Does Octalink=splined

[See Sig]

Was Octalink a different design from "splined"? Or are they interchangeable terms?

WHat year did Octalink start?

Thanks

 

[Sheldon Brown]

A shy person asked:

> Was Octalink a different design from "splined"? Or are they interchangeable terms?

"Octalink" is a Shimano trademark for a specific spline pattern, used on =

Dura-Ace, Ultegra, 105 and XTR bottom brackets/cranks.

I believe it was introduced in 1997 when the 9-speed Dura-Ace group was=20 introduced.

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[Chris B .]

On Thu, 09 Oct 2003 22:45:48 GMT, [email protected] wrote:

>Was Octalink a different design from "splined"? Or are they interchangeable terms?

Octalink is Shimano's (probably trademarked) name for their splined interface.

http://www.paul-lange.de/nl/2000/TT_1_00.PDF

There are other splined interfaces, notably the ISIS spline which has 10 flutes to Shimano's 8 and
many BMX cranks, some of which have dozens of splines; splines which are finer than those in the
above two designs.

http://www.isisdrive.com/

>WHat year did Octalink start?

I'm not sure that they referred to it as 'Octalink' initially, but I think the Shimano spline first
appeared in 1997 when the XTR Mountain Bike group was revamped and which would later be used with
the high end road groups. When the LX and XT cranks and BBs were changed to a splined design two or
three years later, longer flutes were used (see link) so the parts were not interchangeable with the
XTR and roadie stuff. For 2003, Shimano changed XTR and Dura-Ace again, and also worked at
preventing LX/XT Bottom Bracket/Crank interchangability.

--
Chris Bird