Tech Report: Van Dessel’s BB30 frame
- By Steve Frothingham
- Published Jan. 9, 2008
- Updated Feb. 1, 2008 at 10:38 AM UTC
On the heels of FSA’s introduction of its BB30 bottom bracket system, Van Dessel has announced that its new BB30 Rivet frames are in now production, with delivery slated for late March.
Built around the BB30 bottom bracket shell, Van Dessel’s Rivet will also feature a 1.5-inch lower headset bearing, in keeping with the recent trend of manufacturers moving to larger diameters at both bottom bracket and head tube.
“Our main attraction to the BB30 system as well as the 1.5-inch headset bearings is increased lateral stiffness,” said Edwin Bull, president of Van Dessel Sports. “The BB30 system, however, goes beyond just stiffness though and does offer many other benefits over an external bearing system.”
Some of those touted benefits include a weight savings achieved by eliminating the need for cups and allowing the use of an aluminum spindle, as well as a narrower stance (Q-factor) because of the smaller overall bottom bracket width.
Like all BB30 frames, the Rivet is compatible with the standard 68mm bottom bracket simply by using a press-in adapter. Van Dessel can install a semi-permanent adapter for use of a 68mm English bottom bracket. FSA offers a similar adaptor to fit 68mm bottom brackets to BB30 frames.
The Rivet is constructed with tube-to-tube carbon wrapping of over-sized carbon tubes. The frame/fork/headset combination comes with a suggested retail price of $1899. If you want to add FSA’s BB30 K-Force Light cranks and ceramic-bearing bottom bracket to that combination, you can expect to pay around $2499.
FILED UNDER: Bikes and Tech
Steve Frothingham
VeloNews.com editor Steve Frothingham joined the gang in bike-crazy Boulder in early 2008. He is the former executive editor of the trade magazine Bicycle Retailer & Industry News. He also was a reporter and editor for The Associated Press, where he covered three presidential primaries in politics-crazy New Hampshire. His racing career began on a BMX track in 1980 and reached its zenith with several miserable road races as a category 2 in the early 90s. He subsequently retreated to cat. 3, where he has had a consistently mediocre (at best) record ever since, in road, mountain bike and cyclocross events. Follow him on Twitter at @steve_froth