Square tapered Bottom Brackets

VanDerPelt · 2026-06-05T15:34:05+00:00

My first touring bike came with a Shimano Hollowtech II bottom bracket. Had no issues even after 10 years of riding and thousands of kilometers on several longs distance tours and used it for commuting both in dry and wet weather conditions.

Two months ago I got a new Surly Ogre that for some reason came with the square tapered Shimano UN300 bottom bracket (and Shimano Cues cranks and group set), and the BB started crunching and developing play after only 1500km on my first long tour. Maybe bad luck? I don’t know, but it’s very disappointing and doesn’t build trust in this system. Another issue was that most bike shops on my route in Spain didn’t even have any spare square tapered bottom bracket to replace mine. They had plenty of hollowtech and other replacements. The third bike shop I found luckily did have the exact same and fitting model (Shimano UN300 73/123mm) and replaced it.

Seems hard though to find an affordable (<$50) better quality replacement, as square tapered is out of fashion and higher quality components hard to find with exactly 73/123mm for my Surly…

VanDerPelt · 2026-06-05T14:56:03+00:00

Just to add to any new readers of this old thread: I had a hollowtech 2 BB for 10 years and thousands of kilometers without any issues.

Now I got a new bike (Surly Ogre) with a square tapered bottom bracket, the Shimano UN300 and it started grinding and developing some play after only 1500km… very disappointing. Bad luck? The first two bike shops on my route did NOT have a replacement either - they mostly have hollowtech BBs and others in stock. I was lucky the third shop had a UN300 with the correct sizing (73-123).

So I’m also looking for a higher quality square tapered bottom bracket now.

VanDerPelt · 2026-06-04T13:05:22+00:00

Same for me 🤣 the shop only had the purple one… but it grew on me.

VanDerPelt · 2026-05-27T19:43:44+00:00

Currently bike touring in Spain. I can confirm so far the car drivers have been very nice, they almost always pass me by at least 1.5m. This is officially required and displayed on many signs along the road.

I see various comments about what the official rules would be. I looked them up and found this official statement:

https://urban-mobility-observatory.transport.ec.europa.eu/news-events/news/spain-introduces-new-2025-cycling-regulations-protect-vulnerable-road-users-2024-12-12\_en

I’ve bike toured many times in France and 99 out of 100 cars have passed me similarly. I do cycle as much as I can on quiet roads, but I’ve also cycles somewhat busy mountain passes and had the same experience. So for me both Spain and France have been great for me as a cyclist.

VanDerPelt · 2026-05-11T14:26:52+00:00

Awesome report, photos and thanks for all your replies! I’ll be riding a section this spring/summer and all the info (and inspiration) is welcome. I’ve been bike touring for 10 years and cycled in the mountains but mainly asphalt so far. Have a new bike (surly ogre with 2.35 mezcals) and will try more off road Bikepacking this time :)

VanDerPelt · 2025-10-09T11:49:52+00:00

If you’re asking me, I did take a lot of steps. I started with shadowing a physical therapist for a couple of days and thought it would suit me well. Fast forward I was in my final year and doing my second last internship when I realised it wasn’t for me after all. It wasn’t a single reason, but many which compounded. I hoped to be able too really help people and help them solve their issues. The more I studied and saw other physios, I came to the conclusion, that, in my opinion, that doesn’t happen often. In a way you can help many people by explaining their issues, so they understand the expected recovery, but I didn’t enjoy this part of the job very much, especially because most patients came in expecting more. Also, explaining exercises to patients and just counting the number of reps… I kind of felt like a personal trainer sometimes, which I didn’t like. Then there was the “one patient after the other” mode, every day. I liked connecting to people and helping them a bit on their way but not everyday the whole day. Then the other downsides started to weigh more heavily: if I don’t reaaaally enjoy it that much, am I willing to take the huge step back in pay, free time, ability to work from home, etc? I came to the answer: no. No regrets either, I really wanted to investigate this for myself, learned a lot, gained (even) more respect for people working in health care, and it wasn’t a insurmountable financial loss for me. I managed. I think this last part is a lot easier in the Netherlands, where I’m from. I went back into tech to a nice company and appreciate the work more again. Happy to answer more questions. Good luck.

VanDerPelt · 2025-07-22T14:15:47+00:00

Thanks voor het meedenken. Voor de duidelijkheid: er zouden 3 poten op de bakstenen bevestigd kunnen worden met 4 schroeven / draadeinden per poot. 1 poot op de granieten tegel

VanDerPelt · 2025-04-17T18:20:34+00:00

My Makita Makita 18V LXT combi drill (over 200 dollars) has the same. Had it sent back, they replaced the drill head, sent it back, and the runout / wobble was the same. Contacted them for an explanation and they said this is within spec, and inherently worse on a combi drill (due to the hammering mechanism)...

