Truvativ BBs are now standard bits of OE kit, specced on mid to top-end bikes from the likes of Dawes, Saracen and many others in the UK.
ISIS Drive makes for a stronger BB/crankset interface, and it’s stiffer too, translating to increased power transfer, claim ISIS protagonists Truvativ, Race Face and Chris King.
Truvativ’s GigaPipe BB spindle is 16 percent stiffer than last year’s Sealex ISIS spindle and is available for road, XC and DH use. They will retail for about $50 as aftermarket items and will be available within the month. A $120 titanium version will be available in Jan/Feb 2003.
Truvativ is a company going places, and it wants to expand out of its MTB niche. The Elita range has cranks for road, cyclocross and tandem. And at the top-end of the OE and aftermarket road chainset market, there’s the shiny new Rouleur, see pic below.
Rouleur is French roadie term for a racer at the top of his profession.
Jokingly, Micki Kozuschek said Truvativ was thinking of adding correct pronounciation tape-recordings on the company website: not just for terms like Rouleur, but for Truvativ itself (the logo may look like TruVativ, but it’s a lower case word throughout, and there’s no stress on the ‘v’).
All the road cranks are ISIS-splined.
PIC ABOVE:
Micki Kozuschek, general manager of Truvativ USA, with last year’s Sealex spindle and this year’s bigger, stronger GigaPipe spindle. The t-shirt reads: GigaPipe – bigger is better. And with a new industry-standard, oversize BB shell (up to 50mm) being argued for by the ISIS champions, spindles could get even bigger.
BELOW:
The roadie Rouleur chainset.