Has anybody every seen anything like this? I recently brought a custom built track bike circa 1993 that had barely been ridden and never raced. On my first outing the BB axle completely snapped on me. The break looks like there was never any contact on some parts of the axle. Is it possible this was a manufacturing defect that’s gone unnoticed due to the bike being lightly ridden? Following on how realistic is it to get the axle replaced I’m aware this is an old BB at this point and I am worried about getting a matching taper for the cranks. BB and cranks are Suntour Superbepro.
by tahmi
3 Comments
Probably someone crashed/dropped it hard in the past. Square taper should be the same standard regardless of manufacturer, just extract the broken bit and measure axle length, or worst case scenario replace complete BB.
Do you see that brown/rusted surface? It was cracked and broken half way for some time already. Likely factory defect from past.
Is that rust? Did the axle crack and rust? Anyway – I wouldn’t be too concerned regading the BB. There are many enthusiasts around the world swapping spare parts, even for more esoteric track equipment. Perhaps the BB isn’t even track specific and you can use an axle from the Superbe Pro road set (okay, measuring the width to determine that might be bit of a challenge now). Or you could install just a more modern cartridge BB. Taper should be JIS because Suntour, but I wouldn’t rule out ISO completly because obscure (NJS?) regulations.