Square Taper or Octalink ?

thank you chaps and chapettes, looks like square taper it is.

Square taper seems perfect, I'm not really sure why it needed reinventing. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

on mountainbike hucksters it goes snap.

i've seen it happen, guy was lucky didn't result in leg gash. only a 4ft drop. to flat. concrete. fucking funny. lone crank left discarded on the ground.

"looks like square taper it is."

Fail

Bitter, because you're trying to flog an ISIS set-up (which you know is shit and likely to fail as soon as the sun dips behind a cloud).

"looks like square taper it is."

Fail

the extra stiffness of the octalink is useless to me if they cannot deal with the daily grind like square taper can ... so nuh...

thank you chaps and chapettes, looks like square taper it is.

At the end of the day, it depends on size of the rider and how aggressive you get.

I'm quite light but still know that accelerating from a stop sometimes feels spongy and just doesn't give the traction i want. Square taper won't be as strong as well.

My mate broke his campag bb

And he's not the only one.

but yeah, i honestly don't think there is much point splashing out twice the cash on octalink if you're gonna use it on the road.

One-piece. Job done.

one piece =strong re:mr brown

I'd go for Octalink over square taper any day. It's not exactly a n issue to check your crank tightness every once in a while, is it? (Which you should be doing no matter what crank attachment you are using.)

Oh, and the comparison between Octalink and ISIS is not particularly relevant. ISIS BBs have an astonishingly bad reputation for bearing failure, Octalink BBs do not. In fact, Octalink BBs have a rather good reputation for bearing life, even on MTBs, so they'll be perfectly fine on your track/road bike.

I was hoping some collective forum wisdom would be able to help my predicament.

I had ordered a set of Dura Ace 7600 (square taper cranks) from Parker Int. a few days ago. I have just been told that Parker don't have any stock left, and are not getting any more in (I could really have used that information before selling my current cranks).
They have offered me the Dura Ace 7710 Octalink version (which I believe are more expensive) for the same price as the 7600's.

I have no experience with octalink, and I dont know why but my gut feeling was originally to stay away from them.

So basically what i'm asking is; how does octalink compare with square taper - what are the plus and minus points of both systems.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Jamie.

I'm sorry, but in my haste I forgot to UTFS. Looks like this topic may have been covered - though any info you want to add, please feel free!

Burn him...

I'm in the process of building my own fire. Have no fear, I intend to burn myself at dawn.

Fit once, correctly and you need not worry.

The whole "splined cranks are shit" thing started and continues because most people fitting them are morons who fail to recognise the benefits of using the correct torque.

You're making me moist Pifko..

I'm thinking that I might just go for Campag Pistas- they're cheaper, from what I can tell, just as good - I already have the correct BB for them, and they come with a ring!

But, I did want Dura Ace....?

Yeah.. go for Campag, they're awesome.

I can never tell if you're being sarcastic Hippy.

I sense in this instance, you're probably not?

Fit once, correctly and you need not worry.

The whole "splined cranks are shit" thing started and continues because most people fitting them are morons who fail to recognise the benefits of using the correct torque.

You're right.

got octastink DA on both my fixed road trainer and track bike, they simply rule.

(you can use the ultegra or 105 road BB if you are using it on the road, they are cheap and cartridge)

I am being sarcastic.. to a point..

I wouldn't use Campag personally but it does sounds like a good deal.

Get the octalink. Install carefully. Job done.

Theres plenty of old road bikes around with octalink BB still going strong. So longevity is'nt always a problem. Should be lighter and stiffer than Square taper too.

To continue the BB porn

I have octalink b.b on my fixed, I'm fairly light but it has held up well in my opinion. Like any crank I check that i's tight ever so often but other than that it's been fine. I never wash my bike, ride it in all weathers, even done a few bridalways, this b.b has done over 20,000 mile by my rough calcs, probably more, just starting to feel a slight wobble on it if you grab it by hand but it's unnoticeable when riding. Only a sample size of one I know but not bad performance.