Re: Why is Shimano so hated by some?

jim beam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

<re: BB spindles>
> what do you ride today?  have you tried one of these larger diameter axles?

I have used ISIS spindles, with mixed results.  I have not used
Shimano "pipe spindles" because they looked lethally flawed.  I have
settled on a variety of BMX cranks including Bullseye, Primo, Redline,
and Profile.

The ISIS cranks I tried (2 cranks, 2 BBs) tended to work loose from
being ridden.  The second time this happened, I got rid of them to
prevent further hassles.

I have avoided Shimano BBs both because I do not trust them to provide
sufficient strength, and because their non-tapered, non-clamped spline
was obviously the work of incompetents.  There is no means by which to
control torsional lash in the "Octalink" design, so I would have seen
the same problems I had with ISIS, only worse.  The fact that Shimano
is abandoning this design so soon is, I believe, a strong indication
that they know it's a dog.

BMX 3-piece cranks provide a variety of very sturdy and reliable
options.  Most of them are splined and pinch-bolted.  This has been
common among quality BMX cranks since the '80s, but Shimano are just
now catching on.  They have gone from a slavish imitation of a
Campagnolo design, to a plainly inferior original design, to an
imitation of a Roger Durham design.  Hopefully they did not screw it
up so badly that it lacks the virtues of Durham's design.

Of the range of BMX 3-pc cranks, I like Primo cranks for their easily
reverse-engineerable spindle and excellent, even excessive, material
quality.  I find Redline Flite cranks to have the nicest finish
quality, and Bullseye cranks to have the best lightweight-yet-sturdy
design.  Threaded bottom brackets and 110/74mm spiders can be had for
all of these cranks.

Chalo Colina