Spanish Bbs?

[Mark W]

Yeah, definitely - all the BMX frames I've bought have been post-weld machined. I was just saying that the majority of BMX frames aren't, and they still work pretty well in any case. I can appreciate it's not the same though. And yeah, regarding industry standards, the size of cranks and spindles that all the different disciplines use vary so it doesn't really make sense to adopt one for all disciplines just because one of them does, otherwise it'd be a case of sort of retrofitting BMXs with a 'new' standard to replace the one that they created that other people are now utilising. I can't really see it taking off in all fields anyway.

I agree they should be a standard, off-the-peg bearing, which is why I was saying I prefer Mid to Spanish

[eskimo]

It's too late to change now. The adapter thing, was just for the guys who insisted on using their expensive BBs. It will be good if the axles are available separately and also in Ti. Ti Euro/ISIS or whatever, is just too much when other parts of the BB aren't serviceable/ replaceable. Making this axle in Ti would be great for allot of people. Though if it did become even slightly standard i imagen some other company will step in with one anyway.

[shamus]

i'd love the system to move to mid (agree with OBM here, the spanish is hard to source, whereas the mid is a widely available and cheap due to mass production!)

the ease of just replacing bearings instead of the whole spindle system is just perfect for bmx, would we be introducing the two part cranks then? with an integrated axle on the drive side and tiny strong sprockets instead of gaurds (riding big bmx's - with no seat, good brakes and no high rise bars - soon? )

[Mark W]

It's too late to change now. The adapter thing, was just for the guys who insisted on using their expensive BBs. It will be good if the axles are available separately and also in Ti. Ti Euro/ISIS or whatever, is just too much when other parts of the BB aren't serviceable/ replaceable. Making this axle in Ti would be great for allot of people. Though if it did become even slightly standard i imagen some other company will step in with one anyway.

Echo do a ti option.

[Matt Burrows]

Yeah, that's the main reason I'd like to be able to use the system on my stock. Steel for practice and ti for comps. Doesn't really make that much sense in making light compy parts just for the 24" market, so I'm hoping Deng does plan to use these on other frames

[Ali C]

I've got a ti BB spindle in my BMX - ti isn't just a lightweight compy thing...

This was OBM, btw.

[eskimo]

Echo do a ti option.

Who else? If not, then i'll pretend i never heard that

[Sponge]

Apologies for reviving a month-long dead thread.

However, whilst reading through a sea of valid points and arguments in favour of Mid; I'm just wondering if it's being considered that Mid shells are a tad large; compared to Spanish and Euro. I mean in trials it may be an issue because front sprockets are a measly 18t; so whereas in the past (and present) a Euro BB shell with its small diameter would be mostly protected by the larger diameter of the 18t bashring when being hit against a wall... I think a Mid BB shell would be too large to be protected from hits by an 18t bashring... so basically, the shell would bet pounded.. which isn't too great. Maybe this is another reason why Deng's gone Spanish instead of Mid? At least Spanish is still probably just small enough that an 18t bashring is large enough to block it from contacting the wall surface?

Furthermore, yeah the Spanish is an awkward size, but it's still so damn readily availble? Danscomp (US site) has spare Spanish bearings at around the same price for replacement Mid bearings= 6 dollars. Plus, Spanish BB kits are available in every UK BMX shop. Plus I guess it is a bit lighter than Mid. The market is very weigh-orientated, and for survival in business, manufacturers have to keep up with the demand. They actually seem to have very little leway.

On top of all this, I have a suspicion that Deng my be scrapping the Euro BB altogether for his future frames? After all, on his site he mentions how the Spanish shell weighs about the same as the Euro shell, but his Spanish BB kit + spindle weighs less than a Euro BB cartridge unit. I'll note that his 'TR' Euro ISIS BB has been taken off the site. Perhaps it's a quiet hint that Euro is now being put on the backburner for Deng frames.

We'll see.

[Mark W]

Apologies for reviving a month-long dead thread.

However, whilst reading through a sea of valid points and arguments in favour of Mid; I'm just wondering if it's being considered that Mid shells are a tad large; compared to Spanish and Euro. I mean in trials it may be an issue because front sprockets are a measly 18t; so whereas in the past (and present) a Euro BB shell with its small diameter would be mostly protected by the larger diameter of the 18t bashring when being hit against a wall... I think a Mid BB shell would be too large to be protected from hits by an 18t bashring... so basically, the shell would bet pounded.. which isn't too great.

There's still plenty of room - the diameter difference between Spanish and Mid is about a couple of mm at most, so you're only really going to have a shell that's 2-3mm thicker than a Spanish. Not a great deal, and certainly not enough to really change whether it's going to get hit more or not.

Furthermore, yeah the Spanish is an awkward size, but it's still so damn readily availble? Danscomp (US site) has spare Spanish bearings at around the same price for replacement Mid bearings= 6 dollars. Plus, Spanish BB kits are available in every UK BMX shop. Plus I guess it is a bit lighter than Mid. The market is very weigh-orientated, and for survival in business, manufacturers have to keep up with the demand. They actually seem to have very little leway.

Thing is is that BMX manufacturers can charge pretty much whatever they want for it, whereas with something like a Mid BB bearing you could go to a 3rd party shop and potentially get a cheaper price. If you've got a local shop you could literally roll down there, pick up some bearings and have them there and then - no messing around with mail ordering them in or anything like that. The sole reason for Spanish, which Macneil themselves said when they were justifying using them, is that they're fractionally lighter.

On top of all this, I have a suspicion that Deng my be scrapping the Euro BB altogether for his future frames? After all, on his site he mentions how the Spanish shell weighs about the same as the Euro shell, but his Spanish BB kit + spindle weighs less than a Euro BB cartridge unit. I'll note that his 'TR' Euro ISIS BB has been taken off the site. Perhaps it's a quiet hint that Euro is now being put on the backburner for Deng frames.

Unless he makes a square taper Spanish spindle then I doubt it, simply because Deng covers all price points from really budget to top-end, so if he effectively cut out all his cheaper square taper cranks then he'd be losing a fair bit of revenue. The taper BBs and cranks Deng does are pretty popular from what I can tell from working here, so getting rid of them probably wouldn't be great. I wouldn't let the changes in name of product mislead you too much either, to fit them all in, certain TR and SL and Urban products have been given different tags from what they had last year.