Which bottom bracket to get?

[Michael Morrissey]

Hi,

I need a new bottom bracket for my 55cm Appaloosa. I am running a 1x9 drivetrain with a vintage White Industries Sugino crankset and a Wolf-Tooth chainring.

I believe the stock bottom bracket was a 110 mm wide unit. I see Rivendell sells a 107 Shimano one. Which one is best for me?

The bike rides fine as is but the bottom bracket squeaks as if I am smuggling some chickens down there. I have ridden it hard for about 5 years. 

Thank you!

Michael

[Kushan]

I think Rivendell recommends 110 mm. This one should most likely work (Rivendell carries this normally but it's currently not in stock). It also depends on your crank though and generally the crank manufactor should also be able to provide recommendation. For example, for their Clipper crankset, RBW recommends 113 mm.  

[Joe Bernard]

Riv has 107 and 110 in stock. If it fits ok now get the 110 again, if the 1×-ness of your setup leaves the cranks out too far then 107 should fix you up. 

[Nick Payne]

AFAIK, the 107 and 110 will give the same chainline - the extra 3mm is all on the non-drive side.

Nick

[Joe Bernard]

You're right. I always forget that. 

[David Person]

I had to learn from trial and error what Nick pointed out above.  a 107mm BB was just a bit too short on the drive side for my bike, so I bought a 110mm only to find out the extra 3mm was on the non-drive side of the spindle.  Had to buy a 113mm, which added 3mm to the drive side spindle vs the 110mm.  At the time I did not have any luck finding 1.5mm BB spacers to split the difference on the 110mm to make it work.

[johnsen...@gmail.com]

i bought two bb's from tange recently of different spindle length. in this case, the added length *was* shared on L and R sides.

the last page of this doc shows relevant measurements:

https://m.tangeseiki.com/jm/images/com_aedes/tangeseiki/tangeseiki-2017.pdf

[David Person]

The table confirms my experience with the Shimano BB's I bought.  The 68mm BB shell width ones with a spindle width of 107, 109 and 111 all have the same length spindle exposed on the right side (20.5mm) with the length of the left side spindle receiving the added length from 18.5 to 20.5 to 22.5mm.

[johnsen...@gmail.com]

ah, i see it in your case.

i bought wider ones  [122 and 127] where the difference was shared on both ends.

are these measurements shared by other bb makers? i mean,  is there a standard?

also, isn't this a bit fussy, do a few extra mm cause real trouble? that's an actual question.

i have little experience to offer.

[David Person]

My experience was that my Hillborne came with a Tange 107mm bb and when it went bad I replaced it with a 107mm Shimano UN300 bb, or at least tried to replace it, but the inner chainring hit the chainstay when I installed the crankset.  So I bought a UN300 in 110mm length, thinking I would get 1.5mm on the drive side and the chainring would clear the chainstay.  Nope, had to go with 113mm in order to get any add'l spindle on the drive side.  So for me, it wasn't so much an issue of nailing the chainline, but of getting the chainring to not hit the chainstay.