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American Classic
Ti Bottom Bracket
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Submitted by
Ben Egdani
a Weekend Warrior
from So. Cal
Date Reviewed: May 2, 2006 | | Favoriate Trail: | Black Mountain | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$99.00 | | Purchased At: | Crappy Cambria | | Strengths: | Light | | Weaknesses: | Bearings are shot within 3 months. | | Similar Products Used: | Used XT BB for years no problem... | | Bike Setup: | Specialized Enduro | | Bottom Line: | Dont get this pc of crap....light but not durable enough.. only if you feel like rebuilding them after every 3 months then go for it, but for the price, not for me. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Matt Bagalso
a Weekend Warrior
from ca
Date Reviewed: April 26, 2006 | | Favoriate Trail: | soquel (demonstration forest) | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | cambria (CBO) | | Strengths: | Light, Light, Light, did I mentioned its very light. | | Weaknesses: | bearings went out within less than a year. | | Similar Products Used: | shimano, bontrager, race face. | | Bike Setup: | Titus Racer-X, Ritchey stuff | | Bottom Line: | I've noticed a grinding feel after about 6 months of using, I only ride on weekends and I have 2 bikes, so that being said I dont use this bike bike often, Its actually my cross country bike, no jumping no abuses here. I followed the direction on rebuilding make sure you follow all directions, and all hell came loose, bearings were all over the place, drive shaft bearing cup was a nightmare to come off. So keep this in mind its not as durable, very expensive, hard to rebuild and often it needs, and finnaly did I mentioned its very expensive. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris Dean
a
from Nepean, Ottawa, Canada
Date Reviewed: February 5, 2005 | | Favoriate Trail: | whistler | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$99.00 | | Purchased At: | a local bike shop | | Strengths: | It's very light weight and strong. | | Weaknesses: | It is strong, but not strong enough for what I'm doing, it broke after one month, which is pretty lame. | | Similar Products Used: | none | | Bike Setup: | Evil Imperial, sherman breakout plus, mag-30 rims, chris king original hubs, 3 piece race face cranks, diabolus stem. etc... | | Bottom Line: | This part is not recommended to those who bike as hard as I do. I will be trying out for the next big bike event and I need good parts that are not available. PIECE OF JUNK | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
alan
a Cross Country Rider
from spokane
Date Reviewed: December 18, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | light weight, reliable | | Weaknesses: | square taper | | Similar Products Used: | shimano | | Bike Setup: | voodoo bizango, steel hard tail, race face cranks | | Bottom Line: | I purchased this because it is light weight and it has the grease guard feature for servicing. Because this bottom bracket allows you to adjust chainline, it took me a while to get the set up dialed in when I installed it. Several times I had to remove the cranks and adjust the cups so I could get things centered. Shimano bottom brackets are easy, but they don't provide for fine tuning either. Once installed, I have not had to touch this thing...no creaking, no relubing, no play, nothing. That is what I want in a bottom bracket. Plus it's a bonus if it is light weight. It would be ideal if this had an Isis crank interface, but I bought this because I didn't want to replace the cranks I already have (which have a square taper). One last thing to note, I had to rig up a "seal" for my grease gun to allow me to inject grease. It would be cool of these came with a hollow crank bolt that had the grease guard zerk in the end, that way you could service the bottom bracket very easily. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
mark dingman
a Cross Country Rider
from rochester mi usa
Date Reviewed: October 6, 2001 | | Favoriate Trail: | island lake sp | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$150.00 | | Purchased At: | direct | | Strengths: | light weight, service | | Weaknesses: | relies too much on BB shell of frame for stiffness
won't stay tight | | Similar Products Used: | shimano, race face | | Bike Setup: | cannondale CAAD3 | | Bottom Line: | This design is nice and lightweight, but it seems to rely too much on the frame's BB shell for stiffness. I installed this thing over ten times in my bike. No amount of loc-tite, grease, tape, torque, etc could keep this thing from creaking after the first ride. Poor customer support too. I got a regular stressed-shell BB, a race face Chromo, and have had NO creaking since. No amount of weight savings is worth rebuilding the drivetrain every other ride. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Maxwell
a Cross Country Rider
from Portage, IN USA
Date Reviewed: February 21, 2001 | | Favoriate Trail: | Roads, Singletrack, Anyplace... | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$70.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike shop where I worked | | Strengths: | Yow! This thing is super light! It can be freshly lubed in about 10 minutes without getting your hands dirty! Bearings are easily replaceable, and it's adjustable too. Yow! This thing is SUPER LIGHT! | | Weaknesses: | Uh, um... it's not for grease fetishists. If you like to get greasy, get one that needs to be taken apart to re-grease. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano BB's, LX & XT. | | Bike Setup: | Manitou HT w/XT parts & old Manitou 4 fork. | | Bottom Line: | This BB is light, cool looking, easy to service, and basically the shiz-nit. Buy it, and revel in your newfound lightness and upgrade to full bike-weenie status. Let's face it... if you're buying a product because it's good, even if it's "invisible" on your bike, you're one step ahead of all the folks buying purple anodized brake levers and those stupid machined pulleys. This thing rules. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Swanny
