Go Back   Cycling Forums » Bikes » Cycling Equipment
Cycling Equipment Need some advice on cycling equipment? Do you have a buckled wheel? Problems with your gears? Need help truing a wheel?













Source for BB Bearings

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 09-21.-2009
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Huntsville, AL, USA
Posts: 1,029
Rep Power: 5
dhk2 is on a distinguished road
Default Source for BB Bearings

My bike uses the FSA Megatech Integrated BB, circa 2003. The design uses an OS BB shell with pressed-in bearings (no threaded adapters), carrying an ISIS spindle. The bearings are 27x43x8mm, (SS and 2-RS). The original bearings were marked "THI", which is the Taiwan company that makes and markets the FSA brand.

The design was promoted as an "open standard" for the industry to use. FSA had the drawings and tolerances on the web, and offered the cutting tools to finish and face the BB shell to exact dimensions. In addition to bigger bearings for the ISIS spindle, the OS shell allows more weld area for the frame tubes. The "open" design failed to catch with any major manufacturer then, but now it seems Trek and Cdale are now offering their own proprietary versions.

About 4 years ago, the LBS ordered replacements from FSA, but contact with their tech support recently only got me the "FSA no longer supports this product".

Have looked at online bearing houses with no luck so far; the size seems to be a weird one. Any help to point me to a source would be greatly appreciated.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 1 Week Ago
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Huntsville, AL, USA
Posts: 1,029
Rep Power: 5
dhk2 is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Source for BB Bearings

Update: Well, FSA Tech Support came through for me big time. A couple of weeks ago, out of the blue, I got a followup email from FSA Tech Support, informing me that he had found a box of old "Megatech" spares in the warehouse which they would be happy to ship to me for $20+ S&H.

My package arrived a few days ago, with 13 bearings, lots of ISIS spindles as well as 3 threaded adapters to convert the 43mm BB to standard british threads.

I replaced the old bearings sunday evening and the bb is smooth and quiet again. Turns out the old drive-side bearing had ingested grit, making the spindle hard to turn once the crankarms were off. Hadn't done the replacement before myself, but a homemade bearing press made from 7/16 threaded rod and a couple of PVC pipe connectors did the job just fine.

In summary, thanks to the outstanding personal customer service of FSA, another Christmas was saved....and it's mine








Quote:
Originally Posted by dhk2 View Post
My bike uses the FSA Megatech Integrated BB, circa 2003. The design uses an OS BB shell with pressed-in bearings (no threaded adapters), carrying an ISIS spindle. The bearings are 27x43x8mm, (SS and 2-RS). The original bearings were marked "THI", which is the Taiwan company that makes and markets the FSA brand.

The design was promoted as an "open standard" for the industry to use. FSA had the drawings and tolerances on the web, and offered the cutting tools to finish and face the BB shell to exact dimensions. In addition to bigger bearings for the ISIS spindle, the OS shell allows more weld area for the frame tubes. The "open" design failed to catch with any major manufacturer then, but now it seems Trek and Cdale are now offering their own proprietary versions.

About 4 years ago, the LBS ordered replacements from FSA, but contact with their tech support recently only got me the "FSA no longer supports this product".

Have looked at online bearing houses with no luck so far; the size seems to be a weird one. Any help to point me to a source would be greatly appreciated.
Reply With Quote


Reply

Bookmarks

Tags
bearings, source

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:20 AM.

Powered by: vBulletin Copyright © 2000 - 2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.3.0
Copyright © 2001 - 2009 cyclingforums.com

Translations (powered by Google):
Bulgarian Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Finnish French German Italian Japanese Korean Norwegian Polish Portuguese Spanish Swedish