Isis Drive Problem

There is no adjustment to the crank or the bottom bracket. The only thing you can do is check the torque on the crank arm bolts as they might not have been torqued during assembly, then see if the movement goes away, if not, grab both arms and wiggle them, if they wiggle with each other, then the play is probably in the bottom bracket and this is not adjustable. It might have worn out prematurely, but cannondale seced that stuff on alot of it's cheaper bikes, because it was cheaper for them. You can put a higher quality FSA platinum BB for relatively cheap, your fram has english threading 68mm.

StartledPancake said:

Hi There,

I bought a Cannondale R500 a few months back and it came with a sort of OEM FSA crankset with Isis Drive. Unfortunatly after about 1200 kms its started to creak under load and I can feel some play in the crank arms. Is there any adjustment I should be doing or have the bearings gone already? I know nothing about the Isis Drive system so Im reluctant to start attacking it with spanners because I know Ill make the situation much, much worse...

Had the same thing here on my the left crankarm of my new bike with FSA Team Carbon and ISIS Ti axle, at about the same mileage. I pulled the left crankbolt, respread the Ti prep compound on the splines, and retorqued. The right side wasn't making noise, torque was just slightly low. At 5500 miles, the noise hasn't returned.

Believe this is part of standard "break-in" service procedure, which should be covered by the LBS if you bought your bike new there.

No magic about ISIS drive...it's just a different axle spline design that aftermarket manufacturers can use without license from Shimano.

Thanks for your replies. The cranks do indeed "wiggle" together so it looks like the BB has worn out. Very, very dissapointed with this bike.

StartledPancake said:

Thanks for your replies. The cranks do indeed "wiggle" together so it looks like the BB has worn out. Very, very dissapointed with this bike.

Agree the BB shouldn't fail so soon; Cdale obviously got some junk here to save themselves $5 a unit. I'd have the LBS replace it under warranty....they should have a new and improved replacement part by now.

StartledPancake said:

Thanks for your replies. The cranks do indeed "wiggle" together so it looks like the BB has worn out. Very, very dissapointed with this bike.

ISIS is notorious for wearing out quickly because of the small bearings compared to campa and shimano bb´s, it has nothing to do with your cannondale just your choice of bb , get a new bb and ride on 🙂

mrowkoob said:

ISIS is notorious for wearing out quickly because of the small bearings compared to campa and shimano bb´s, it has nothing to do with your cannondale just your choice of bb , get a new bb and ride on 🙂

This is your opinion, right? It sure is not backed up by facts, my friend. I spent a good amount of time searching the net for info and from what I've found ISIS is just a standard spline shape and has nothing to do with durabilitiy. It's up to manufacturers to design their BB's properly whatever the spline shape, square, triangle or whatever.

Insight Driver said:

This is your opinion, right? It sure is not backed up by facts, my friend. I spent a good amount of time searching the net for info and from what I've found ISIS is just a standard spline shape and has nothing to do with durabilitiy. It's up to manufacturers to design their BB's properly whatever the spline shape, square, triangle or whatever.

No it is not my opinion in fact I use ISIS but it is a fact that the bearings in the isis system are smaller than in shinamos or campas systems and wear faster than bb´s with larger bearings. Do a better search on the subject and you´ll see.

mrowkoob said:

No it is not my opinion in fact I use ISIS but it is a fact that the bearings in the isis system are smaller than in shinamos or campas systems and wear faster than bb´s with larger bearings. Do a better search on the subject and you´ll see.

Sounds like common sense that smaller balls would wear faster, but I'm not sure it's a concern at all. Real facts on service life of bike parts seem non-existent to me. I think water and grit intrusion is the major killer of BB bearings too, not just miles.

Besides, what's long enough? If a BB lasts 30,000 miles instead of 50,000, is that a big deal? Most bikes will never see those miles anyway.

I have an ISIS axle here also, but running in an OS BB using the FSA Megatech BB. The bearings are pressed into the shell without cups, allowing for a 43 mm outside dia and 6/32" balls. They claim longer life than a standard cartridge BB, but who knows.

Sorry to rant, but I like ISIS and the OS BB because they are "open standards". They are available free to anyone who wants to make parts to compete with Shimano and Campy proprietary designs.

Insight Driver said:

This is your opinion, right? It sure is not backed up by facts, my friend. I spent a good amount of time searching the net for info and from what I've found ISIS is just a standard spline shape and has nothing to do with durabilitiy. It's up to manufacturers to design their BB's properly whatever the spline shape, square, triangle or whatever.

Just more nonsense. Durability has to bo with bearing and their size. If size is limited by the basic design then you have [censored].Even octalink is less durable than the old square taper shimano cartridges due to the lager spindle limitimg the bearing size.

dhk said:

Sorry to rant, but I like ISIS and the OS BB because they are "open standards". They are available free to anyone who wants to make parts to compete with Shimano and Campy proprietary designs.

