Cervelo Bottom Bracket Options

After some feedback guys on options for Bottom Brackets on CerveloS3.

Currently using Wheels MFG Angular Contact version to accept the 30mm Rotor Cranks and it seems good. Certainly heaps better than standard pressfit BB’s.

After a few Google Searches have found BBInfinite BBRight 79mm for 30mm Spindle | BBInfinite

Has anyone used one and did it stop the creaking.

Chrisking pressfit 30

I have WheelsMFG bottom brackets on two bikes. One of the standard BB86 press fit and one of the more recent BB86 press fit with the threaded collar that you tighten together.

I’ve actually found both of them to be brilliant. So much better than any standard BB. Is there anything you don’t like about the current WheelsMFG BB that you have? Does it have the threaded collar?

I’ve been using BBInfinite on my Cannondale Super6 for the last two years now. Cannondales are notorious for creaking bottom brackets.

I have not had one creak. I have not even replaced the bearings. The bottom bracket is still running super smooth and without a chain on the cranks will spin for AT LEAST 30 seconds.

They are expensive but for build quality and peace of mind they are worth every dollar.

This guy does a series of videos regarding various frames and bottom brackets. They are very interesting to watch and he seems to know his stuff.

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I have a C-bear bottom bracket on my R3 disc. No creaking or any other issues.

I installed the BB according to the C-bear instructions: no loctite etc.needed.

+1 for the BBInfinite recommendation. That’s all I use anymore. So worry free with the installation. Just press it in from the one side and you’re all set. No worrying if the bearings are parallel or the correct distance apart. Like I said, highly recommend. Also, like @xygse, I haven’t replaced anything in the BB’s I have of their’s installed and if I’m replacing the chain or have that off the bike, that crank’ll spin for a longgg time. Or if I have the bike in the stand and really turn the cranks to get the rear wheel sped up, the sort of ‘drag’ in the freehub will just keep the cranks pedaling for a while :relaxed::+1:

I have had good luck with Chris King Press Fit 30 BB in this situation. They have stopped manufacturing them but you can get them from other places on the net. The bearings are serviceable for life and the company back their engineering up.

Hambini is controversial; some might say all he’s interested in doing is courting controversy, attacking whoever he decides he doesn’t like today with pseudo science, and selling his own solutions, but have a google, and draw your own conclusions :wink:

Maybe my bar isn’t too high, but I have gxp (quarq) cranks in my S2 on wheels mfg adapters, which seem to work just fine, and wheels mfg bb-whatever-out thread togethers on the gf’s P2, and her specialized roady. All seem to just work, haven’t had any issues or creaking with any of them.

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Controversy = views. Obviously, attacks are arbitrary, otherwise he would have to test all the (big) manufacturers. But what would you pick out as pseudo science? I not an engineer but I did study physics, his explanations seem plausible at least.

Watts saved is not my concern, manufacturing precision and potential problems it may cause is.

BBInfinite makes a very high quality product. I’ve been using them for 2 years now on all my bikes (mountain, CX, road with Shimano, Praxis, and SRAM cranks into Cannondale, Specialized, and Canyon frames) with absolutely no creaks or problems. The silence is nice, but they also work well with the frame to be super stiff and highly efficient - they fit perfectly, remove the inherent problem of aligning bearings/races, the instructions are specific to your frame/crank and are in color, and are easily installed with tools that come with the product. No bushings, no rubber expanders - just machined correctly. If you don’t have a bearing press, they allow you to rent one for like $5 and send it back to them. Their videos are helpful, and it makes intuitive sense.

I have a hard time understanding why more high-level riders/racers aren’t using them. To top it all off, their customer service is super friendly and helpful.

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Can see why Hambini isn’t for all but a mixture of facts and the entertainment he gives makes me enjoy his youtube videos. He does gives praise where it’s due and more importantly, speaks his mind.

Manufactures tolerances has been an eye opener for me, if he was giving out bad information I’m sure he would have been shut down by now with the big boys legal teams.

If anything I see it as a positive for us consumers, getting them to tighten their slack practices, you don’t want to be on the left side of the c*****h scale!

Controversy = views is probably quite the point - views in the sense of attention and traffic.

There was a well publicised tiff with flo wheels for instance; Plausible is the key - plausible enough to feed the image of standing up to the big guys, while promoting his stuff, but apparently not willing to engage when his methods are questioned. Real (as opposed to pseudo) science is attached to the right process, and then the outcome is what it is, Pseudo science has a result in mind and works backwards from that, ignoring any inconveniences that do not fit the desired result.

IMHO he’s a shill, but as I said google and make up your own mind. Merely pointing out that all is not perhaps as simple as it seems.

