RSS FeedsSKF BXC600 Bottom Bracket Review
by Tom on the 31st of January 2008
Not the most exciting component on your list, I’d guess, but certainly one of the most important. The last thing you want is to cycle a couple of thousand kilometres and have your bottom bracket disintegrate, only to find that no bike shop stocks a replacement to match your cranks. (Just ask Mark.) If you’re really unlucky, that’ll also mean new chainrings, and if your drivetrain is sufficiently worn to induce chain suck, a new chain and cassette. It makes sense, therefore, to get hold of a bottom bracket that you can literally fit and forget.
We did a lot of research. We looked at Shimano’s offerings and at those of various mountain-biking brands. But what we really needed was something that would last for tens of thousands of miles, not something that was designed more for rough trail and downhill treatment than longevity. And we wanted something based on open compatibility, not one of the various proprietary systems which would tie us to (insert brand here)’s components forevermore.
Eventually, we happened upon a new offering from German bearing specialists SKF. Their first foray into the cycling market was a series of ISIS-compatible bottom brackets for cross-country and downhill riders, based around their rather clever bearing engineering, details of which we won’t go into here. For the cross-country models, they list touring as one of their recommended applications, and with the units designed to last 10 years, we were convinced enough to give their high-end cross-country bottom bracket, the BXC 600, a try.
We fitted them and attached our personal choice of ISIS cranks and pedals. Since that moment, there hasn’t been a creak, squeak, rumble, rattle or any other noise from them. They glide round as smoothly as the day they were fitted (and forgotten).
Time will tell how they fare in the future, and we’ll be sure to update this review if anything develops. We’ll recommend them based on their flawless performance so far, unlike Mark’s RaceFace X-Type external bearing bottom bracket, which began to rattle at the start of the trip and then disintegrated entirely within a month.
More information and UK dealers:
May 27th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Hi guys,
Really appreciate your very nice homepage with lots of real world reviews, useful information and fun reading for us biking and traveling nerds!
Just a minor correction, SKF, which probably makes the worlds best ball bearings, stands for “Svenska Kullager Fabriken” - i.e. it is very much a Swedish not German company;) Great that it works! Apparently they have not sponsored you either making the review even more valid ;)