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Real
Crankcase Bottom Bracket
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Submitted by
Phil
a Cross Country Rider
from Alaska
Date Reviewed: May 30, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | Anything twisty and rooty | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$44.00 | | Purchased At: | Cambria Bike | | Strengths: | Very Durable, light at 225 g (for Crankcase extra).
Regreasable/replaceable bearings (no need to throw away and waste the whole BB when bearings wear out).
Fits 68 or 73 mm, can get any chainline just right (super adjustable). | | Weaknesses: | Installation and adjustment might be a little difficult for the less mechanically inclined or those lacking patience. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano, Nashbar, Raceface | | Bike Setup: | Steel Hardtail, I built it from the frame up... | | Bottom Line: | Wow, have I really owned this Real Crankcase extra since 1998 (see my earlier review). This is the second bike frame I have used it on, and they have different width BB shells - just swapped some spacers and went from 73 to 68 mm). My brother also has one on his bike. He has about 2200 miles on it so far. We rebuilt it this spring (repacked the bearings with grease) and they still spin smooth with just a slight hint of play (we may need to replace the bearings next summer). I rebuilt mine last summer, haven't looked at them this season yet, but they still spin smooth with no play at all.
Even though Real is defunct I will keep on using the crankcase BB until I can't buy square taper cranks. Very durable with fully replaceable bearings (which I haven't had to replace yet).
Now if they can only make an ISIS BB with bearings this durable... too bad, since I like how stiff ISIS is. Oh, well. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
j.f.
a Cross Country Rider
from SC
Date Reviewed: April 11, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | Tested or demo'ed only | | Price Paid: |
$25.00 | | Purchased At: | cambria | | Strengths: | tight tolerances= no slopp, creaks etc. | | Weaknesses: | GOT to be mechanically inclined to install. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano, Samson, White | | Bike Setup: | Fisher HK II, Deore cranks, thumbies, rigid fork--old school | | Bottom Line: | i like it because it's got easily replacable sealed bearings, the overall weight for a hollow Cr-Mo spindle
is reasonable, and the tolerances are VERY tight. a tip
for install would be to make darn shure that the B/B shell
width is exactly measured then use correct spacers and oil
the spindle and ID of the bearings before slowly-carefully
tightening both cups--rather than just cranking down on
the one side per the instructions. After that's done, you
can prolly smelt your bottom bracket tools and recast them
into something more useful like maybe a V-brake wrench :) | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Rob Cloutier
a Cross Country Rider
from Portland, Oregon USA
Date Reviewed: April 17, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$16.00 | | Purchased At: | Cambriabike | | Strengths: | innovative and adjustable | | Weaknesses: | tolerances too tight--way diificult to install | | Similar Products Used: | xt/lx | | Bike Setup: | uzzi SL/fox vanilla rlc/race face cranks/xtr derailleur
| | Bottom Line: | I wrote an earlier review praising this product it's time to recant my previous thoughts regarding this BB. I just purchased a new one with a wider spindle for my cranks to put on my new frame. I wanted to set it up with double bearings on both the drive and non drive side as I had on my mojo. There was absolutely no way these bearings were going to all get on this spindle. I ended up using the old cup from the first one I bought since the new cup wouldn't accept the bearing. Bottom line is tolerances are too tight and installation tedious. PS: i read the installation directions several times to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong--I had taken this BB out of my mojo several times with only moderate difficulty. My next BB will likely be a raceface. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jason Metzler
a Downhiller
from Ft. Collins , Colorado
Date Reviewed: April 10, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | sawmill in Lory state park | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$20.00 | | Purchased At: | CBO | | Strengths: | Adjustabilty, concept. | | Weaknesses: | Difficult for average person to install. Weak spindle | | Similar Products Used: | UN72, truvativ ISIS | | Bike Setup: | Road 34 SFHT1 DS rig. Kooka DH cranks, XT Disc brakes. etc.... | | Bottom Line: | After about a half hour of screwing areoung with the spacers included I got the proper chainline that worked with my Chainguide. I bought another bearing and put two bearings on the drive side. two days later I did a 10 stair drop to flat and bent the spindle and crushed the bearings. ????
I guess its not made for that but it still sucks. For any practical use a cartrige unit would most likly be a better choice.
I bought a new spindle and I am going to put four bearings in it this time. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Justin
a Racer
from Balitmore
Date Reviewed: April 4, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$50.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Light
Good design in theory | | Weaknesses: | IT BENT. As in my cranks sit at a 170 degree angle now.
