Can you fit Super Record cult BB bearings in a Chorus 11BB?

[ticou]

Hi Guys,

I looked on the Campy website and a guy wanted the cults in his pre 09 record bottom bracket, and he was told the cups were incompatible, and he'd have to use grease, negating their (cult) impact. Are the 2011 11 speed Campy top enders cups uniform or would I face the same problem and have to buy and fit the S/record ones before buying the cults?

Any ideas? Thanks.

[5 8 5]

The SR cups don't have the inner seals. You convert the Record cups to SR by removing the seals.
They can be put back in later if needed.

[tommasini]

The seals don't take up any space that would not allow running SR cranks with them.

As someone who has a SR setup and separate Record setup, I'd highly recommend that SR cranks with those Chorus BB cups I'd pull out the inner seals from the BB cups and gain the added benefit of the cult concept.

[solarider]

I have just bought a press fit BB30 frame and run SR cranks. Interestingly Campagnolo only make 1 set of cups for this appplication (i.e. they don't make a SR specific set). The cups have seals. In the instructions, there is no reference to removing the seals in the event of using SR. I always agreed with the general concensus on the difference between the cups, and the need to remove the seals from standard cups to make the most of CULT but now I am not so sure.

[fdegrove]

Hi,

I looked on the Campy website and a guy wanted the cults in his pre 09 record bottom bracket, and he was told the cups were incompatible, and he'd have to use grease, negating their (cult) impact.

It's not as much the cups that turn a Chorus crank into a CULT one but the bearings. So assuming you'd want a Chorus crank go CULT you'd need to replace the standard 6805N bearings for a set of CULT bearings and pop the seals from your current cups (if you want to). Done.

Ciao,

[ticou]

Thanks for the replies chaps, I have a feeling Campy arn't the benign hippies we all took them to be. They say only use SR cups for cults because they are specifically strenghtened for this purpose, they then say SR cups are not suitable for any other (i.e Chorus) chainset.

It seems they don't want the peasants to sit at the top table.

[DaveS]

If the cups are old, they shuold be replaced anyway. The cups are cheap. Buy some SR cups and use them.

There is no reason that cups with seals can't be used with SR bearings.

[1415chris]

And non-SR with SR cups.

[bikerjulio]

The seals on Campy cups are on the inside of the bearings.

They protect the bearings from stuff that has already got into the BB shell.

Some frame designs allow water to enter the BB shell from elsewhere. Some (ie most (all?), newer carbon ones), don't.

If your frame has a sealed BB shell, then the cup seals are a waste of time in all applications, SR or non-SR.

[DaveS]

If a frame has no water drain hole in the BB shell and the seatpost is somehow sealed, then the cups seals are not needed. Otherwise, you need the seals with any bearing other than a CULT model. Even the small drain hole in most BB shells allows dirt and grit to enter the bearing area.