I couldn’t love you any more than I do
Make a line of steel cruisers and give them all Lord of the Rings names
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Smilinggrant.jpg
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I heart those 44/29 double cranks.
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I’m probably old, grumpy, and set in my ways. But
Maybe I’ve missed a bunch, but all? most? frames I’ve casually peeked at from the big and medium names are press-in BBs.
Synapsi, Trekpoints, Trekmondas, Niners, etc.
Happy Fairlight is an option now though at a reasonable price point.
I don’t doubt you’re right from a purely mechanical perspective. Motors do it.
But Cannondale started with press-in headsets like 20? years ago. Those worked fine. But since then I’ve heard/read nothing but moaning wrt press-in BBs and it just isn’t a concern I want to have when there is another option that still works just fine and even the D-u-race BBs are cheap.
trek is moving to T47 on most stuff and cannondale and specialized are starting to BSA an increasing number of frames.
i totally agree that BSA has typically been the least-fuss bb configuration and has never not given me all of it, but it is kinda odd to thread in an assembly with pressed-in bearings when the bearings could just be pressed into the frame. i also only have one bike with pressfit bearings and boy is it more annoying to service 
It’s definitely the hardest for factories to fuck up.
It’s definitely not helping that everyone except Shimano and Rotor has all but abandoned 24mm spindles.
Pressfit alone isn’t the culprit. It gets a helping hand from crap bottom bracket seal design.
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Poor crank quality has been a problem for some brands as well.
I know you’re a rotor fan (and I do like their flagship products) but they really fucked themselves with the cheap OE stuff they sold to Cherzelo. There were instances when I was in warranty where shops would insist on frame replacements and 2 frames later we figured out it was the damn crank all along. When they transitioned to shimano cranks on most models BB related claims plummeted.
I would like to make use of larger diameter shells for my frames, especially for aluminum where the added real estate for welding is nice. I’ll probably invest in some t47 taps since it’s just easier to get right compared to press fit on a metal frame without really specialized tooling.
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Honestly I miss GXP. That was the jam.
Get your CNC conversion done and threadmill them.
serious Q: is there a compelling reason why T47 isn’t picking up the BSA mantle, or is it the classic too-many-standards problem?
Because it’s pointless.
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Because BSA just works.
please notice emphasized ‘just’
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“Eh good enough” is often good enough
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BSA is just hanging on at this point. Like having a bar and stem as two separate pieces and rim brakes.
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right, hence the serious Q. we know BSA is fine for many bikes, but since T47 is basically beefy BSA, I wonder why it hasn’t emerged as the clear successor— it provides a similarly secure threaded interface, accommodates larger spindles and bearings, and provides more surface area for tube attachment. lugged bikes may remain BSA in perpetuity, but as an industry is there some compelling reason why anything welded doesn’t have a T47 shell now?
I don’t think there’s a compelling reason, just the bike industry slap-dicking its way through multiple standards.
T47 is really nothing like BSA because Shimano doesn’t support it.
What makes even the lowly $20 hollowtech2 BB so great is Shimano’s seals. I assume there is a patent involved.
Sram definitely improved theirs a bit from the original PF30 to the 2nd version and DUB but even GXP has the Achilles heel of poor seals in the non drive side cup. (I like GXP besides that).
WRT Rotor, I really like their 24mm stuff because I can use a Shimano BB. Same for the original mega exo FSA Energy cranks.
If the T47 standard doesn’t have a $25 bottom bracket from Shimano, does it even matter? I’d take BB86/92 over T47.
But Sram going all in on DUB really fucked things up. It’s the real reason Trek abandoned BB90.
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I wish. I actually considered a home brew tap but a set of Cyclus T47 tap inserts for the tool I already have is only 80 euros from Euroland.
I definitely have similar leanings. I love shimano BBs but I’m meh on the cranks.
I also have an inexplicable love for ultratorque.
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