Just spotted 2 seized bearings in my Hope Stainless BB. Its about a year old, but has done over the winter, still not too impressive. The good news is I can service it and replace the bearings: the bad news is that a pair of bearings costs more than a new Shimano BB.
Have I missed the point here? The Hope costs more, lasts about the same and servicing it costs more than replacing with Shimano.

Hope also looks more pimp, therefore worth the difference!

But ignoring my stupid comment above, i can’t answer the question, but i bought a hope BB a few months back, but since i’ve been hearing the same issues with them! Not good for a £55 Bottom Bracket!

True they look good.
Just checked and bought it in Nov 2009 so probably fitted in Dec. 2009 – 17 months on the bike, 2 winters

MM interested to hear opinions as my Shimano one is fubared and was thinking Hope not looking good Chris king i stempting but I am not paying that price for a fricking grease gun never mind the BB cost
are hope not easier it regrease as I thought they had no top caps is that correct?

Coming into the third summer for my SS Hope BB and it’s as smooth as the day it went in.

What kind of maintenance has yours had, timwillows?

The bearings are a sealed unit, so not meant to be serviced/maintained. I had a set seize onto the crank axle (so if you do get some worth taking the crank off and greasing the interface every so often), and then another set seize after a winters use. So like others did the maths and decided to stick with shimano now. The hope ones do feel smoother straight from the box, not really noticeable once they are a few weeks old.

what have you doen 3 fish?
ta

Maintenance? Fit and forget I’m afraid as I am used to Shimano. Only just spotted the videos suggesting regular opening up and re-greasing the seals.

The bearings are a sealed unit, so not meant to be serviced/maintained.

That’s not entirely true. As you say, the axle/bearing interface can be kept in fresh grease. Also, popping the plastic cover (not the bearing seal), cleaning any grit out and wiping a thin layer of grease over the carts/seal will stop corrosion and help keep water from the edges of the seal. I’d consider all of that to be maintenance of the preventative sort. Making sure that the seals for the middle tube are kept well greased is also important.

The most obvious is to not use a jet wash or hosepipe, although that applies to any bearings.

Check to no hosepipe or jetwash, just let it dry and brush it off

AAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW MANY WINTERS OR YEARS YOUR BOTTOM BRACKET/CHAIN OR WHATEVER IS FITTED, IT IS MILES AND CONDITIONS THAT COUNT. I HAVE A 1992 MAVIC BOTTOM BRACKET 19 WINTERS OLD. NINETEEN WINTERS OF ONE RIDE EVERY TWO MONTHS.

FOOLS. COMPARE LIKE WITH LIKE.

*Breathes out*

*Breathes out*

Calm down, Richard.

by the time hope had made a bb superior to the early shimano ones, shimano had already made ones just as good if not better…

I put a lot of Hope stuff, including a stainless BB on new bike, 2 months ago, the BB is now back at Hope with a rough running bearing.

I’m sick of BB’s that only last a season.

ISIS – rubbish
Octalink, not bad perhaps but small ball bearings = pants relaibility
external, proving pretty useless too in my opinion.

My 1 year old Shimano BB’s are shot. I was looking to spend nearly £100 on some Chris King BB’s plus another £45 on their special grease tool but thought, what the hell, square taper BB and Middleburn cranks can’t be “that” much more expensive. Big balls in the BB seem to be the answer? hope so anyway.

Stick your external BB’s where the sun don’t shine Shimano!

ISIS, Octalink and external BB’s, all a step backwards regarding longevity.

so a 20 odd quid bb lasts you 1 year and you’ve considered spending 145 quid replacing it… if your not riding too hard go buy some flexy sq tapers and ride em..

My shimano BB starts to feel rough from time to time so I strip them down and take the bearings out, take the seals off the cartridges and then dump the cartridges into degreaser. Once degreased I dry them off and utterly pack them with lube, put the under seal back on and push the bearing back into the cup. Put a shed load more lube on top and put the top seal on. Put a load more lube in and put the plastic top hat on.

