greatwhite

@JB: Maybe you are right. In many respects it is a cost effective, simple design. I'm just concerned about longevity. The fact that there is relatively little adoption is either a function of others saying the same or everyone playing wait and see (not wanting to be the bleeding edge early adopter). You make a valide point about is being similar to the headset. Which leads me to: @Moegoe: The BB30 system is quite similar to a modern headset

I recon the upside of the BB30 is the replacement cost of bearings, the larger (read stiffer/lighter) crank shaft is also a plus. For me, the down side is the press fitting - putting extra strain onto the already highest stressed part of the bike and if it is too loose, you get creep instead. For the short term and as long as everything is made to correct, tight tolerances, it should be fine, but regular bearing changes could lead to problems.

BB30 is almost a pressed in version of an external BB see http://www.bb30standard.com/index.html . It's Cannondales wet dream that they are trying to get folks to buy into. It has some good technical merit, but also has some drawbacks. As far as you are concerned, if you have octolink, then you don't have BB30

Can I have a photo of that slap to the forehead? Getting back to the original question: A new octolink BB will be the cheaper solution, otherwise a full new Deore or SLX crank set with external BB might be an option. This will also provide new chain rings, eliminating that future headache (note: often a complete set of 3 rings will cost approx the same as a complete new crankset)

@Bos: I said nothing abount the BB lying in the muck - it seems I was unclear: My comment continued from JBs earlier comment that all the crap that collects inside the BB shell (rain getting down seat post etc) that has no chance to drain, will inevitibly run to the left, because bike are usually put down on the left side. While my explination seem relatively inplausible, no plausible explination has been offered. The JBs comment about torque possibly being the cause holds no water (pun intended) to me, the forces on the right (chain side) bearing will always be greater and I don't believe underloading of the left bearing will be the cause

I wish I knew the answer to that one. Some say it is because the left side is more exposed to the elements but I'm not so sure. The right side is a bit protected by the chainring but that type of protection doesn't keep water out. Most BBs fail prematurely because the BB shell doesn't have a drainage hole. The BB then rots from the inside out, so to speak. But why the left one goes first is a mystery to me and I have not yet seen a plausible explanation. We do know that torque is only transmitted along the BB spindle from the left crank, not the right but if that has an effect, I dunno. I'll give you an answer and your going to laugh when you hear it: Most folks lie their bike to the left, so all the contaminent goes to the left. Why do we all lie the bike down that way? because the drivetrain is on the right and ironically we don't want to get that full of contaminent Don't believe me, go to a race - all the bikes lying on the ground with chain etc facing the sun (or rain)

you notice no chain on there - show bike. Like you say, wouldn't last long That said the XTR M970 is a neat solution - Ti teeth with carbon composite reinforcement (looks like a carbon reinforced plastic). Those are more durable than the previous gen ali M960 middle rings. Or even the M770 middle that is steel and carbon comp - few grams more, but 1/3 the pricegreatwhite2010-06-15 08:06:54

wake up !! boone titanium stops to receive orders 3or 4 years ago @ Eliflap: You join the hub a week ago clearly trolling for business, make 22 post and in at least 2 posts you insult people (9% hit rate - not bad), including a potential customer (I assume you were insulting Koukie, since I clearly said "jokes aside" after my comment about carbon teeth"). You seem to be punting a nice product, but as far as your sales skills go, you clearly need to catch a .......... "wake up!!"

carbon teeth won't last long either..... Jokes aside, reletively speaking: Steel - good longevity, but heavy Titanium - reasonable longevity and +-25% lighter than steel and stupidly expensive. Aluminium - poor longevity and even lighter stick to steel for the small ring the weight penalty is minimal. for middle/large ring maybe look at Ti for middle and ali for large

@ fundacious: the trailers are nice, but they quite wide, so you need to chose your routes carefully with the savages that are the road these days. Also not suitable for offroad @ gummibear: You'll be fine mounting them in you're seat stays as long as you mount as near to the bottom as you can manage - if you mount mid span you might create a problem if you hit a big bump and the shock load folds the stay. @cbrunsdon: Try and pick up and old one of these seat secong hand - the support underneath is quite a nice light pannier mount anyway. Then get yourself an aluminium case with foam liners for you laptop. All: Things I have learnt: 1. I found the limit of what offroad you can do with the little one on the back is jeep track of smooth single track. 2. Avoid steep inclines - with all the extra weight over the back wheel, it is quite easy to flip the bike. (no I didn't flip and squash my kid, but you feel the front getting light much earlier than you are used to) 3. Don't go too fast - even if your kid is loving it. Mommy gets upset and then you are in BIG trouble.

Thought I would share this with those that might have had a similar problem:- A while back I bought a Giant baby chair to fit on the back of my mtb so my wife and I could take our little one with us. To cut a long story short, the bike needed certain anchor points for the chair - my wifes bike had them, but mine didn't but I wanted the seat on my bike, so I made these: They are cut from 0.9mm GR304 st/st (these are, in fact, left overs I didn't need) Used in conjunction with jubilee clamps (hose clamps often used in cars), M5 fasteners and some old inner tube, I was able to get the following result: Seat mounted on bike (and intended user) Top mounting - Note the brackets on the seat are quite far apart - I used a couple of nuts to space the intermediate links in so the fitted the bracket on my saddle pillar - if you want you could do a bit of a 'z' bend on the intermediate links, but I'm not a fan of doing any process you can't reverse if you might need to.... Lower seat stay brackets - fairly straight forward As mentioned earlier, I have left overs, since I made a few extra in case made a 'balls up' 1st time round. If anyone want them, PM me. If you want the CAD drawings, ditto. Useful for mounting not only baby chairs And I can say that they solidly hold the chair in place while you are on the move.......greatwhite2010-06-12 06:33:31

do a google for '63800 bearing'

Measure inside diameter, outside diameter and thickness of bearing and post here (also, take a few pics and post) Ghostface - I don't see a kit on your site for above?