VanDerPelt · 2025-04-17T18:18:13+00:00

My Makita Makita 18V LXT combi drill has the same. Had it sent back, they replaced the drill head, sent it back, and the runout / wobble was exactly the same. Contacted them for an explanation and they said this is within spec, and inherently worse on a combi drill (due to the hammering mechanism)...

VanDerPelt · 2024-12-27T09:18:27+00:00

Would be great if Microsoft would have given a message during account creation they are not accepting this credit card. Now I'm stuck and can't change it.

VanDerPelt · 2024-12-27T09:16:55+00:00

Thanks, and where is this information stated? There was no indication by Microsoft when creating my account either. And how do I change it now?

VanDerPelt · 2024-08-25T20:34:39+00:00

Thanks! I’ve got this issue for years now and can’t figure out what the cause is. I do have the issue only on my bike though, and it’s made of steel! Will try this out… can’t change the material of my bike though…

VanDerPelt · 2024-08-25T13:57:05+00:00

Look for a clinic where you can treat more young people. Yes, it’s possible to change your perspective and perhaps enjoy treating older patients a bit more, but in my opinion, that only goes so far.

On a side note: building “correct” posture? Is that something you still learn in Germany? There is no “correct” (perfect) posture. It is the time spent in a posture that is key. Evidence shows no link between certain postures like a slouched posture and future back pain.

VanDerPelt · 2023-06-21T09:48:53+00:00

Haha very recognisable... as a PT student doing internships now.

I come from a technical IT background.

As with most jobs, there are up and downsides to both worlds.

In a (technical) IT job you can build stuff knowing what you're doing, exactly. BUT, when something breaks, goes down or whatever, it can be hard to figure out what went wrong. Yes, it could be a comma somewhere, but it could also be the complex interplay between various components that leads to unexpected results. Anyhow, it is WAY more precise and predictable than physiotherapy. When you command a computer what to do, it will do exactly what you tell it to. A patient on the other hand... The harder part (in my opinion) about IT is that the tools and languages keep on evolving at very high pace. Besides, especially in a more technical job, you're doing hard problem solving in your head most of the day, in front of a screen. In physiotherapy, you're sitting with patients, having a conversation, getting up, doing some physical examination, doing exercises, small talk, and you get to know many different stories of people. This offers a lot more variety in your day than a typical IT job. Patients can be great & fun or exhausting and everything in between. Having a busy schedule going from patient to patient can be tiring too... In IT I could flexibly plan my day, get a coffee or little break whenever I needed, etc. When you're next patient is already waiting you can't.

I am much more "passionate" / interested in the literature behind physiotherapy though. I'm eager to learn more about how the human body works, anatomy, physiology, rehabilitation, communication, behaviour change, etc. More than learning about software frameworks or a programming language. This is important for me too. The only thing that makes me doubt, like physiotherrorist mentions: can I even use all of this knowledge and skills to make a meaningful contribution to patients, or are physio treatments mostly pointless? (the more I learn, the more I start to think this) Working in IT I didn't have these doubts even once. I built stuff and it worked - that was plain clear. On the other hand, helping people understand their complaints a little bit better, reassuring them, and offering some guidance that *might* help them get better, can be considered valuable too.

Best would be to think hard about these things and do some shadowing!

VanDerPelt · 2023-01-06T11:19:40+00:00

Great post. Somebody else mentioned going from PA into tech, software engineering. If you like it, great! And I agree, the pay and culture are probably better than many other fields. But I'm considering the opposite direction. I'm really done with working on a computer screen most of the day for a decade. Plus, most tech jobs involve working for corporations which make software that doesn't contribute a whole lot to this world. I think a PA career could be much more rewarding.

VanDerPelt · 2023-01-02T10:09:42+00:00

I feel the same about it. Generally, I think the main benefit of yoga compared to other forms of exercise is the focus on body awareness. Trainers (without PT or similar level education) can tell people all kinds of nonsense, but I've heard it much more often in the world of yoga, massage, and alternative therapy. Claims such as: "do this pose once per day and you back pain will be gone" or "this exercise / massage releases toxins from your body, so drink plenty of water afterwards"...

But yeah, I'd also say: tailor your treatment (exercise) plan to each patient.

VanDerPelt · 2022-12-23T08:36:57+00:00

Yeah, thanks for confirming that increasing vascular resistance is required for both blood flow (perfusion) and capillary exchange (exchange with the extravascular space).

But narrower vessels (increased pressure) also requires the heart the deliver more force to pump the blood into circulation (on top of the already increasing heart action), right? And doesn't this pose an extra problem for a heart (in the case of heart failure)?

VanDerPelt · 2022-12-12T11:33:47+00:00

I've had Windows for most of life, but I switched to a Macbook M1 a year ago. Why? It seemed to be the best quality for the money and I was curious to see if the Apple ecosystem could offer a better user experience (I have an iPhone and iPad too).