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He might be promoting his stuff but I don’t see him making fortune on that. I believe a good engineer would make more money using his expertise than by manual labour. I don’t like him swearing and there is a big change in his language when compared to older videos. He seemed more about the problem and less about the show back then.

I know there was a case with Flo wheels but I must admit I haven’t looked into the details at all. However, I do think that it might be very difficult to back up the claims for wheel manufacturers as well. There is way too many assumptions for any use in real world scenarios. I did try to google hambini + pseudo science with no luck :wink: If you would like to point out a concrete example to me, please do so (PM or here) or if Flo case is the example I can check it out.

I do think there is too much claims and too little proof in bicycle industry. If Hambini is helping or not I am not sure. But at least he makes some people think about their purchases.

Always two sides to the story - but there is FLO Cyclings thought on the story FLO’s Side Of The Hambini Accusations | FLO Cycling

I had a big problem with creaking BB in my 2014 Cervelo R3. Took it to multiple shops, and they all told me it was NOT the BB… it was “loose chainrings”, or “dirt in the chainring bolts”, or “pedal bearings”… all of which was bullshit. Finally found a shop that said it WAS the BB, and replaced it with a Kogel. Works great now! Check them out.

I’ve also heard great things about BBInfinite, though.

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Well, I wasn’t planning to get into a ‘someone on the internet is wrong’ debate… and of course pseudo science was my choice of words. The 'arguments with flo and others are out there, there’s a big thread on slowtwitch if you’re really bored :slight_smile:

In respect of @FatherDamo2 “if he was giving out bad information I’m sure he would have been shut down by now with the big boys legal teams.” respectfully I’d suggest that’s rather upside down:
Hambini is somewhat obviously British. Round here you can say what you like, and unless it can be proved to be wrong, you can pretty much go on saying what you like. Unless his claims are right, you’d gain little trying to ‘take him down’, other than to give oxygen to something that doesn’t deserve it. My analogy would be the naughty child running around a restaurant; the parents think it’s adorable, everyone else in the restaurant ignores it because attention is precisely the wrong thing to give it… and anyone not in that particular restaurant doesn’t know / care it even exists!
Only if he really had something tangible to hit them with would a ‘takedown’ make sense. Aka the ‘Lance Armstrong’ defence :wink:

I can see he apeals to a certain narrative, much like ‘big pharma’ etc. Personally I would suggest that orthodoxy is not ‘conspiracy’, it’s just the result of many people coming to the same conclusion.
That’s not to say that the orthodox is always right, just that If I was the one that thought everyone else was wrong, I’d be looking for some pretty solid proof, and let the facts speak for themselves - “Here are my results, make of them what you will”. When I see “They’re all idiots/***ktards, whatever and I’m the only one that knows what I’m talking about”… well, let’s say I draw certain conclusions.

I couldn’t bring myself to watch the whole video, but it rather conforms to expectations: much irrelevant stuff, for example “there are voids here and here (but my NDT tech says it’s ok)”, which proves what, apart from show? (If you want a frame with no voids, it’ll cost a hell of a lot more, because cervelo (or whoever) will throw away many more, that’s just the reality of carbon. Ditto beefing about the internal finish.
He states that the BB is clearly oval while showing an image from an offset camera which will make any cricle look oval… I’ll trust he measured further in and it was oval, and finally there’s much fuss about the NDS bearing being knackered due to being pinched by the oval BB shell. If you actually look at a thread in bearing for these, it’s pretty much impossible to pinch the interface with the frame without also pinching the bearing, on either side, the DS isn’t that far out. I’d also suggest that the BB is far stronger than the shell/tube in the frame and it’s rather unlikely to be doing what he suggests.

In my experience, the NDS bearing is usually the first to s**t it’s self 'cos it’s more open to the weather, crud and misdirected pressure washers while the DS one is protected by the chainset, but that wouldn’t make much of a video!

Whatevery the truth of the matter, I really should leave it be, make up your own mind.
Oh, and I really rate the wheels mfg solution as being properly engineered and trouble free at a half sensible price :+1:

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Not really that bored :smiley: I’ve read the reaction of Flo that Mike posted but yeah, I don’t have money on any of these horses (or how you say that in English). Obviously, being Flo one would come up with such an answer.

I am not buying BB solution from Hambini and I was not considering Flo wheels even before seeing anything from Hambini (other options here in Europe). I am pretty light so BB creaks are less of a concern and aerodynamics even less so :wink: But I might be buying a new bike (we are always buying one, right?) and haven’t considered Time or Look (mentioned by Hambini) before. Looking at it from a bright side I have more options now. And no, Cervelo was not a list before and I haven’t changed my mind either.

So yes, I will try to not fall for some trickery but not fighting some else’s fights. Cheers @MarkS.

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