Doing this has got a rough feeling BB back to feeling quite nice a few times now and it tends to last a while. I have no developed some fairly notice-able play in one of the sides now though, packing full of grease is making it better for now but I feel not for long.

so a 20 odd quid bb lasts you 1 year and you’ve considered spending 145 quid replacing it… if your not riding too hard go buy some flexy sq tapers and ride em..

My point is that cartridge BB’s lasted years and were £20 yet we all seem quite happy to forget that. Now “only” £20 to replace some BB cups seems reasonable….after a winter.

Square taper for me….

£32 to replace the bearings in a Hope Headset afetr 2 years. How much are FSA Pro’s?

I mostly use XT, they generally last me about a year of riding twice a week in all conditions, with occasional weeks away. I buy ’em cheap when they’re available. Hope at £60 would need to last 4 years to work out better value not to mention that it’s an upfront cost.

Pieface – Member

£32 to replace the bearings in a Hope Headset afetr 2 years. How much are FSA Pro’s?

Don’t know, but my FSA Orbit bearings outlasted my Hope ones by about 50%, and the entire headset cost £20. So I guess I’d call that a round one knockout for FSA.

I also take the bearings out to add fresh grease, it’s been turning now for over two years and that’s with all year riding. I do you silicone grease on it so I’m not sure if that helps?

I had my rf bearings replaced with phil wood bearings by sideway cycles about 3yrs ago, the original rf bearings only lasted 3months. The phil wood cost about £35 from memory, highly recommended. I like chris king stuff, but I’m seriously considering the full phil wood bb

I think I have just got my answer.
Sent the seized bearings back to Hope with a letter explaining age (17 months on receipt, 15 in bike), use and why I was expecting better. Replaced without quibble.
Top after sales service from Hope.

Take 1 knackerd Shimano BB, batter the old bearings out, buy some replacement bearings £2-£10 ea (your choice), get some top hat bushes from Superstar for £3 (to fit 7mm bearings, 1 off purchase), press new bearings in and you’ve virtually got a new BB.
The bearing cups should last a good while. I’ve had a set of bearings in my old Superstar cups which cost £3.20 for both and they’ve lasted a year or so. Needed to regrease a couple of times, but I’d say that was better value than a King by quite a margin.

Or, buy a GUB from fleabay.
Chris King look-alike, £30 with ceramic bearings.

Have had a lot of success with Acros BB. “Acros HT2 MTB Ceramic BB” Really well engineered, s/s or ceramic bearings.

i got a stainless Hope BB last week. TBH i was happy with the shimano one that had lasted a few years, but opted for hope for the additional shininess! plus i like the brand, and have bought many of their hubs without a single problem in nearly 10 years

when the BB turned up i was a bit disappointed. although i like the design with the plastic washers, the cups were quite poorly finished and not deburred very well. also the spacers were pretty rubbish, cheap stamped parts with poor surface finish, and weren’t colour matched to the cups

i know these things sound minor – the true measure of a BB should be how long it lasts – but hope are a premium brand, they’re flying the flag for british engineering, and for the extra cash you need to feel like you’re getting something that’s better than a bog standard shimano for under 20 quid

being a Hope fan i’ve got faith it’ll last a long time, but i think the overall finish could be improved

peterfromearth, let’s see some photo’s of the BB.

I just run a raceface DH BB and replace the bearing when they go with top end INA bearings.

I don’t understand people saying you cannot remove the seals, if you want you can remove steel shields and replace them with rubber ones. If you want to can also remove all of the old grease and replace it with a more application specific grease.

Anyone that says you cannot remove the seals on top end quality bearings needs to pick up the phone and call any of the UK importers / distributors of SKF, INA, FAG, NSK, EZO, KOYO!

They will tell you exactly this, not only is it possible it’s reutinely done, do you honestly believe that these bearings arebeing ordered in the factory by companies in the exact condition they are used ❓

No they are not they have a 25% to 35% grease fill a lot of applications run bearings that are dry, some with a higher grease fill some lower, some require high temperature grease some low.

The seals and shields are routinely and easily removed also replaced, it makes for a bearing that is far more versatile and can be modified for a vast array of applications, that said I’m bored of this shit so I’m off to do something else.

Farewell 😀