# c bear OSBB / Shimano cups and bearings?



## SB-Rider (Jul 28, 2012)

I'd like to run Shimano cranks on my 2010 S-Works SL3 Tarmac (carbon OSBB). Has anyone tried or heard about the c bear cups and bearings they sell for Shimano cranks? Not much on their website and I haven't found much searching the Internet. It seems like a simple solution and non-permanent, some of the other solutions are more intimidating (press fitting BB sleeves, the new Spesh suggestion to glue in the Delrin cups, etc). It looks like the bearings are "outboard" and you don't need to use anything like Wheels Manufacturing BB30 adapters with them(?). 

Here's the web address of the c bear cups: https://www.c-bear.com/en/osbb-en/shimano-rotor-race-bb-osbb-ceramic-bearings.php










Thanks.


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## dcorn (Sep 1, 2011)

Search for C-bear or crank in the Specialized section.


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## SB-Rider (Jul 28, 2012)

dcorn said:


> Search for C-bear or crank in the Specialized section.


I've done that without any luck. The threads I saw were about their press in sleeve BB. If you know of a thread about these cups, could you post a link?

Thanks


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## dcorn (Sep 1, 2011)

Seems to me that they are almost exactly the same as the ones everyone else is using, just fit a Shimano crank instead of the Spesh crank. 

Aren't they still press in, just one piece with an integrated bearing? Should work great. Manager at my shop is now using the C-bear BB for his SL4 S-works. 

Or you can use the Wheels Mfg solution? Wheels Manufacturing Bottom Bracket Adapters


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## SB-Rider (Jul 28, 2012)

Thanks dcorn. What do you mean when you say they're the same ones everyone else is using? It looks like the bearings are outside the frame, not inside like a BB30. I haven't heard anything bad about Wheels Manufacturing adapters, but if these cups/bearings work as well without adapters, why not. I've got the Delrin cups that came with the frame, but I don't have any bearings or adapters, so even though the c bear cups are pricey, I'd have to buy stuff either way. 

Is your manager using the c bear BB with the pressed in sleeve? Those get good reviews, these cups just seem easier. Not ruling out the BB if that's significantly better.

Cheers


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## dcorn (Sep 1, 2011)

I'm just saying the design is similar and the same company makes them. The C-bear part is press in, it has to be, but it's made so you don't need the adapters, so less parts to possibly come loose and move around. Definitely seems like a benefit. 

I can't remember exactly what the guy had on his SL4, but I think it was a Spesh crank. I'll be putting the C-bear sleeve on my new SL4 with the Spesh crank soon also. The mechanic said it went in the frame with a great press fit. 


This is getting confusing for some reason haha. All I'm saying is it seems to me that C-bear knows what they are doing with different bottom brackets. They make great adapter products and ceramic bearings to fit any crank in any BB. Lots of people are happy with the other designs (OSBB/Campy combo), this one should be just as good.

You probably haven't found many reviews because there are other more popular companies that make the same part. There are zero other companies making aluminum sleeves for the OSBB/Spesh or OSBB/Campy, so people aim for C-bear.


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## c-bearusa.com (Dec 7, 2012)

dcorn, SB-Rider,

The adapter you show here is the solution to stop creaking in OSBB frames. It uses only one press fit part without any adapters and places the bearings as close to the crank as possible to provide maximum stiffness. 

We have opened a US sales office for C-Bear this week. If you have any further questions, please contact us at [email protected]


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

c-bearusa.com said:


> dcorn, SB-Rider,
> 
> The adapter you show here is the solution to stop creaking in OSBB frames. It uses only one press fit part without any adapters and places the bearings as close to the crank as possible to provide maximum stiffness.
> 
> We have opened a US sales office for C-Bear this week. If you have any further questions, please contact us at [email protected]


One has to be a bit careful here. If the press fit captured bearing solution you show above is for 'generic PF30' versus Specialized specific carbon OSBB, it is NOT plug and play. You should know this Ard and hopefully do..just didn't mention it.

Specialized carbon OSBB is not the same as a std PF30 solution. Spacing is 61mm. If using a generic PF30 captured bearing solution like you show, you need a 3.5mm spacer on both sides to correctly achieve 68mm shell width. 

If the solution shown above is expressly for Specialized carbon OSBB and won't work on std. PF30, then it will be plug and play.

Some information below that should help clearify this very nuanced issue.


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## SB-Rider (Jul 28, 2012)

I bought a set shorty after my last posting. I'll be installing them soon, pics to follow...


