RE: [CR] What's wrong with titanium?

(Example: History:Norris Lockley)

Subject: RE: [CR] What's wrong with titanium?
Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 00:04:04 -0700
In-Reply-To: <E62210DE-3995-450D-8412-382809EB781E@sisuhome.com>
Thread-Topic: [CR] What's wrong with titanium?
Thread-Index: Acb5kdy0AhQmVDdVQ/2zjLyJ6C5CEwAAlxow
From: "Mark Bulgier" <Mark@bulgier.net>
To: "Mark Buswell|SisuHome" <mark@sisuhome.com>, "CR" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>


It's a FAQ. From the archives:

From: <greenjersey(AT)ntlworld.com> Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 9:20:29 +0100 Subject: [CR]Campag titanium bottom bracket

Bob writes:2.) Catalog #18 (c.1984) shows Super Record cranksets just used Nuovo Record or Record bottom brackets. Anyone know why Campy stopped using the Ti bottom bracket sets for the last years of the Super Record Group?

I recall that Laurent Fignon was alone in the lead in Paris-Tours when he got out of the saddle and finished up on the deck with a broken Ti bottom bracket axle. As it was shown live on Eurosport it couldn't have been good for sales!

Ray Green Brighton England

Not all of them broke (obviously), but in addition to being weaker, they are significantly more flexible than any steel BB. Not that that's a huge problem in itself, but it contributed to the low sales numbers. Even just the perception of being more flexible will hurt sales to racers, who generally think stiffer is better. I bet the bearings wear out faster too, being smaller, but I have no numbers to back that up.

Mark Bulgier Seattle WA USA

Mark Buswell wrote:
> I recently picked up a NOS Super Record Titanium bottom
> bracket. I know that these were only in production for a
> short time and I'm wondering why Campy discontinued them.
> Were they prone to breakage?
> Thread strippage? Or were it simply too costly to make? Other factors?