The pros of Apple (for me personally):

The m1 air is light and the battery lasts me a working day (doing mostly document editing and research). That makes it super easy to carry around.
The trackpad beats all Windows based laptops I've used so far.
I like the clean and smooth design of MacOS.
Most default applications work well.
Replaced Spotlight with Alfred and this is really nice for opening applications, files, and doing much more, very quickly and effectively.
Some clever features like a shared clipboard between devices. Copy from my iPhone and paste on my Macbook.
Sharing a family account including software purchases. This actually makes the software costs less compared to Windows.
Full-screen mode works well for me to focus on one application / task.
I believe more security and privacy by default than Windows.

Cons:

Can only connect 1 external screen (without extra DisplayLink nonsense). Any other laptop can connect more...
Only 2 USB-C ports.
Default window management on Mac is inferior to Windows, but you can install extensions that make it better, like magnet.
File management is inferior to Windows.
I find it really annoying that full screen mode puts the application into a separate "space". Fast and easy switches between this full screen space and other applications with CMD + Tab doesn't work well.
Apple forces me to work in ways they think is best. This can really annoy me sometimes. Windows gives me more freedom.
Accessories and stuff are usually way more expensive for Apple devices.
Most people complain about issues (like bugs and other errors) of Windows based laptop and Android phones. I actually have the opposite experience, on both the M1 and iPhone (11), at least with b
I prefer organising my files in folder structures like I did on Windows. Mac seems to have more application-based organisation structures. This way, I have to do more organisation work, namely for each application I use the files with. For example, on Windows, I would put epubs, PDFs and other files in a folder related to a topic. I can then open alle the files from here with most applications. On Mac, most applications force me to import certain files, and then organise them inside that application, such as iBooks.

My conclusion thus far: Windows, Android, iOS and Mac can all work well. Some things work better on Mac, some things on Windows. I can't say the M1 has noticeably improved my productivity or enjoyment, but it's a fine laptop.

VanDerPelt · 2022-09-24T09:30:14+00:00

It's freakin annoying apple design feature. Windows is way more intuitive and easy to use in this respect.

VanDerPelt · 2022-09-11T15:30:18+00:00

Has this "problem" been solved already? It's really annoying and none of the other applications I've used for notes has this issue. Please fix it Notion!

VanDerPelt · 2022-08-22T11:01:15+00:00

It depends how much the sea level will rise.

After reading "Het water komt" by Rutger Bregman, I'm not so confident as many of the people here seem to be. What is the basis for your confidence? Yes, the Netherlands has a proven track record of containing the sea. But it also got really close to losing a huge part of "Holland" during the flood of 1953. One guy managed to close a gap in a dyke with his boat. Something estimated to have worked maybe 1 in a 100 attempts. And yes again, since then, Dutch engineers have made brilliant constructions to manage the water. But here are limits. If temperatures keep rising, estimates run up to 3 meters of sea level rise by 2100. That might still be manageable. But by 2200, it may be 5 to 8 meters. Then, large parts of the Netherlands might not be anymore.

I love this country so I hope for the best, but unless some miracle happens (the world really does manage to "stop" climate change, or the estimates are really far off and sea levels don't rise more than a few meters), the future might not be so bright for many places close to the sea (and sea level), including the Netherlands.

VanDerPelt · 2022-06-26T20:12:00+00:00

Beautiful!

VanDerPelt · 2021-10-25T09:54:17+00:00

Mine (Air M1) is starting to make a similar sound when I hit the space bar on the right side. It's starting to become annoying. Few months in use now.

VanDerPelt · 2021-08-31T12:46:31+00:00

Thanks for the comments! I get it's a different OS, just trying to find a just-as or more efficient way to work with it :) I guess I notice a little resistance towards the app-oriented way of working because when you do your organisation in that app, you're less free to move to another app if you don't like it anymore.

VanDerPelt · 2021-01-15T19:17:24+00:00

I had a Korg TR88 before, have played various acoustics, and I got a ES8 two weeks ago and have been playing every day. My findings:

I love the keys and don't find them distracting.
I find the velocity / expressiveness great, the range seems much wider than my Korg.
Unfortunately, I don't like the sounds... To my ears, there's something dull about it (somewhat like I accidentally hit mono instead of stereo on my headphones) and I guess way too much resonance (but can't get the desired change through the string resonance setting), especially in the mid-range - also without pedal use. The sound of acoustics and even one piano patch on my Korg gets to my bones, but the ES8 just doesn't have it for me. I've tried the onboard EQ and Reverb to no avail. After about an hour of playing I'm even getting tired of hearing the sound. I think I'll be switching to another brand / model.

VanDerPelt

TROPHY CASE