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## c-bearusa.com (Dec 7, 2012)

Roadworthy, 

You have eye for detail! The adapter for OSBB and PF30 is indeed the same and we place two spacers behind the adapter for Specialized frames. The clamping area is designed in such a way that the part over the bearing is snug in the bracket opening, the part that is not over the bearing is a fraction of a mm bigger and holds the system in place. In this way there is never any pressure on the bearing. Quality design and materials ;-)

We are working on a webshop that will guide you through the ordering process: you choose the BB standard and crankset and we will send you all the pieces needed for a perfect installation.


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

c-bearusa.com said:


> Roadworthy,
> 
> You have eye for detail! The adapter for OSBB and PF30 is indeed the same and we place two spacers behind the adapter for Specialized frames. The clamping area is designed in such a way that the part over the bearing is snug in the bracket opening, the part that is not over the bearing is a fraction of a mm bigger and holds the system in place. In this way there is never any pressure on the bearing. Quality design and materials ;-)
> 
> We are working on a webshop that will guide you through the ordering process: you choose the BB standard and crankset and we will send you all the pieces needed for a perfect installation.


Ard,
It is great that your company has come along to help put the bike industry on a better path it should have never been on in the first place. Specialized...as talented a company as they are...and they have among the best bike components and R&D in the industry, should have never created their carbon OSBB with 61mm shell width. Not only does this narrow BB place bearings closer together for less support for the pedal stroke...but also limits rear chain stay stiffness by narrowing chain stay attachment to the BB shell. This is a very poor design all in favor of making their BB proprietary and create issues for commonization to different cranksets. 

Your company now are offering two great options it appears. The two piece integrated bearing option you show above with press fit captured BB30 bearings...is clearly better than Specialized OE delring bushing solution with separate bearings...the longer press and bearings caputured in your design much more solid and less prone to creak. But to me, your best effort is your alloy BSA sleeve which presses into the 46mm ID carbon OSBB...effectively regressing carbon OSBB to an english threaded BB which makes the two biggest groupset mfrs plug and play to...Shimano and Campagnolo.

A nitpick of the above two piece integrated bearing press fit design shown above is for Specialized 61mm wide BB...with discussed two 3.5 spacers in place to make the Specialized carbon OSBB shell width 68mm...you reduce press length for bearing support by decreasing press to the carbon BB shell...by 3.5mm per side. No doubt your testing has given you confidence this is OK...but that 3.5mm which is in effect with std. PF30 68mm shells is stronger as longer press is better for secure attachment of your integrated bearing assemblies. When it comes to press and you know this...every mm is critical...a major failing of the Specialized delrin press fit solution.

This is why I much prefer your alloy sleeve which Mads introduced to us here and all love on this forum that have tried them. 

I like your BSA alloy sleeve solution much better for four reasons:

1. Longer/wider press. Greater interference across breath of BB between sleeve and carbon BB shell = more secure attachment versus 2 part solution shown above..
2. Both sides are connected for greater crank support.
3. Threaded union to crankset is more versatile for bearing options.
4. Bearings, once sleeve is pressed in place, are much easier to service.

Again, its great your company has cultivated a valuable service to the industry by identifying a need for betterr BB options which bike companies should offer but don't. So you are ahead of the technical curve which is appreciated and recognized.

Also, thank you for coming to this excellent forum and explaining different options available.

Best Regards.


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## bikerjulio (Jan 19, 2010)

RW surprised you haven't commented on this thread yet http://forums.roadbikereview.com/components-wrenching/osbb-bottom-bracket-question-296875.html. I don't feel qualified.


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## SB-Rider (Jul 28, 2012)

As promised, here are some pics I took after installing the cups today. I'm building up a bike and knew I wanted to run Dura Ace cranks. I didn't want to use adapters with the stock OSBB cups and BB30 bearings, and pressing in the sleeve type BB scared me a little based on some posts I've read. I also wanted something easy to un-install in case I want to run different cranks in the future. 

The cups are a little deeper than the stock cups and were easy to press in. After sliding the crank spindle through the bearings I attached the other arm, that's it. No adapters, wavy washers, etc. I'm still waiting on a few parts for my build so I won't be able to see how they work for a while, but I'll post a report after a few rides. Looking forward to hitting the road...


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

Great pics and thanks for sharing your solution.
There are a couple of benefits to C-bear's new integrated bearings:
1. longer press. Inexplicable why Spesh doesn't have a longer press on their delrin bushings...an extreme weakness to their plastic bushing PF30 design.
2. Stronger material.
3. Bearings are captured in the casing (integrated) versus pressed into a plastic bushing.