Probabaly - wheels make more differencethan any other part on the bike. That said, you might want to keep your current wheels for training

Contrary to what Mampara says the WH-R500 were not the 1st wheels (or part of the 1st range of wheels) that shimano released, however he is right that the early wheels (with spokes in the side) were pretty lame - laterally they were seriously 'whippy' and would touch breakpads easily - a disaster for larger riders. However, even they didn't have a problem with derailleurs touching spokes when set up right. I agree with Eldron and Eugene, your problem relates to either bent derailleur or derailleur hanger (which is more common than most think and not that easily seen), or you don't have the low limit screw set up right. 1. Put the bike into the 2nd largest sprocket, then rest a straight edge approximately vertically on the inside edge of the 1st sprocket (ie. between spokes and sprocket and aligned with the derailleur wheels) - its not definitive, but it will give you a good idea if the RD or RD hanger is bent. failing this: 2. follow Eldrons instruction - the sweet spot for an RD is just far enough extended to get in to 1st, no more - not "cannot be adjusted any further away from or closer to the spokes" 3. Another thought - Just on the off chance that you are, don't cross chain - ie. ride big chain ring and big sprocket together - this is bad for your bike in so many ways and should be avoided. Addressing your question about bladed spokes being stronger - simple answer: no - they are bladed to be more aerodynamic Spokes very rarely fail on the bladed section anyway. Most of the time they fail at the J-Bend and less frequently on the threaded section at the nipple. You're a big guy and these are low spoke count wheels without spoke nipple eyelets: I would hazard a guess and say that your rims are starting to manifest the inevitable fatigue failure at the nipples that these wheels nearly always eventually succumb to. Take a close look around each nipple hole in the rim - If you see little crack radiating out from the hole, this will be part of the cause of the loose spokes & also end of life for rims and probably bin time Mampara is right about looking past 'boutique wheels' - go for a 32 or 36 spoke arrangment, make sure the rims have double eyelets (an eyelet connected to inner and outer section of rim) and used double butted spokes. Don't get talked into straight gauge spokes - while they make the wheel a little stiffer, you loose a lot of fatigue resistance (in rim and spoke) and they weigh more. They don't look pretty, but they work and last 'forever' - If you do go the ready built wheel route - stay away from the really low spoke count wheels (RS10 and RS20) <End Thesis>

Have you lost weight? Has your buddy put on wieght? Do you have new tyres on these new wheels - rolling restiance from different tyre will make way more difference that new or old bearing and probabably more than aerodynamic drag - especially on an mtb where speed is relatively low

Sorry if I sound unsympathetic, but yes, it has been answered many times (although I doubt it is a million) - do a search, its all there. You might even pick up a few things you wouldn't have thought to ask ....

You are missing one small aspect - they guy riding the bike didn't necesserily steal it. I had a bike stolen a few years back - saw it a few months later. The cops happend to be near by and nabbed the guy - turns out he bought it from a pawn shop and another guy had sold it to this shop. Poor bastard who has the bike was out of pocket and he did nothing wrong as far as he knew..... While Cassie gardener is a case in point, I struggle to believe all bike thieves are stupid enough to ride the bike they stole in the area they stole it

Sure? Thats one of the problems with FEA - people do it and think it excludes them from thinking about practical aspects of what they are doing: Any of those pointed bits at the end of the 'T's get a small bump , they will get bent easily then the bent section jams into the side of the pad - result: FUBAR caliper, disc minimum. Close the top of the 'T' and suddenly it becomes significantly more resistant to this problem. FEA will never show you this

Nice looking discs, but structrually unsound - the open section at the end of the T (in XT) could be a problem - at the very least, you need to run these anti clockwise as viewing the top left view

Phone them and ask - EMS 011 961 6038/39/40. Call should be answered by about the 10th-15th attempt - give them tracking number off your order on CRC site and you'll get an idea - ask them for the SA tracking number. Sometimes customs sit on it until you provide them with an invoice - don't expect them look for you. you have to call them and find out.

Thanks Cassie - very kind of you . I'm sure you will find others on the hub that will do just as good a job or better. Long distance sales can make a person nervous, because you can't inspect before you buy, so I'm sure you are pretty relieved everything turned out OK. @ slogger: in this instance, a set of MTB wheels, but I have sold (and bought) plenty of other stuff on the hub - if you are truely curious do a search ..... Oh, and I'm a 'he'.....

As Eldron said, the difference between the 2 rings would be too large for a double front deraileur Not to be rude, but you have 3 options: 1. get a bit fitter and fit a 53/39 combo up front 2. get a triple crank set and front deraileur (and gear changer....) 3. go for a wider spread on the cassette both option 2 and 3 might require a GS (or SGS) rear mech - in all cases you might need a longer chain

And to answer super_mil: multi purpose grease would be fine - it wouldn't be the theoretically ideal grease, but given the stupidly low speed of bike bearings it not an issue. Grease contamination is the biggest problem. With respect to topping up the bearings - If I remember correctly, the grease SKF use on their deep groove ball bearing is LGWA2 which is 2 consistency lithium base grease - more readliy available as products like Shell Alvania RL2