Park Tool BBT-18 Bottom Bracket Tool

Comments about Park Tool BBT-18 Bottom Bracket Tool:

Park tools are among the best bike tools. Cost a little more than others but quality has a price

Comments about Park Tool BBT-18 Bottom Bracket Tool:

Don't buy this tool. Older BBT-8 is much better for an ISIS BB. This tool was returned. It replaces Parks previous ISIS tool and is inferior. The tolerances are much less tight (it fits v loosely on your BB), the corners of the teeth are not as square as they were on the prev model either and they're smaller too. I had this tool and the previous version (BBT-8?) in my hands. I measured them both with digital vernier caliper to confirm my suspicions. Sure enough the BBT-18 was 0.75mm wider (inside tooth to opposite inside tooth). This means the teeth seat only ~half-way down into your BB notches, putting ~double the strain on the notches in the cups and therefore greatly increasing the likelyhood of damage. The guy that built my bike overtightened the BB and didn't use enough anti-seize. The tool stripped it (despite soaking in WD40 from both sides and using skewer & washers to hold tool tight to the BB). However, it stripped not because the BB was *too tight* (to be removed without damage), but because the teeth of this tool did not tightly fit the notches on the BB. The older (better) version (as owned by local bike mechanic) removed the BB even with half-stripped notches. It did cause some additional damage, but likely only because the notches were already half stripped by the BBT-18 imo.When you hold both this and the older version side by side, there is only one of the two you want to own and it is NOT this one. Find the older one. It's better. If your BB is tight, or if it ever might get seized, you will benefit from the tighter tolerances and squarer teeth of the older tool. Trust me, this tool just destroyed a perfectly good BB I could have eBayed and almost took the frame with it by leaving a stripped BB stuck in there. The tool will work on loose BBs, but it's not worth the risk when you can get better for the same $. NB, it may be possible to hammer the teeth back in towards the center and therefore a bit to get a tighter fit, but I was concern ed about breaking them off preventing a return.... The fact that the guy in the store took the return when I demonstrated the difference in the tolerances between this and his own BBT-8, is proof that he too thought it was unacceptable.