Well, wake up. Just because it is 'open standard' does not mean it can't have design flaws. And what's proprietary about Campys square taper??

boudreaux said:

Just more nonsense. Durability has to bo with bearing and their size. If size is limited by the basic design then you have [censored].Even octalink is less durable than the old square taper shimano cartridges due to the lager spindle limitimg the bearing size.

Agreed .. I have been dealing with bearing failures in the industrial setting for more than 15 yrs .. and 80% of bearing failures are related to one and one cause only ''lubrication'' mostly under but some times over Ref: RCMII (J.Moubray). Since they are sealed I would guess sealing intergrity has been lost..

mrowkoob said:

ISIS is notorious for wearing out quickly because of the small bearings compared to campa and shimano bb´s, it has nothing to do with your cannondale just your choice of bb , get a new bb and ride on 🙂

I didnt choose the BB Cannondale did so I dont want to have to get a new one and ride on only 3 months after buying the bike. I seriously doubt that any resonably well built BB would wear out after 3 months. Cannondale appear to have scraped the bottom of the barrel have put a BB onto this bike which hasnt had any quality control. It has nothing do with bearing size, its clearly that they didnt build or grease the bearings to the proper standards.

StartledPancake said:

I didnt choose the BB Cannondale did so I dont want to have to get a new one and ride on only 3 months after buying the bike. I seriously doubt that any resonably well built BB would wear out after 3 months. Cannondale appear to have scraped the bottom of the barrel have put a BB onto this bike which hasnt had any quality control. It has nothing do with bearing size, its clearly that they didnt build or grease the bearings to the proper standards.

Ah well then why dont you go to your LBS and have the bb replaced again under warranty? Cannondale does not manufacture the bb in mention so it would not have mattered what bransd bike it was as long it had the bb in question mounted...

StartledPancake said:

I seriously doubt that any resonably well built BB would wear out after 3 months. Cannondale appear to have scraped the bottom of the barrel have put a BB onto this bike which hasnt had any quality control. It has nothing do with bearing size, its clearly that they didnt build or grease the bearings to the proper standards.

You are making alot of bad assumptions Ace.

boudreaux said:

You are making alot of bad assumptions Ace.

If there wasnt something wrong with the construction, why is it broken? Perhaps it was designed for a three month/1200 km lifespan and worked entirely to specification? Still, an unfortunate choice by Cannondale. By the way, it "a lot" and "ace".

Thanks for the constructive posts on this thread, its been very useful reading. Im going to take the advice, take the hit and get a decent unit fitted rather than a Cannondale replacement. I cant afford to stop cycling again, I love the bananas too much.

StartledPancake said:

If there wasnt something wrong with the construction, why is it broken? Perhaps it was designed for a three month/1200 km lifespan and worked entirely to specification? Still, an unfortunate choice by Cannondale. By the way, it "a lot" and "ace".

Thanks for the constructive posts on this thread, its been very useful reading. Im going to take the advice, take the hit and get a decent unit fitted rather than a Cannondale replacement. I cant afford to stop cycling again, I love the bananas too much.

Cannondale did not make your bottom bracket,your beef should be with FSA and the crappy ISIS system.Parts wear out,sometimes prematurely due to machining defects or assembly of the componet.dont knock the whole system over one B.B.,if your LBS won't warranty this thing,buy a better one,as these are cheap as chips right now because everyone wants the new external bearing style cranks (which also have their share of flaws). Find what works best for your style and budget and keep riding,in the end thats what its all about.

Kenman said:

Cannondale did not make your bottom bracket,your beef should be with FSA and the crappy ISIS system.Parts wear out,sometimes prematurely due to machining defects or assembly of the componet.dont knock the whole system over one B.B.,if your LBS won't warranty this thing,buy a better one,as these are cheap as chips right now because everyone wants the new external bearing style cranks (which also have their share of flaws). Find what works best for your style and budget and keep riding,in the end thats what its all about.

My beef is that they chose to fit it. Theres a lot of shortcuts taken on the R500, too many for an 1100 euro bike. Trust me if you owned one and used it regularly you would understand.

Can you recommend a good resonably priced (up to say 50 euro's) and reliable BB to fit as a replacement?

Cheers.

StartledPancake said:

My beef is that they chose to fit it. Theres a lot of shortcuts taken on the R500, too many for an 1100 euro bike. Trust me if you owned one and used it regularly you would understand.

Can you recommend a good resonably priced (up to say 50 euro's) and reliable BB to fit as a replacement?

Cheers.

Agree with you. You bought the bike from C'dale; regardless of who actually made the parts for them, they are responsible for the product. Your complaint is clearly with them. I'd be tempted to keep working with them until they solve the problem. C'dale has too good a reputation to lose it over a bad supplier decision.