Originally Posted by
tyrion
Hambini says a poorly aligned BB shell will cause premature bearing wear. Does a square taper cartridge unit isolate from those imperfections?
To a degree yes. However the shell faces are also about getting the BB (whatever type) securely tightened. A shell with cockeyed faces won't allow the BB RH (usually the RH) side to fully snug up and thus might loosen during use more readily. The other possibility with really off faces is that if the BB cartridge is fully torqued down before the LH locating ring (what most will call a cup even though it's a cylinder) the LH end can drift off center and make installing that LH ring rather hard. This is one reason why I'll not tighten the RH side completely before the LH side is installed. Andy