General: What's the point?

Less flex in stronger spindles, equals more power transfer. The cups in Sugino BB's are also highly mirror polished to spin SUPER smooth with no extra friction.

I rode a Phil Wood for a few years and never had to touch it, even with riding in lots of snow and rain. Stayed smooth and quiet.

In our shitty winter weather, I go through a shitty BB once a year. They get squeaky. The thing is, if I were to buy a Phil, it would cost me the equivalent of four to five years of new BBs. Worth it? Maybe. Because of their durability, they could follow me from bike to bike. If it lasts six years, then definitely, if I have the cash on hand and need a BB.

Okay, say I get a phil bb, do I get one that's track bike specific (my bike's a track bike), or do I get one road specific. I've heard of people putting road bbs in their round town track bikes because they're built to take more wear and tear [road bottom brackets]. Is this at all valid?

James, yeah, probably. I still need to have my clients start earning money again so they can start to pay me. Otherwise, it only makes theoretical sense.

Posted By: iron jaiden

Posted By: terrible_one49Phil only has one type of bottom bracket for square taper spindle cranks. You buy it for the correct length of the arms you are using on it and you get the right type of cups for your frame (english or italian)

Exactly. Phil stuff doesn't really come in a "one size fits most" configuration. Their stuff is very specific to what you need. Which is a really good thing as you're going to end up with the correct length bottom bracket rather than whatever you found on eBay for cheap and your goddamn chainring ends up bolted to the inside of your spider just to get your chainline half normal.

HOWEVER, Ebay is a good place for buying Phil Wood bottom brackets, since there is soooo many different sizes and tapers, that if you're are lucky enough to find the correct size and taper for your crank arms, you probably won't have many other people bidding against you for it. I picked up mine, brand new with cups, off ebay for around 45 bucks. It was a 110.5mm and worked perfectly for Sugino 75's

Posted By: iron jaidenOh for sure. You just gotta be patient with the search. They pop up but I haven't seen one in the size I want (103mm JIS) like ever. I might just break down one of these days and buy new.

There's one there now...closes tomorrow. Dogpile!

I'm not gonna give you a link. We'll call it a "teach a man to fish" moment ;-)

OK. I just went to my "lbs" with the intention of getting a $30 bb and having them install it. Turns out that the bottom bracket I have is only compatible with the crankset I have, which are both not produced anymore. So now this turns into what crankset should i get. I'd like to keep it italian, and track bike specific, not tarck or commuter or whatever. I'm planning on doing more research, but does anyone have suggestions on a crankset under $150 that's not purple anodized? Btw, i appreciate the help you've given me thus far.

Posted By: idrinkwaterOkay, say I get a phil bb, do I get one that's track bike specific (my bike's a track bike), or do I get one road specific. I've heard of people putting road bbs in their round town track bikes because they're built to take more wear and tear [road bottom brackets]. Is this at all valid?

Most bottom brackets are not road or track specific. People train at the track for the same amount of miles as road bikers do, it's at a higher sustained cadence too, so I don't think the bottom brackets are any less durable.

You know, the specificity of the Phil BBs mean that I probably couldn't move it from one bike to another.

Posted By: Joshua A.C. NewmanYou know, the specificity of the Phil BBs mean that I probably couldn't move it from one bike to another.

Posted By: SkidMarkYou go back far enough and there are plenty of unsealed road and even MTB bottom brackets.

It's only the NJS bottom brackets that are unsealed anyways, because Japanese Keirin Racing is indoors, and stuck in a time warp.

As long as the threads are the same and you are using the same crank and a hub with the same spacing the Phil bb is going to be interchangeable. In fact it is more interchangeable than any other bb because you can get the threaded cups separately. Don't they also have some side to side adjustabilty?

I think Joshua (who's a pretty well-informed guy) had his sarcasm generator turned on; but I was also unsure.

A Phil BB is even mere interchangeable than most BBs, because the BB itself is separate from the cups. If you switch from a British-thread frame to an Italian-thread frame (or, G_d help you, to a French or Swiss-thread), you can just swap the cups, as long as the taper and spindle length are OK. You can even get Raleigh and Chater Lea cups for the same BB (run! Flee in terror!).

Since both Phil cups are adjustable, you get a few millimeters side-to-side action, so you can get the chainline dialed in. Very few other BBs have this; the Edco Competition from Switzerland springs to mind. The downside is that you need the Phil tool to install/adjust the cup position; I believe the tool is included with new BB, but I'm not 100% sure. Phil just redid their website, making it slicker but no more informative. Included or not, it's a small price to pay for a BB that will live longer than your frame, and may live longer than you.