I just bought a vintage Torpado Superlight frame from about 1985. This frame is made of Columbus SLX tubing and was their top of the line
frame from that time. The frame is in very nice condition with no rust and a clean bottom bracket shell. The bottom bracket shell is an english threaded Cinelli. Torpado cut a decorative "T" in the bottom bracket shell that measures about 2cm X 2cm. When my LBS professional looked the frame over, he was critical of the cutout. He told me that Torpado went out of business because of bottom bracket frame failures. He felt that the cutout in the bottom of the shell might cause failure if standing on the pedals. Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Especially with Torpadoes? Another employee felt that this issue
diminished with the use of a modern cartridge bottom bracket. Any opinions from the group would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Just for comparison, here are some bottom bracket designs including some extreme cutouts. Just go to the first one and the keep hitting next.
I just bought a vintage Torpado Superlight frame from about 1985. This frame is made of Columbus SLX tubing and was their top of the line
frame from that time. The frame is in very nice condition with no rust and a clean bottom bracket shell. The bottom bracket shell is an english threaded Cinelli. Torpado cut a decorative "T" in the bottom bracket shell that measures about 2cm X 2cm. When my LBS professional looked the frame over, he was critical of the cutout. He told me that Torpado went out of business because of bottom bracket frame failures. He felt that the cutout in the bottom of the shell might cause failure if standing on the pedals. Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Especially with Torpadoes? Another employee felt that this issue
diminished with the use of a modern cartridge bottom bracket. Any opinions from the group would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Just for comparison, here are some bottom bracket designs including some extreme cutouts. Just go to the first one and the keep hitting next.
I hate to be the dissenter here, but nobody here has described WHY it's not an issue. Can anybody here do a quick FBD and describe why the BB shell itself is not a high stress point? I'm asking because I don't know and I'm curious myself, plus I'm putting off doing homework currently. -- Phil, Squid-in-Training
I just bought a vintage Torpado Superlight frame from about 1985. This frame is made of Columbus SLX tubing and was their top of the line
frame from that time. The frame is in very nice condition with no rust and a clean bottom bracket shell. The bottom bracket shell is an english threaded Cinelli. Torpado cut a decorative "T" in the bottom bracket shell that measures about 2cm X 2cm. When my LBS professional looked the frame over, he was critical of the cutout. He told me that Torpado went out of business because of bottom bracket frame failures. He felt that the cutout in the bottom of the shell might cause failure if standing on the pedals. Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Especially with Torpadoes? Another employee felt that this issue
diminished with the use of a modern cartridge bottom bracket. Any opinions from the group would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Just for comparison, here are some bottom bracket designs including some extreme cutouts. Just go to the first one and the keep hitting next.
I hate to be the dissenter here, but nobody here has described WHY it's not an issue. Can anybody here do a quick FBD and describe why the BB shell itself is not a high stress point? I'm asking because I don't know and I'm curious myself, plus I'm putting off doing homework currently.
And if you're anything like me you'll stay up all night calculating what you want to in order to avoid homework.
I'd be interested to see the numbers myself, but consider it a pretty well settled matter from a practical angle.
