BBSHD - Bottom bracket standards confusion

Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
16
Hi there,

I'm about to purchase a BBSHD or a BBS02 from EM3ev to the UK.

I've got this bike and have read a few articles confusing if the kit will fit on to my bike.

The bikes specs can be found here
https://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en-GB/bike/bronson/1

It's says its got a 73mm ISO tapered BB. But a guide online said to be careful of bikes manufactured after 2012 as they can be incompatible, I see no issues? They were also mentioning JIS standards etc.

I've attached an image of the bikes BB below.

Any help would be greatly apprecieted!
unnamed (2)2.jpg

Cheers

Rhys
 
If your bottom bracket is not threaded, you will have to make adapters to fit the BBSHD. Not very complicated IMO, but some who are not into fabrication might prefer buying a frame that has the older BB type. China is still one generation behind, but we can expect them to catch up eventually.
 
Also, IMO, the manner in which the down tube is flat before being attached to the BB suggests the BBS will hang down like a cow's udder. You might be better off with a less competent (from a pedaling standpoint), but good descending model. If you really want to convert that bike, you might wait for the next generation from Revel Propulsion, since they can hook you up with a custom mount (as an added bonus you don't bugger the BB threads with the installation).
 
It is about time that China quits using square taper for anything else than kids bikes.
 
Cheers!

That was a typo, was mean to say that my BB is threaded not tapered. Should be alright then.

Also because its a 73mm BB but I'm purchasing a 68mm, will it come with a spacer kit from em3v?

Cheers

Rhys
 
Doubt you'll need a spacer kit. However, the right crankarm will be another five mm farther from its chainstay than the left (probably a total of 15 - 20 mm "offset") and you'll need red LockTite or some other method to secure the bolt on the BB since there won't be room for the "jam" nut.
 
I think you'll run into problems. You have tabs for a chain guide that will need to get ground off, and going to be very tight clearance around the mount for the lower swing link. Depending on how much the swingarm sticks out to the right, it might hit the reduction gear case unless the unit is spacered out a bunch to the right.

122-2~2.jpg

Separate from that, if you get the BBSHD, it has enough power to possibly snap the swing link, and I had one customer that it bowed the frame to the right so much during acceleration it put a vertical 10cm crack on the left side of the seat tube.
 
MadRhino said:
It is about time that China quits using square taper for anything else than kids bikes.

Sure, why not ditch the only standard that was ever really standard?

I don’t like square taper BBs because I sometimes break them off, but I like being able to get the correct replacement part on the first try.

I’m puzzled as to why the industry keeps trying to reinvent the American shell, since that’s been around and functional for way over a century, and tends not to have the problems that incompatible new-hotness proprietary BBs do.
 
Balmorhea said:
MadRhino said:
It is about time that China quits using square taper for anything else than kids bikes.

Sure, why not ditch the only standard that was ever really standard?

I don’t like square taper BBs because I sometimes break them off, but I like being able to get the correct replacement part on the first try.

I’m puzzled as to why the industry keeps trying to reinvent the American shell, since that’s been around and functional for way over a century, and tends not to have the problems that incompatible new-hotness proprietary BBs do.
Mostly marketing hype. A few changes may be somewhat of an improvement, but most are window dressing.
 
The problem when a standard is outdated, is that many attempt of improvements are happening for a long time before one is preferred and become the new standard.

Let’s face it. Square taper is sh*t. It can last long but way too easy to get the crank lever out of alignment. Bigger BB shells have made eccentric BB available, giving one more geometry tuning option. Cranks are much stiffer and lighter today. Other than installing a Chinese BB drive kit or building a cheap bike from scrap, who would want to go back to square taper today?
 
MadRhino said:
Cranks are much stiffer and lighter today. Other than installing a Chinese BB drive kit or building a cheap bike from scrap, who would want to go back to square taper today?

Ditching square taper cranks doesn't mean getting rid of the established bottom bracket shell, or worse yet making a confusing proliferation of different bottom bracket "standards" that all suck. If you can't do it with a British threaded shell (and I bet you can), you can do it with an American press fit shell. All others are needless garbage.

Magic Motorcycle showed us how to run a 25mm spindle through a regular threaded shell before the '80s were over. Now you can get a set of threaded cups for a 30mm spindle. So why do we now need a dozen or more bullshit press-fit BB standards that don't work as well as American? Why do we need a new oversized threaded BB that fails to offer anything ISIS OS didn't have over 20 years ago when it flunked the market test?
 
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