Owners of frames built around Shimano's press-fit bottom bracket cups have previously been limited to conventional 24mm-diameter cranks. But that's no longer the case with Enduro's new conversion bottom bracket. Thanks to some clever bearing design, you really can fit a square peg in a round hole now.
A 30mm-diameter spindle will actually fit inside a PF86/92 shell but conventional wisdom said there wasn't enough room left for the bearing cups – which is still true. Enduro has instead designed special cartridge bearings that integrate a flange directly into the outer race. The bearing and cup are now one in the same, gaining Enduro the precious few millimeters required for everything to fit.
Installation is a cinch: just press the Enduro bearings in where the standard cups once were, add the supplemental seals and spacers as required, tighten up the crank, and off you go.
Keep in mind that, while Enduro's new bottom bracket allows you to use a 30mm-diameter spindle in a PF86/92 bottom bracket shell, you are still restricted to cranks with longer spindles, such as models from FSA and Rotor.
Retail price is a reasonable US$80 and they're available now.
It's a tight fit but a 30mm-diameter spindle really can work in a BB86/92 frame
Also arriving from Enduro is its new XD-15 bottom bracket for PressFit 30 shells. Previously only available in standard 24mm spindle diameters, the new version brings Enduro's remarkably durable XD-15 hybrid ceramic angular contact bearing design to the 30mm crowd.
Standard radial cartridge bearings are highly sensitive to axial preloading. However, Enduro's XD-15 design – which is in essence a cup-and-cone layout in cartridge form – is not only highly resistant to preload but actually requires a fair bit of it to function properly. More impressively, BikeRadar's own testing has proven it to be immensely durable and with remarkably low drag.
We've been commuting regularly on a conventional threaded XD-15 bottom bracket through an entire Colorado winter – with all of the seals removed– and it's not only held up great but literally still feels like new. Stay tuned for the full review soon.
Retail price on the XD-15 PressFit 30 bottom bracket is US$230/£152.
The PressFit 30 version of the fantastic XD-15 angular contact bottom bracket
For more information see www.endurobearings.com.