It looks like this ---> ~ ok not that dramatic but you get the picture. and this is on an XC race bike! not a NS beast. | | Similar Products Used: | LX | | Bike Setup: | Giant MCM team, RF cranks | | Bottom Line: | Don't get it esp since Real is defunct. Get a race face. That's what I'm going to get to replace it. Oh yeah it also squeeks A LOT after about 8 months. | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
steveo
a Weekend Warrior
from pottstown pa
Date Reviewed: February 28, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$25.00 | | Purchased At: | Cambria | | Strengths: | to be determined | | Weaknesses: | difficult to install, excess drag | | Similar Products Used: | shimano cartridge all types | | Bike Setup: | old raleigh m600 frame used as a single speed,lx hubs,singulator | | Bottom Line: | difficult to install and once installed excess drag in unit. Had to tap spindle through bearings, but when I removed to adjust the spacers, the bearings stuck to the spindle. Removed them with a bearing puller OK, but even after several adjustements, the excess drag would not go away. Bottom bracket was faced properly before installation too. Overall installation is not that easy, certainly not the type for a novice. All in all, for the price, I'm sticking with a cartridge type bb next time. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Justin
a Cross Country Rider
from Chicago, IL
Date Reviewed: February 21, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | 3 Ravines | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$35.00 | | Purchased At: | Cambria | | Strengths: | Adjustable chainline, replaceable bearings, adjustable BB width down to 1 mm. | | Weaknesses: | Not for a novice mechanic, Real out of business so no warranty | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano, FSA, American Classic | | Bike Setup: | 95 Norco Team Issue | | Bottom Line: | Good design in theory, some problems in practice. First, you have to have some tools and skills to put this in. You need your BB shell faced, you need an outdated BB tool (I used a Shimano UN96), and ideally you also have a torque wrench and some patience. I used 2 bearings on each side, and the hardest part was getting the spindle through the bearings completely. I realize that it has to be tight to work, but I had to use a hammer. What novice wrench is going to do that? Also, once I got the spidle through there, it seemed like there was way too much resistance from the bearings... it was actually hard to turn the spindle. I'm hoping this will loosen up eventually. All this adds up to an unnecessarily hard part to install... my next BB will be a Shimano XT. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Romeo Felicano
a Cross Country Rider
from Diego Garcia, B.I.O.T.
Date Reviewed: August 25, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | all of the trails here on "The Rock" | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$49.00 | | Purchased At: | Cambria Bicycle Outfitters | | Strengths: | Cool Design. Light weight. | | Weaknesses: | None noticed yet. | | Similar Products Used: | FSA Ultimax Ti 3 bearing bottom bracket. Shimano UN-72. | | Bike Setup: | 16" 2000 Supergo Access Titanium frame. 99 Marzocchi Superfly. Race Face real seal headset. Kore stem. Easton CT2 flat bar with Bontrager Magnesium bar ends. Sram Attack half-pipe shifters. Tektro MT820 brakes with Avid rim wrangler brake shoes. Avid 2.0 SD levers. Dean Titanium seatpost. Flite Ti saddle. Kooka Bonnie cranks with Race Face 9spd rings.Real Design Extra Crankcase bottom bracket. Shimano PD-M545 pedals. XTR front/rear derailleurs. Custom wheelset with red GT CNC front hub/XTR rear hub/DT revolution 15/17/15 spokes/Spline-Drive nipples/Mavic 217 rims/Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1 tires/purple GT Titanium skewers. Ringle XC bottle cage. | | Bottom Line: | After reading about the review on the Real Design Extra Crankcase bottom bracket in Bike magazine, I decided to replace my creaking, FSA Ultimax Ti BB. It is a cool design, is lightweight, and inexpensive. A follow-up review to come. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
mike
a
from chi-town
Date Reviewed: July 21, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | design
weight
kickass-saucitiy | | Weaknesses: | setup(but only if your a color blind moron without metric calipers) | | Similar Products Used: | shimano, race face | | Bike Setup: | good | | Bottom Line: | great design, really smooth and light, easy to set up for mrp. best bb i have ever seen or used.