a Cross Country Rider
from Seattle
Date Reviewed: November 4, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Light weight. Virtually indestructable. | | Weaknesses: | You have to maintain this product. So if you are the lazy type, maybe this is not going to suit your needs. | | Bike Setup: | '00 Specialized M2 frame, XTR Drivetrain, Avid brakes and levers, Easton CT2 handlebar and seatpost, speedplay frog pedals, Sella Italia Flite saddle, American Classic BB. | | Bottom Line: | I bought this as part of a weight reduction program for my bike. At 143 grams per the digital scale, I feel this qualifies as light weight. This product also holds up to the rigors of riding wet and muddy conditions for 6 months of the year. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
poser Mcdoser
a Downhiller
from grittymucksville
Date Reviewed: September 21, 2000 | | Favoriate Trail: | it's a secret | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | CBO | | Strengths: | Light weight
adjustability
old school flavor for new school fools
Greasy ports | | Weaknesses: | expensive
square tapers soon to be history | | Similar Products Used: | every other bottom bracket you can think of | | Bike Setup: | Gucchi Ti frame w/ Marzocchi Z2 | | Bottom Line: | The adjustability of this Bottom Bracket allows you to use it with E-type Front Deraliurs (ie lock rings on both sides) the design of this BB hasn't changed in years( ie proven design) Use locktight on the cups to keep them in place as the directions suggest. Happy railing. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
John
a Racer
from Chicago
Date Reviewed: September 21, 1999 | | Favoriate Trail: |
HardRock, Ocala Fl | | Duration Product Used: |
2 Years | | Strengths: |
The lightest product on the market
A great value for the money
Extremely durable
Adjustable chain line
Easy to relube | | Weaknesses: |
You do have to relube it more often then mot BB's | | Similar Products Used: |
Shamano LX, XT, XTR
Syncros Ti | | Bike Setup: |
Trek carbon hardtail
Sid fork, chris king headset and hubs, ti spokes, x517 rims, Moots ti seat-post Ibis stem, Tittec 118 bar XTR derailer, Zipp carbon cranks, | | Bottom Line: | This is far and away the best bottom bracket on the market. In the past I have had horrible luck with numerous bottom bracketsand would be hard pressed to get more than 3 months out of one before it would be time to warrenty it. With the American Classic I have not had anything close to a problem after two years of constant use in some of the worst conditions one could fathom. The AC BB is also the lightest on the market which is nice for any one who is counting their grams. The price of it is also less than most of the other nicer bottom brackets avaible. The ability to adjust the chain line is also a great plus to be able to get the quickest front shifting possible. Beyond a shadow of a doubt this deserves the highest rateing possible. I have convinces four of my friends to buy the AC BB and all of them are equally as pleased as I am. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Sweet Jimmy
a racer
from Florida
Date Reviewed: July 15, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
After going through over a half a dozen bottom brackets in the past couple of years this is the first one that I have had no problems with. It's chainline adjustibility is also a great plus and its weight is also a bonus. For the money this seem to be as good as any other on the market. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mark
a racer
from FL
Date Reviewed: December 18, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
I replaced my Shimano BB with the AC model over a year ago, after wearing out the bearings on my old one. It was one of the lightest bottom brackets I could find, and the titanium stands up to anything I can dish out. It was very easy to adjust the chainline when I installed it, and I haven't had to mess with it since. The bearings are very smooth, and lubrication is a lot easier than with the Shimano. I tend to be hard on my gear, and I expect it to last. This bottom bracket hasn't let me down. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ted
a cross-country rider
from PA
Date Reviewed: November 5, 1996 | | Bottom Line: |
Don't get a new bottom bracket just because you think it's cool.
I only got mine because my old BB died and this was available.Compared to a Shimano BB, the American Classic _can_ last a whole
lot longer, as long as you keep after it.
The spindle is hollow and has allows you to inject grease without
dissasembly. It's very similar to WTB/Suntour Grease Guard except
that A.C. expects you to remove the crank bolts every time you shoot
up (as if). Just get banjo bolts at your local hardware store or
scrounge up some old WTB hollow crank bolts with the grease port built
in.The biggest negative is flex. Titanium bottom brackets are flexier
than steel. Period. There's no escaping the facts. Fortunately,
I don't mind it. The good part is that after a year of very hard
riding, racing, and trials with a 170# rider the bottom bracket
is unbroken. That's pretty darn good performance for such a
lightweight part.The bearings are very nice, and standard size for easy replacement. I've
had mine for over a year on the first set and they're still good, though.
Another neat feature is that there's an ajustable cup on BOTH sides. You
can fine tune your chainline any way you want. | | Overall Rating: |
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