I was looking at tech stuff and pictures from track races and I was wondering why the pro's still use the "old style bottom racket and crank" and not the external two peice onesAren't the new ones suppose to be stiffer?

because the new style BB's aren't stiffer and they only exist because the manufacturer wants to sell more cranks?

Because trackies are old skool and, much more so than for road or mountain bikes, it's not about the bike. When you don't need shifters, brakes, more than one gear or quick release wheels, clipless pedals, water bottle cages and bottles, derailleur hangers or derailleurs you tend to not care a whole lot about the latest and greatest advancements in biking technology. More so than in any other cycling event the actual bike is just a tool. If it works there's no need to change and in this case old technology is just as good as new for their purposes (and I would argue for road cycling purposes as well, but that's another subject).

I'll have to disagree with Dave. My 7800 crank/BB was a lot stiffer than the 7700 equivalent on the same bike. Minor FD rub is completely gone with the new crank.

I've had 7600 and 7710 cranks on my track bike and I think the 7710 is a bit better than tapered spindle. If they came out with a track version of the 7800 crank, I'd probably buy it.

But I think the major reason is that most track riders mostly trust Campy and Shimano and not the newbies on the block and they haven't come out with external bearing versions of track gear yet.

they haven't come out with external bearing versions of track gear yet.

That's the reason. Right now, quality track cranks are square taper, Octalink or ISIS, not outboard bearing designs. By "quality" I mean cranks made specifically for the track—strong, stiff and perfectly round. Check out the link

http://www.businesscycles.com/trcomp.htm#crankset

There is an external bearing BB for the track. It's called the TruVative Omnium. But no one likes the Q factor.

As for the "the bike doesnt matter" comment, that could not be farther from the truth. The world class bikes are in the 10s of thousands of dollars. I think that technology is a HUGE thing in track, espically when .003 of a second can be the line between in or not. Ask Adam Duv about Beijing...

Part of it is the old school thing - the Japanese Kierin governing body (NJS) requires a three piece crank, so for some companies that view NJS as the benchmark of quality, like Shimano and Sugino, there's less motivation to adopt the new external crank.

Campy hasn't retooled their track stuff in a while. I would imagine some Italian bean counter factored the R&D costs against how many they could actually sell, and thought better of it for now. FSA just introduced their track cranks a few years ago. The track market is much smaller than road stuff; I imagine it takes longer to recoup R&D and production costs.

The Truvativ crank is something relatively new. Its been out for less than a year. If it gets spec'd well on some mass production track bikes like Fuji, Trek, Cannondale, Raliegh (I'm aware that the Rush Hour Pro has been discontinued), etc., I would imagine we'll see a lot more of the cranks out in the secondary markets.

The Q factor thing is an issue but less an issue to some than others. Personally, I'm not sure I would realize the Q factor difference between my Suntour Superbe Pro cranks and the Truvativs. I would have no issue trying out the Truvativ Omnium but just don't need a new crank just yet. Maybe next season.........

I'll have to disagree with Dave. My 7800 crank/BB was a lot stiffer than the 7700 equivalent on the same bike. Minor FD rub is completely gone with the new crank.

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I hear you but I still feel that the chain ring design did more to eliminate front derailleur rub than the crank BB design.....

Loose ball bearings spin much more freely......at least when you mount the bike on a repair stand and spin the cranks. At least the Keirin riders think it makes a difference on the track.

Most guys I know (and myself) use the DA BB and cranks, because they are real nice and stiff, and they have the loose bearings

This is one of those arguments that is impossible to win for either side. All that is out there is theory on one design being superior to another..In reality there is no proof.. Please don’t quote the Velonews test that has the DA crank superior because that crank uses the stiffer new style DA chain ring..It proves nothing about crank/bb stiffness…

I say hogwash to anyone that calls the new designs stiffer. Just as I'm sure you say the same to me for my belief that that old square taper works as well....

I'm thinking that on a track bike with its always straight chainline and very beefy chainrings flex isn't that much of an issue anyway.

Another issue is how far do those outboard bearings push the crank off the ideal chainline with a track bikes 120mm rear fork spacing....

The difference in winning and losing on the track is not due to better bikes. Virtually 100% of the difference is tactics, skill, strength and conditioning. The bike truly doesn't matter as long as it works and they all work.

I'm thinking that on a track bike with its always straight chainline and very beefy chainrings flex isn't that much of an issue anyway.

I'd guess there's plenty of flex, but since there's no FD to rub, nobody knows or cares.



Another issue is how far do those outboard bearings push the crank off the ideal chainline with a track bikes 120mm rear fork spacing....

If they design it to be a track crank, it will work fine. The general offset is about equal to the inner chainring of a double.

The difference in winning and losing on the track is not due to better bikes. Virtually 100% of the difference is tactics, skill, strength and conditioning. The bike truly doesn't matter as long as it works and they all work.

Dunno Mel, it depends on how much better is better. I'm sure Brad Wiggins would do as well on any top level bike as his Dolan but I think he would shred the KHS rental bike I used last summer.

Dolan's are pretty. Hickey needs to order one up to show to us RBR commoners...
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2007/tech/probikes/wiggins_cavendish_track/bw_dl_complete_bike