BTW i have the ultimate ti | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
CrankE
a Cross Country Rider
from Ohio
Date Reviewed: June 6, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | The Knob | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Simplicity of design | | Weaknesses: | None I've identified. It's a bottom bracket, it works. | | Similar Products Used: | Race Face, various Shimano | | Bike Setup: | Homegrown | | Bottom Line: | It works. Got it dirt cheap ($20) Went on numerous wet rides over the last 2 years, opened the BB up after 12 months figuring I'd smoked it and found the bearings were just fine. Threw it back in with a bunch of grease and lube, opened this year. No problem.
One guy complains of creaking from the start. My experience is that means it isn't TIGHT enough. Put a breaker bar on it and push 'til it hurts. No creaks here, and it's lasted.
Can't speak to Real's customer service, never needed it. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
MeandMyself
a Racer
from Somewhere
Date Reviewed: November 28, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
Devil's Drop | | Duration Product Used: |
3 months | | Strengths: |
Stiff
Light
Good Design
keeps out the Northeast Mud
(Sealed bearings) | | Weaknesses: |
Have to use a pin spreader to install/work on | | Similar Products Used: |
Stock for a '99 XTC (not an LX like popular opinion) | | Bike Setup: |
'99 Giant XTC Se-2
Very not stock | | Bottom Line: | Great bottom bracket....VERY light if you get the Ti model......no creaks, and I didn't even use thread tape(couldn't find any.....In a bike shop!) Press fit works....Adjustable chainline is always good also. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
John
a Cross-Country Rider
from Georgia
Date Reviewed: September 29, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
Mountaintown Creek | | Duration Product Used: |
tested or demo'ed only | | Strengths: |
What a fantastic set up -- four high quality broadly spaced cartridge bearings that I actually have access to in case of trouble -- amen. versatility and adjustability -- thank you, finally. | | Weaknesses: |
I don't know about all this ease of installation talk: and I'm a professional bike mechanic. Ya gotta love the press fit to keep the creak out, but get your muscles warmed up. If you want to change things after installation, your gonna need more than hardware store tools. Finally, facing things off ain't no big deal -- you have to -- but c'mon, REAL people don't have these tools. | | Similar Products Used: |
All Shimano
RaceFace
World Class
Specialized
homemade stuff | | Bike Setup: |
73 mm originally painted, aluminium shell w/ 113mm spindle and RaceFace crankset | | Bottom Line: | Try it out. It's fun to play with, but not easy. I can see lots of room for mistakes. Could be a pricy toy, if you mess up. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Rob
a Cross-Country Rider
from Phil. Pa
Date Reviewed: August 26, 1999 | | Duration Product Used: |
6 months | | Strengths: |
easy to maintain reasonably priced
can easily add bearings | | Weaknesses: |
none really | | Similar Products Used: |
xt and lx | | Bike Setup: |
Bontrager Race/Judy XC | | Bottom Line: | Very solid innovative and easily adjustable. This is a great bottom bracket for heavy aggressive riders who want to add bearings without serious expense. It's very smooth and easy to take apart--I recommend an XTR bottom bracket tool for taking it apart and tightening it. Make sure you install it correctly to avoid creaking--mine creaked like hell after the first ride. But after adding an extra set of drive side bearings and tightening the cups a bit the thing is fabulous. Highly recommend if your looking for an aftermarket bottom bracket. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Porkchop
a Racer
from Littleton, CO
Date Reviewed: June 14, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
C-470 and I-25, breathing fumes | | Duration Product Used: |
6 months | | Strengths: |
Adjustability
Weight | | Weaknesses: |
None | | Similar Products Used: |
All Shimano models, an older Ritchey and a Suntour greaseguard. | | Bike Setup: |
Gary Fisher 73mm shell AL frame
Race Face Turbine crank | | Bottom Line: | With respect to Pink Lady below (hey, I know your time is valuable, but if you're gonna slam the item, you can tell us more than it sucked), this design is elegant, and works very well. Make sure your BB shell has been faced and chased. This design uses two fixed cups and if the shell faces aren't good, clean and true, you'll get binding and possible loosening of cups. With the prevalence of cartridge bb's, most bb shells aren't prepped properly, as it's not essential (it'll probably cost you about $20). I didn't do this on my first install of the product, and I had problems, just like the instructions said. None since. Use the recommended tool on the install, because a single-pin fixed-cup spanner will NOT get you sufficient torque, and you'll mar the crap out of the soft alloy cups. Yes, I did that too.I've been running just two sets of bearings with no problems at 167 lbs. You can elect whether or not to use lip seals. I elected to pass, as it's so dry where I ride. When I broke the bb down to inspect after 6 months, there was a lot of dust on the cartridge bearing shields, but not too bad. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Pink Lady
a Racer
from Idaho
Date Reviewed: May 29, 1999 | | Duration Product Used: |
less than 1 month | | Strengths: |
NOne that I can see | | Weaknesses: |
THE DESIGN SUCKS! | | Bike Setup: |
Sanat Cruz Hecklar 96 | | Bottom Line: | THIS THING SUUUUUUCCCKKKSSSS!!!!!!!!!
