Cannondale. BB90

[139NI]

Does anyone have any good or bad expeirience to share about the BB90. I am looking at buying. Cannondale bike and they all seem to be fitted with it

Also are the Praxis Works conversion kit from BB90 to Shimano H2

Cheers

W

 

[Milkfloat]

I was not aware that Cannondale used BB90, I thought they were using BB30 and BB30a whilst BB90 was used by Trek, but was being phased out. I can comment a lot on BB30 as I have spent the last few weeks curing a creak (yet again).

 

[139NI]

I was not aware that Cannondale used BB90, I thought they were using BB30 and BB30a whilst BB90 was used by Trek, but was being phased out. I can comment a lot on BB30 as I have spent the last few weeks curing a creak (yet again).

You're right it is BB30. Not sure why I typed 90 in, thanks. W.

Would like to hear of your experience with BB30 cos I am thinking of getting a bike with BB30a which is a slight variance where the non-drive side is 5mm longer, but I am being put off by the negative comments whilst researching the bike

 

[Milkfloat]

You're right it is BB30. Not sure why I typed 90 in, thanks. W.

Would like to hear of your experience with BB30 cos I am thinking of getting a bike with BB30a which is a slight variance where the non-drive side is 5mm longer, but I am being put off by the negative comments whilst researching the bike

I have BB30a on my Synapse. Thousands of people have no issues whatsoever. Mine starked creaking within 300 miles, LBS cured it as part of the 6 week service (only with adding grease without taking the bearings out). Then 6 months and a thousand or so miles later it came back with a vengeance. i decided to handle this myself. So out with the bearings and liberal amounts of grease applied, this worked for a bit. Then same again, but with new bearings, again this was temporary. Just this week, I went with the final option of loctite bearing seal, time will tell if this works.

Would I get BB30a again? Ideally no, but from what I gather all modern BB solutions have their own issues. I now have the tools and knowledge to try and deal with it. So for me, I would not actively look for a bike with or without it, but would concentrate on what the rest of the bike package has to offer.

 

[139NI]

Thank you for sharing that, I am bang on getting a cannondale but the only thing stopping me going to the shop now is the bb30. Did you/ would you consider conversion kits like the Praxis Conversion kits? This is a complete shimano hollowtech 2 Bb conversion, I am reading up on this and it does appear to be effective......

 

[Venod]

Thousands of people have no issues whatsoever

Take note of this statement from @Milkfloat no problem with mine and very easy to work on even without special tools, I wouldn't let the BB30/30a put you off getting a Cannondale which IMO are excellent bikes.

 

[goody]

As far as I know the conversion kits won't work with BB30a. If you want to run Shimano cranks then a reducer/adapter like wheels manufacturing or FSA is possible but you still have the BB30 bearings. The bb shell on BB30a is 73mm wide, that plus the outboard bearings means the road chainset axle is not wide enough for the non drive side crank to fit properly on the axle. It's all B@+%@ks nothing wrong with threaded bottom brackets, maybe pressfit shells are cheaper to manufacture or save 2 grams. Or maybe R&D departments have to justify their existence.

 

[139NI]

As far as I know the conversion kits won't work with BB30a. If you want to run Shimano cranks then a reducer/adapter like wheels manufacturing or FSA is possible but you still have the BB30 bearings. The bb shell on BB30a is 73mm wide, that plus the outboard bearings means the road chainset axle is not wide enough for the non drive side crank to fit properly on the axle. It's all B@+%@ks nothing wrong with threaded bottom brackets, maybe pressfit shells are cheaper to manufacture or save 2 grams. Or maybe R&D departments have to justify their existence.

Praxis make a road and mtb version of its conversion kit - 68mm and 73mm respectively.

Do you think, in theory anyway, that I could install the 73mm kit, given you rightly say the BB30a sits in a 73mm shell? Secondly, do shimano make hollowtech 2 crack sets with axles for 73mm bottom brackets?

 

[goody]

Shimano MTB chainsets work in a 73mm shell but don't think you'll get the chainring sizes needed for a road bike. As far as I know the only way of running a ht2 cchainset is with the reducers.

 

[fossyant]

I'm glad my new Boardman MTB came with GXP rather than BB30. The standards are a mess now.