Yes, it’s a new standard, but it’s backward compatible, and no this isn’t an April Fool’s trick.
Set to get some officialness at Sea Otter in a couple weeks, BH Bikes and FSA have partnered to develop an open-source standard for frames that they say better incorporates and takes advantage of the benefits a 30mm spindle can offer.
The design will be open and available to any manufacturer, and any current BB30 or PFBB30 crankset should work on these frames.
Why? Well, lighter, stronger frames for one. We’ve got an interview with them in the works to get more details, but for now you can read the words straight from BH’s mouth after the break and marvel at how four paragraphs of words only leaves you wanting more…
UPDATED 3PM EST: Interview with Chris Cocalis of BH/Pivot Bikes added after the break to make sense of it all…
We just talked to Chris Cocalis, founder of Pivot and the U.S. guy behind BH Bikes, to get the scoop. There are few things that he’s leaving unsaid until the official press launch at Sea Otter, which will include hands on of their new superlight road bike with the BB386EVO system, and we’ll be there. For now, some quotes:
It’s based on a 86.5mm wide BB shell for a PFBB30 system, same as what a Shimano PFBB (Press Fit BB) would be, but with a much bigger crank spindle diameter (24mm vs 30mm).
“The beauty of this is it fits all existing BB standards, including Shimano and Campy, and it’ll fit them better than what current BB30 adapters do to retrofit such systems.
We’ll be launching new FSA cranksets with a 30mm spindle that’s different from the BB30 standard.
The basis of the whole thing is that we can drop weight and really drive up the stiffness of the system. The bike we’re launching at Sea Otter really integrates some amazing new features.
It does NOT have mountain bike applications because it needs a 46mm BB hole (same as PF30 but wider, x 86.5), so it wouldn’t have clearance for the small chainring. And because of the wide stance of this new BB shell standard, there’s not room for any pivots on full suspension bikes. As for 2×10, it could theoretically work, but the bike would have to built such that it could never run a triple chainring, which at this point in time doesn’t really make sense.
Crankset stiffness will be about the same, but frame stiffness goes way up.”
Some of the final details of the system are still being finalized, but it should be ready to go live for other manufacturers to use and you to pine after in mid-April. Now for that press release…
PRESS RELEASE:
BB386EVO is wider, stiffer and interfaces with all current BB systems.
BH Bikes is known for developing cutting-edge products including the introduction of the first ever extended seat tube design, pioneering the development of sub-900 gram road frames and being one of the first to introduce aerodynamic profiles into road racing frames with its line of Global Concept frames that include the current G5, RC1 and Cristal designs.
Recognizing another opportunity to deliver higher levels of performance, BH Bikes approached Full Speed Ahead with the idea of partnering to design a system that provides the platform required to develop substantially lighter and stiffer frames while evolving the advances already made in crank and bottom bracket designs to a whole new level.
The BB386EVO is the next evolution in frame and component design. Proposed by BH Bikes and developed in close partnership with Full Speed Ahead, the new BB386EVO system continues the evolution of the 30mm spindle standard with an eye towards expanded integration with frame manufacturers.
With BH’s extensive knowledge of frame design and manufacturing, the new BB386EVO system integrates the benefits of oversized 30mm spindle designs into a new standard bottom bracket shell, which greatly enhances the performance characteristics. This BB386EVO design is an open source solution, available to all in the industry, to allow real performance gains by better integration of frame and component.
Source: BH Bikes.