Get a Shimano
It doesnt even deserve a star. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TC
a Weekend Warrior
from Hawley, TX
Date Reviewed: March 28, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
Porcupine Rim, Moad | | Duration Product Used: |
6 months | | Strengths: |
simple,serviceable,light | | Weaknesses: |
none(really) | | Similar Products Used: |
Shimano UN72 | | Bike Setup: |
Trek Y-33, Specialized FSR | | Bottom Line: | This is a simple, totally rebuildable, light, high performance BB. You can put up to 4 bearings in it if you wish--I put 2 on the drive side. You can also put higher quality SKS or other generic bearings in it. Oh yeah, it's light too. Unless you booger up the Ti spindle or cross-thread the cups, it ought to last forever. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ashwin
a Cross-Country Rider
from Blacksburg, VA
Date Reviewed: March 25, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
Dragon's Back | | Duration Product Used: |
1 Year | | Strengths: |
easy installation
versatile
long lasting | | Similar Products Used: |
Race Face | | Bottom Line: | Installed for over a year. Didn't even look at it once during the season
I cleaned it for good measure once, though it didn't need it. Grease on non-drive side bearing was not dirty at all. drive side bearing grease was a little dirty.
No play, no stiction. Excellent product | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris
a cross-country rider
from UK
Date Reviewed: January 21, 1999 | | Bottom Line: |
I had one of these, and after 3 months it had play. The bearings are sealed one side only, and it is no-way worth the cost. The only bonus is that you can adjust chainline. But thats it, they are crap. Real are also useless - unsurprisingly my emails to them have gone unanswered......'R' FOR REAL - 'R' FOR RUBBISH......I am only giving one because I have to.....buy syncros or shimano. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Phil...
a cross-country rider
from Alaska
Date Reviewed: November 29, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
I only recently installed this BB on my bicycle. The installation was simple; I just followed Real's instructions, and setup the spacers according to the chart they provided. Once both cups were threaded into the BB shell, I installed the cranks only to find that the chain line was off. I disassembled the unit and swapped two of the red spacers from the drive side, which protruded too far, to the non-drive side. Then I reassembled the BB, and reinstalled the cranks. It took a little time, but the versatility and ease of adjustment of this design is worth every extra minute of installation time. This bottom bracket can be easily adjusted to fit anything from a 65 - 75 mm width BB shell.Other features I liked were the replaceable sealed bearings, and the hollow spindle - for lightness, 110mm spindle width only weighs 225 gm. For the money, (US) $36.00 + 11.00 (express shipping) I couldn't find anything better.So far it is working smoothly with no creaking or other noise (I installed it using a Molybdenum anti-seize compound).I give it a five pepper rating for engineering and design since I haven't had it long enough to comment on durability. If it fails prematurely, I may have to recant, but until then... Five PeppaZ`
| | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Zach
a racer
from Provo, UT
Date Reviewed: November 17, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
I have had this BB for 1 year and love it. I got it to replace the LX BB that came stock on my bike. I have only had to grease the cups twice to keep it from creaking, however given the conditions that I have ridden in it ought to be much more frequent than that. I don't know if there is a better value out there. Kudos to real for making a light, functional, inexpensive product. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
bryan
a cross-country rider
from wadsworth,OH.
Date Reviewed: September 20, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
I have been using a real bb for about 6 months, in two different bikes, I have not had any problems at all. I weight in at about 265lbs.and race cross country about three weekends a month. Ever since I installed the real bb it has not made one sound.I am very pleased with its performance and quality.Happy riding. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Steve
a weekend warrior
from Snohomish, wa.
Date Reviewed: April 10, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
I`ve run a Real bottom bracket for about a year in my Cannondale M900. I weigh 210lbs and the BB creaks if I get off the seat and crank it on, right from the first ride. From my experience (and weight range) I would rate this BB as average. I`ve had really good luck with the new Raceface BB, the Taperlock, which uses the Shimano installation tool. It`s much better than even the old lock-ring type Raceface BB`s. | | Overall Rating: |
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