Technical FAQ: XTR pipe-spindle bottom brackets.

Lennard,

Regarding the DA BB question and your response to it not spinning very well and decreased rain performance, how can you tell if you have a first generation pipe billet BB?  Did the model number change when they improved it?

– Dick

Answer: A first generation DA or XTR pipe-spindle BB comes all apart and you have two sets of ball bearings and two sets of needle bearings that are loose (and that you can clean). A year or two later, the sealed cartridge appeared, which is not serviceable.
-Lennard

FILED UNDER: Bikes and Tech / Technical FAQ TAGS: bottom bracket / FAQ / Lennard Zinn

Lennard Zinn

Lennard Zinn, our longtime technical writer, joined VeloNews in 1987. He is also a frame builder, former U.S. national team rider, and author of many bicycle books including Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance and Zinn’s Cycling Primer: Maintenance Tips and Skill Building for Cyclists. He holds a bachelor’s in physics from Colorado College. Readers can send brief technical questions to Ask LZ.

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