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If you’ve ever tried to piece together a bike from scratch, you’ve probably been there before – all the parts arrive, and you’re stoked. Until you realized you ordered the wrong thing, that is. That seems to be the case for Kevin, who writes,”I recently purchased a 2020 Pinarello Gan, and a SRAM eTap 2×11 groupset with a 172.5 53/39 BB30 crank. The Pinarello uses an Italian BB, what SRAM crank set is available for an Italian BB?”
From the sounds of it, Kevin has realized that the BB30 crankset will not work in his Pinarello Gan frameset which uses a 70mm Italian bottom bracket. For those not familiar with this standard, Italian threaded bottom brackets are wider (70mm vs 68mm), have a larger 36mm diameter shell, and both sides of the BB are right hand thread – instead of the reverse threading for the driveside cup on BSA threaded bottom brackets. Historically, this has led to the driveside cup of some Italian threaded bottom brackets to unthread themselves from the frame. Likely because of that, the standard has mostly fallen out of favor. But you’ll still find them on select bikes like those from Pinarello, including the Gan.
Because of the standard’s limited use, companies like SRAM aren’t offering Italian BB compatible products across their full line, but there still are a few options. Technically, it isn’t the crankset that needs to be Italian bottom bracket compatible, but the bottom bracket itself. But then the crankset does need to be compatible with that specific bottom bracket, which is where things can get a little confusing.
SRAM 11 Speed GXP Cranks on Italian Frame?
In the case of Kevin’s 11 speed SRAM Red eTap group, any SRAM GXP (not DUB) crankset with 11 speed rings would work with the GXP bottom bracket for Italian threaded frames. The Italian GXP bottom brackets are relatively easy to find and are meant to work with the corresponding GXP cranksets with a 24mm spindle.
SRAM 12 Speed DUB AXS Cranks on Italian Frame?
But what about installing a 12 speed SRAM eTap crankset on an Italian threaded frame? This is where it gets a little more complicated, but there are still a few options. SRAM’s latest 12 speed groups include cranksets that now utilize their DUB bottom bracket system. Since DUB cranksets aren’t compatible with GXP bottom brackets, and SRAM does not make a DUB bottom bracket for Italian threaded frames, any of the new 12 speed eTap DUB cranksets are (technically) off the table – if you want to use a SRAM bottom bracket with that SRAM crankset.
For a full SRAM crankset and bottom bracket set up, the option is to find one of the SRAM AXS cranks offered in a GXP spindle version. SRAM says that these are available, and your favorite shop can order them from one of their distributors. With one of these AXS GXP cranksets, you can use it with the current Italian GXP bottom bracket and you’re all set.
And if you’re OK with using a non-SRAM bottom bracket? Then you have a few more options, and all of those 12 speed SRAM DUB AXS cranks are back on the table. Brands like Kogel and CeramicSpeed are offering Italian threaded DUB compatible bottom brackets which should allow for the use of those DUB cranks on your Pinarello. These are obviously much more expensive options given that they’re fitted with ceramic bearings, but if you want to run that specific crank on your Italian threaded bike, you have limited options.
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