Finally killed the XT external BB, so what's recommended as a replacement?
Hope ones any good? Can't stretch to Chris King I'm afraid!
I've got a hope ss in my dh bike and it's been brilliant so far. Never touch the RaceFace ones ime utter crap.
Got a new bike this year and got 20 rides and 569 miles out of the Shimano XT it came with. Could (maybe should?) have cleaned it out but replaced it with a Hope ceramic and got 5 rides / 183 miles before that got to the same state. Same cleaning routine (ie no pressure washer).
Trying a Chris King next (if / when it arrives) but wouldn't touch Hope again. Even ignoring the figures above, looking at the design I personally think the Shimano is better than the Hope but I expect to get flamed for that 😉
Enduro replacement bearings for the Xt rather than throw away a perfectly good bearing cup ? About £22 from bted.
Are the acros ones any good?
replaced it with a Hope ceramic and got 5 rides / 183 miles before that got to the same state.
Maybe should have contacted Hope, they might have sent you some new bearings for it. Sounds like you were unlucky, the Hope BBs are pretty well-reviewed.
Don't want to replace the bearings in the Shimano one - £22 quid for dicking about with it myself damaging what poor seals there are, no thanks!
I've had an Acros one running for a year. Had to be disassembled for a thorough cleaning about 4 months ago but tip-top now.
DaveGr - if that is the kind of mileage you're getting out of them i'd suggest there is something wrong with your set up or your frame.
I've sent my last two to BETD & they replace them free for £25 each.
Were they on the same bike Dickie? Or are both still going strong on different bikes?
2 new bearings less than a fiver from ebay. About 15 minutes to fit. Search "what external BB" in forum search, a load of us are doing it, and "how to" and ebay links were posted along with positive results.
http://www.fettling.co.uk/aspbite/articles/articles.asp?intArticlesID=47
you knock the bearings out in the same manner. then you want 2 of these
£4.50 vs £25. I know which I prefer.
Hope Stainless units are fantastic. they are designed such that you can service them yourself with good seals and ease of re-greasing.
have two sets been in use through hard winters etc. - they run soooo sooomth. brilliant design imo.
I just re-grease every 6mths.
they are designed to have the bearings pushed out and replaced once they get sloppy.
simple but very effective design.
HT2's lasting longer here since drilling a 3mm drain hole in the BB. Still pathetically short lifetimes though (basically, as soon as water gets past the seals, they start to die - the bearings rust, and pedalling turns the rust into grinding paste).
Trying a Hope one at present, seems promising as it's already lasted more than a month.
THose replacing the bearings in the SHimano BBs - how often are you doing it?
My experience of HT2 has been different to some,here.Had the same bb on for well over a year,and bike used all winter without a murmur.
I've not found the Acros BB's any better than any other. I've tried raceface and they were terrible (6weeks of a mendip winter) Across and Shimano seem to last about the same time - 3 months in winter, 6-9months for the dryer period, although this is greatly reduced if we get a wet period like we did a few weeks ago.
I've very nearly had it with HT2 reliability after 3/4 years of trying to improve it by various means - tried a BB drain hole, tried Race face, Acros, and Shimano. Tried re-packing which does work, but not for very long, tried lubing the external edge of the seal with chain lube after every ride.
My last ditch attempt is a Chris King BB - They're 80quid from CRC at the moment, so I thought I'd go for that over a hope BB for nearly the same price - got the grease tool coming, because I've formed the opinion that not seal that gives acceptable free pedalling will be adequate for reasonable bearing life and thus its down to a grease purge every month or so. Bring back the Grease guard concept is all I can say!
If the king BB dies, I'm going to go to middleburn cranks and square taper I think.
I just bought a deore HT2 for my XT cranks, £19 (wooly hat shop) and a set of the bearings munque_chick mentioned so I can rebuild the XT BB.
There's a good chance some of you are over tightening the end caps and wrecking the bearings yourselves.
Had over a year out of an LX set that came with my hone, including multiple submergings and many many miles and it was fine. Swapped it for a Hope SS one for purely cosmetic reasons, and that has done over a year now with no issues, removed the seals and cleaned/regreased once.
Maybe some of you just have nastier/grittier dirt than our clay-based variety here.
That was a fear of mine peter, but I became aware of the recommended tightening technique - ala hope instruction video some years ago - its made bugger all difference.
The Across website says not to disassemble a la Shimano, so thinking Hope might be the way forward now.
Once the bearings do go - how easy is it to get them out?
(BTW - my XT ones lasted 16 months, but admittedly the last 6 have seen very little riding - new wee bairn landed in Feb!)
my last XT BB lasted me around 18 months, fairly frequent riding 1-2 times a week, and all through the peaks winter. just make sure you dont over tighten - and give it a clean and a grease every so often.
I've had a HOPE Ceramic on my Orange5 for 14 months, never needed any maintenance and still runs as sweet as new. (RaceFace Deus Cranks)
Go to www.realworldcyling.com they sell replacement bearing for ht11 bbs and the tool although the tool is pricey if you get through the bbs as you say then this will be cheaper in long run
While it's clear the occasional BB fails because of hamfisted mechanicking (sic) or being silly with a jetwash, the 10 or so I've got through in 3 years years have all failed due to corrosion. The signs are always the same...after the bike's dried out from a wet ride, the cranks are stiff to turn at first because water's got past the seals and the bearings have rusted, meaning it's the beginning of the end for the BB.
As for those who believe facing matters, a brand new road bike came with this lovely example of poor facing (and no, it's not cross-threaded).
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It's been working perfectly for a couple of years - the supplier agreed to sort it for free, but I said I'd wait until the BB failed before returning it. Well, it's been going 2 years now and is still working fine...but then the particular bike doesn't get used in wet weather.
I have used the shimano & SSC bb's with similar results when opened up and repacked once in a while.
I have come to the conclusion that it doesnt matter what bb it is the crap will still get in. You either buy CK which allows you to run the grease through easily, service them yourself on a regular basis
OR buy replacement bearings for £2.50 each off ebay and replace a BB for £5 per year. These bearings allow you to continue using the top hats from the SSC BB so you arent even running the risk of damaging the cranks by going metal on metal like the enduro bearings do. As the SSC ones are so rubbish as per reports here everyone is bound to have a few lying around. I did two BB's for £10 so i have a spare for 12mths time.
DaveGr - if that is the kind of mileage you're getting out of them i'd suggest there is something wrong with your set up or your frame.
Trouble is I also get a similar short lifespan on the other bike with a HTII BB.
There's a good chance some of you are over tightening the end caps and wrecking the bearings yourselves.
I thought that but in my case the BB gets full of water / dirt before the bearings themselves get worn and am now careful to not over tighten.
Just looking at mileages for other bikes / BB's
- Kinesis not got figures for '07 but probably half of what I did in '08 which was 800 miles / 61 rides and the square taper BB was still fine when I stripped the bike.
- road / light off road bike - 7000 miles and only just getting round to replacing the 2nd Octalink BB as there's a slight clicking noise.
Not a fan of the HTII design irrespective of specific makes.
Re dismantling Shimano cups - just did a set and one side is easy to knock out as you have good access to the inner race so can use a drift but on the other cup it's designed to not give the same access to use the drift but managed to tap it out. So apart from the one cup being slightly awkward they're the same as Hope for replacing the bearings.
I would love to know why some fail and others don't but I don't expect the manufacturers to look into it as they make lots of money from replacement sales.
I think the campag design has merits as you can access the bearings very easily