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Bottom Bracket?

4.4K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Trek_5200  
#1 ·
Im thinking about Di2 Ultegra group for my next bike. The only choice I've seen is English or Italian. Is this the only option?

The different bikes I'm looking at have BSA. PF30, or BB86 bottom brackets. I also saw someting about BBR, what ever that is.

If your starting from scratch would just getting frame with BSA be preferable? One bike shop guy said Shamino makes cranks with the press fit BB.

I've been reading up on this but I'm still confused.

Thanks
 
#2 ·
I'd agree that the present state of the world with respect to bottom brackets is horrendously confusing.

The good news is that a Shimano crankset can be fitted to pretty well anything with the right adapters.

For me there is an order of preference for the different types of adapter available.

1. Threaded, and on most frames today it's English.
2. BB86 is a Shimano pressed-in standard.
3. BB30
4. PF30
5. BBright is Cervelo's proprietary standard.

There's plenty of articles on the differences. Google is your friend.
 
#3 ·
Here's a good reference to the different press-fit/pressed-in standards.
http://problemsolversbike.com/files/tech/Bottom_Bracket_Standards_Reference.pdf

As far as English vs. Italian. If a crank works for one, it'll work for both. The bottom bracket is different. For example the Shimano HollowTech II style BBs (modern day cranks) can be bought in English or Italian threaded. Same from SRAM GXP. The same crank is installed on the bottom bracket, you just need the correct one for the frame. That being said almost no one uses Italian standard these days. I have a 2008 Bianchi and the BB is english threaded, even though the headset is the "Campy" standard.