Shimano 5600 105 Bottom Bracket

Advantages: Cheap
Disadvantages: Breaks easily

...I have had three or four of these because they were cheap, it turned out that in the long run it was cheaper to save up and buy a decent bottom bracket. Everyone of these that I bought broke in under a month, the same two faults occured each time. 1) Mud and grit easily get past the seals and wear out the bearings causing them to cease or rattle. 2) The ends of the tapered arms round off very easily, even during light XC and commuting use I have rounded them off. Steer clear and buy a decent bottom bracket, or even better get the new external type, or if your into jumping and DH get some 3piece cranks.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: built in external BB, good quality
Disadvantages: None

...I bought this to replace the SR Suntour cranks and stock Shimano Bottom Bracket on my Trek 4300. A fantastic upgrade, extremely sturdy, nice stiff cranks, excellent machine work. And to top it off, no internal Bottom Bracket is needed. Something I dont think a lot of the adverts for the item make enough of. You don't need to bother measuring your spindle as you just need to remove the entire bottom bracket and fit the M532 with the inbuilt external BB. You will need additional tools to fit this, but they can be picked up relatively cheaply and you never need to worry about wearing out any bearings in the bottom bracket again. It took me 15 minutes to fit, simply remove your old cranks, remove the BB and slot this in place. It comes with various spacers to adjust the width depending on your frame size and once fitted it'll feel like... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Very light and durable, easy gear changing and very fast
Disadvantages: toe caps can be difficult for beginners

...Although not top of the range its a very good bike. The weight can be felt on reasonably steep inclines but not so much as to hinder even a professional cyclist. For club cycling this stands out. It looks good and performs great. I haven't ha\zd a single problem from mine and performs much better than my Apollo TDF.02 The tyres where down fairly fast though this is true for all road bike and it cannot take potholes or crack in the road (lest you wish to end up on your face in the road) again pavements and edges are not good to go onto or over because this will also leave you with a nasty mess and bits of bike and bent wheels! *addition* Specs are added in heed of comments! Frame: Atomic 13 Aluminum, Zero stack headtube Fork: Carbon Composite w/Alloy steerer Crankset: Truvativ Touro Road 30/42/52t Bottom Bracket: Sealed... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful