalink, is better but still don't last as long as square taper and is compatible with only certain shimano chainsets.

it was generally thought that the oversize axle was better hence the move to external bearings.

 

[Carge]

No - totally disagree - ISIS is waaaay better than square taper!



Only kidding

My only experience of ISIS is that it's a right pain!!

 

[stubbsy]

cheers guys

looks like its square tapper all the way then

thanks for your help

stubbsy

 

[Andy B]

isis was brought about by several companies getting together to make a standardised product that WAS NOT shimano compatible to help reduce the strangle hold that shimano had.

unfortunately when they increased the axle size to make it stiffer the bearing size had to be reduced to fit inside the shell of the b/b, this meant the bearing life was quite low. i heave known people kill them in less than 3 weeks!

the shimano equivalent, octalink, is better but still don't last as long as square taper and is compatible with only certain shimano chainsets.

it was generally thought that the oversize axle was better hence the move to external bearings.

Also IIRC there are 2 octalink versions, the original V1 Octalink has shorter splines and had issues with the crank arms coming off (hazy recollection of the fault with them!) so the redesigned it with longer cut splines (V2) to solve the problem. V1 & V2 aren't cross compatible.

I like SQ Taper and external BB's, quite a few folks don't like the external BB system as they claim to kill them quickly, I've never suffered with that problem though