In article <
[email protected]>,
Werehatrack <
[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 20:40:22 GMT, jim beam <
[email protected]> may have said:
>
> >ok, ask wayne whether they'll continue producing decent quality octalink spindles like they do
> >un72's. we know they're bringing out the new stuff.
>
> I doubt that they'll stop making the BBs as long as there's significant demand, although it would
> not surprise me if the number of choices in that area was trimmed. Cranks, though, have already
> started to diminish in selection in the current lineup, and that trend is unlikely to change.
I have no dog in this hunt, but BBs are cheap enough that if your crank needs replacement, shelling
out for a BB is no big deal. Therefore, it's pretty reasonable to curtail crank availability while
still producing lots of BBs.
> I haven't looked, when did Octalink first appear? Are we approaching the expiration of the patent?
> If so, that would explain their progressive shift to the Next Big Thing.
>
> I keep wondering when they're going to decide that the old English BB shell is just going to have
> to go away in favor of something they have invented and controlled. (If they did it, of course,
> they'd be oh-so-genteel about licensing the *shell* design for a tiny pittance to every bike
> builder who agreed not to put anything but a Shimano crank on their bikes...)
One reason Octalink is going away is because it was an engineering dog. It solved some problems with
square tapers, but created others. If it wasn't a problem group, it probably would have propagated
into Tiagra and Deore just as those groups now have 9 speeds.
The engineering types whose opinions here are worth the name 'expert' have been pretty happy with
the Dura-Ace/XTR/XT BB and crank design, suggesting it's a winner. It doesn't affect me much,
because I'm not hard on cranks, but for the strong riders and the long-distance riders, a tough,
lightweight approach to the BB and cranks is a good thing.
Ironically, Shimano has shown no interest in changing either BB or rear axle specs, but there are
movements among mountain bike and component makers to do both. The ISIS people have proposed an
oversized BB shell spec, and larger rear axles are being seen on many new designs. Instead,
Shimano's latest and greatest stuff is specifically conservative here: the new BB system is designed
for a standard-diameter BB (well, many of them
, and the Saint group resisted pressure to go for
an oversize axle, even as some bike makers called for it to do so (Shimano says it's plenty strong
as is. I say the ability of serious huckers to break stuff cannot be compensated for by any design.
hopelessly behind the times in 8-speed square-taper land,
--
Ryan Cousineau,
[email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club
