Chinese ceramic bottom brackets

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burglarboycie
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by burglarboycie

Hi all
I will be running an FSA SL-K light chainset on my new build so would obviously go for the mega exo bb-8681 but I came across the J&L ceramic units on eBay. They seem very cheap and claim to be compatible with the FSA axle. Has anyone had any experience with these bottom brackets?
Thanks
James

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torob
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by torob

Do not use. I may have ruined my red cranks.
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LouisN
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by LouisN


oreoboreo
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by oreoboreo

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duvivr6
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by duvivr6

@torob
How can you ruin a crank by the use of a Bottom bracket? it just spins on the axle

BikeAnon
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by BikeAnon

I have used FSA's Mega Exo BSA (English) BB's on my bikes with my SL-K Light.

Here is my experience:
FSA's ceramic (came with my crankset) = very good. If it were less expensive, I'd buy these again.

FSA's "regular" BB = works just fine. When riding (of course) I can't tell the difference between this and the expensive ceramic one.

I've now switched my crankset to a Madone (BB90).

I've learned this:

The bearings in the FSA BB shells are EASILY pressed out with simple tools. The bearings are 24x37x7mm.

These same bearings work just fine in BB90. The reverse of that is true, you can buy any 24x37x7mm bearing and use them to replace the ones in the FSA Mega Exo shells.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=137584

I've now gone to using these:
http://www.amazon.com/FSA-Bottom-Bracke ... B001GSKPDM

I will use these in my FSA shells when I need a replacement. I'm happy with the quality/price.

As for the cheap ceramics... read this....
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Bearing_ ... _2822.html

Then resign yourself to the idea that BB bearings are "wear items". Buy the quality you are happy to ride, and want to afford to replace more often.

Don't waste money on cheap hybrid ceramics. The balls are hard enough to destroy the steel races in a single dirty ride. And they may not be "round".

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torob
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Location: Toronto, Ontario

by torob

duvivr6 wrote:@torob
How can you ruin a crank by the use of a Bottom bracket? it just spins on the axle


The bottom bracket I used (J&L as referred to by OP) is designed to fit BOTH GXP and Shimano cranks, so long as you used a little metal adaptor when installing GXP (which narrowed the diameter on the non-drive side). The spacing wasn't right and my NDS crank arm didn't have enough to screw into, so it came loose and ended up stripping the interface between crank and spindle.
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