# ultra torque vs square taper?



## steel515 (Sep 6, 2004)

What differences have you noted after upgrading. Ie. have you ridden faster after changing to this?... Why did you change to this?


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

steel515 said:


> What differences have you noted after upgrading. Ie. have you ridden faster after changing to this?... Why did you change to this?


A crankset won't make you faster. I have a UT Centaur on my road bike. I have used square taper with a Record crankset as well. They feel pretty much the same. The feel will only change if the Q factor is different. I like the design of the UT, it was easy to install and has been durable for more than two years now. I found the square taper bottom brackets to not be that durable for me.


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## ti-triodes (Aug 14, 2006)

I can't feel any difference either, but then again, I'm not racing as much as I used to. Why change? (one bike has UT, my others are still square) Because it's new and improved!!:wink:


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## David Loving (Jun 13, 2008)

I have all square taper, but that's just because that's when I made the investment, before they brought out UT. If I end up going with 11-spd in the far distant future, that's when I'll change. Otherwise the ones I ride now are excellent and there's no reason to change just for cosmetics or fashion. I ride the fixie gios more anyway and it's drivetrain is sugino.


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## Squidward (Dec 18, 2005)

I'm now faster with my UT cranks because my wallet is a lot lighter. Then again, I'm faster on my old bike with the Campy square taper cranks, too, for the same reason.

Out on the open road they feel the same to me. YMMV.


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## LigonierA1 (Aug 12, 2005)

So lets ask the question NOT from a performance perspective. I'm pondering longevity of the concept of outboard bearings. 

Campy seems to making the move in a big way. Most others are as well. Does this style of bb/crank become the new standard the way the square spindled BB has been? 

Is the square spindled BB a dying creature? 

I ponder this as I shop for a new Campy crankset. I have nothing against the square spindled cranks and they're available for reasonable money. Add a Phil Wood bb, I'm good for the next 20k miles. That's quite a few years at the pace I ride. 

However, if the world and more importantly Campy is leaving the sqr taper behind and UT will be around for the next 10-20 years, there seems to be some wisdom in heading that direction. 

These are the questions I'm pondering as I shop cranksets. Haven't really reached any conclusions on my own so I'd appreciate hearing some thoughts on this.


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

UT around for 10-20 years? nawwww, something else will come along. that's the recent track record for cranks anyway- octalink, isis, etc. there are a lot more square taper cranks out there than any other interface. can you rebuild phils? if so, that's the way I'd go


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## David Loving (Jun 13, 2008)

I'll have to wait a while to try UT. I have all three road bikes with sq. taper cranksets and I am out of money! I'll enjoy UT vicariously through y'all.


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## steel515 (Sep 6, 2004)

*external bb*



LigonierA1 said:


> So lets ask the question NOT from a performance perspective. I'm pondering longevity of the concept of outboard bearings.
> 
> Campy seems to making the move in a big way. Most others are as well. Does this style of bb/crank become the new standard the way the square spindled BB has been?
> 
> ...


bb30? (and bb60 4 years after that?)


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## LigonierA1 (Aug 12, 2005)

True enough, the "new standard" has yet to be defined and we'll likely see 3000 more variants -but it seems that outboard bearings are a key component of most of the new stuff. And UT is apparently, for now, the Campy standard. I guess if I'm worried about it I should buy and extra set of cups and bearings and just go ride.....


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