Originally Posted by
hybridbkrdr
I've watched a few videos on installing Hollowtech II, Octalink and square taper cranks. Do you find Hollowtech II tricky to work with? I mean, you can't put too much torque on the crank bolts but they can't be too loose either?
By the way, the BB30 standard looks like a pain to work with. But, there are several manufacturers for square taper bottom brackets. Seems like the easiest standard to me.
I've worked with all of them for many years in my day job. Hollowtech II cranks are probably the easiest to work with and the shift quality is hard to beat with the larger spindle diameter and ridged chainrings. Not sure if my video was one you may have watched, but it's a splined preload cap to snug the crank together, and 2 bolts tightened with a 5mm hex key to 12-14Nm. The Sram GXP system is similar, probably simpler in that all you need is an 8mm hex wrench to remove or install the cranks. BB30 is great functionally, but requires way too much maintenance for my liking. Square taper cranks look pretty, but compared to modern technology, performance wise, they're not great. The spindle flexes under load and puts excessive stress on the bearings, you need a crank puller to get them off, if the spindle bolts and not torqued correctly, the crank arm works loose and unless you're using a modern cartridge BB, you gotta deal with keeping the BB adjusted and maintained, which to me is the worst crank standard overall to deal with.