Bottom Bracket Question

Just so that you know, and you don't just say, "Why don't you upgrade
the bottom bracket now?!" The answer is that budget constraints prohibit
me from doing so. (Can you guess where my money went?)

- Noel

N. D. Muscutt said:

I am upgrading almost all of the components on my bike to XT stuff. I
got a new XT crankset and am wondering if I can use the crankset with my
old bottom bracket. The old bottom bracket is an old thing from about
1997. Any input? Thanks.

- Noel

N. D. Muscutt said:

Just so that you know, and you don't just say, "Why don't you upgrade
the bottom bracket now?!" The answer is that budget constraints prohibit
me from doing so. (Can you guess where my money went?)

The rear hub? If you're constrained by your budget, why not use LX rather
than XT?

Current XT cranks / BB use a mating interface called 'Octalink'. This is a
round spindle with notches in it. If you look at your old BB, you'll
notice it's square. As you've probably now gathered, these systems aren't
compatible.

--
a.m-b FAQ: http://www.j-harris.net/bike/ambfaq.htm

a.bmx FAQ: http://www.t-online.de/~jharris/bmx_faq.htm

N. D. Muscutt said...

Quoted message said:

I am upgrading almost all of the components on my bike to XT stuff. I
got a new XT crankset and am wondering if I can use the crankset with my
old bottom bracket. The old bottom bracket is an old thing from about
1997. Any input? Thanks.

- Noel

Nope, you can't do it. If you have XT cranks you need the ES-71 bottom
bracket. You'll have to scrape together the $30+ for the BB, or you
can't use your cranks.