For those trying to wrap their mind around the proliferation of different BB's...take note the two 3.5mm spacers in place. The C-bear integrated bearing solution shown is designed for a std. PF30 BB and adapted to Spesh's narrow version of PF30 via these spacers.

No doubt the solution you chose OP will be rock solid...or is on paper...and the bearings will be top grade.

Only downside is the considerable expense. C-bear parts, while carefully engineered are pricey. No free lunch. 
Let us know how you like it after accumulating some mileage.
PS: Also...perhaps you or Ard can comment on the service integral of these bearings. This to me is the biggest stumbling block of this solution. Integrated bearings generally aren't servicable and $150 bearing replacement to me is too heavy a hit.


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## c-bearusa.com (Dec 7, 2012)

This video of my personal bike should provide more clarity, I typically do not service my bearings. Just keep the bike nice and shiny after every ride and treat with lots of love.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=492438680799812

We have customers putting thousands of miles on our products. If you are worried about longevity, just order our red seal / mountain bike bearings, they are built to deal with any kind of weather.


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

c-bearusa.com said:


> This video of my personal bike should provide more clarity, I typically do not service my bearings. Just keep the bike nice and shiny after every ride and treat with lots of love.
> 
> cranks spinning and spinning and spinning.... | Facebook
> 
> We have customers putting thousands of miles on our products. If you are worried about longevity, just order our red seal / mountain bike bearings, they are built to deal with any kind of weather.


No doubt your bearings are excellent and will go many thousands of miles. I was merely pointing out, replacement exacts a heavy price. Yes there are benefits to your design over Specialized production BB. But serviceability isn't one of them and if replacing your bearing solution, it will be very pricey.
My personal preference for example is inserting Spesh S-works bikes with your BSA alloy sleeve option. This allows a much more cost effective bearing replacement. DA BB's are relatively cheap and are plug and play to your BSA sleeve...as are Campy replacement bearings and others.


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## SB-Rider (Jul 28, 2012)

roadworthy said:


> No doubt your bearings are excellent and will go many thousands of miles. I was merely pointing out, replacement exacts a heavy price. Yes there are benefits to your design over Specialized production BB. But serviceability isn't one of them and if replacing your bearing solution, it will be very pricey.
> My personal preference for example is inserting Spesh S-works bikes with your BSA alloy sleeve option. This allows a much more cost effective bearing replacement. DA BB's are relatively cheap and are plug and play to your BSA sleeve...as are Campy replacement bearings and others.


It looks like Praxis Works is will be releasing a Shimano conversion BB for the OSBB. It should be reasonably priced if it's priced like the models they currently sell. It's nice more options are coming on the market for us Spesh owners. . Praxis Works | Conversion Kit


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## SB-Rider (Jul 28, 2012)

Now that I've had these a while, I wanted to give an update. A post above mentioned integrated bearings and a problem with serviceability. It turns out it's just the opposite, I had to Loctite the bearings. When I first installed them I just pressed in the cups, the bearings were already in the place. I got horrible cracking noises. I took the cranks off to see what was going on and one of the bearings was loose enough to wiggle out by hand. It was dry metal on metal. I tried grease and pressed the bearings in the cups. That was quiet for a few rides, and then a knocking noise started where the cracking noise had been. I could also get the chain to rub the front derailleur when under load in the big chain ring. Next I used Loctite 609 and so far, so good.


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## stiffnezz1 (Feb 5, 2013)

*hawk bbs*



SB-Rider said:


> Now that I've had these a while, I wanted to give an update. A post above mentioned integrated bearings and a problem with serviceability. It turns out it's just the opposite, I had to Loctite the bearings. When I first installed them I just pressed in the cups, the bearings were already in the place. I got horrible cracking noises. I took the cranks off to see what was going on and one of the bearings was loose enough to wiggle out by hand. It was dry metal on metal. I tried grease and pressed the bearings in the cups. That was quiet for a few rides, and then a knocking noise started where the cracking noise had been. I could also get the chain to rub the front derailleur when under load in the big chain ring. Next I used Loctite 609 and so far, so good.


Wanted to chime in with another option for the osbb-shimano adapters.
Early this year Hawk started making the OSBB adapter for shimano cranks. It is delrin so its safe on the carbon shells and no need to space it. just press it into the frame and viola. Its really big oversized and chunky so its super stiff. Yet to have any noise or bearing wear yet.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwcwLkRiF3flem5oUWFlZXhpRU0/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwcwLkRiF3flWlRDYk5oOGUtZGc/edit?usp=sharing

http://hawk-racing.com/products/show/15


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