Hey,

just bought a hope bb for my MTB, just wondering how much a lbs should be charging? And how long it takes?

Wondering if it’s worth just buying the tool and doing it myself?

Cheers

you bought one online and want your LBS to fit it?
(Bearing in mind this is probably a 5 min job* with the tools which iirc cost about a fiver)
£20 and upwards (in correlation with LBS’s proximity to london) at a guess.

*assuming shimano cranks and standard HT2 BB, RF cranks and new fangled BB “standards” will up the time

yes. hope even have a video. don’t pre-load them even as much as you think you should, ‘just’ take out the end float. you can always pre-load them a bit more later.

Purchase the tool and you’ll feel like a man! Is a 5 min job.

you’ll need a crank pre-load tool (for shimano) plus the BB tool. Ideally a torque wrench too.

It’s a pretty easy job. Just make sure everything is clean before you start. I always grease the threads on BB’s even if they come with some loctite on them.

I just did this for myself last week first time, buy the tool, it’s a dawdle. I got the parktool one with the preload nut on the other side.

Just make sure you hand tighten things first before using the tool when you put it all back togther, I’ve heard you can get problems with crossthreading, which you really really don’t want to be doing on your frame.

I concur, changing the BB is one the easiest maintenance jobs you can do on a MTB. Also take time once every month or to it take out, check for play or if the bearings is losing smoothness (?), regrease and put back in.

This makes it look as easy as it is. Seem to remember hope being the same.

every month – having a laugh?

do it yourself but watch out for cross-threading – grease it and should spin almost right in using your fingers only

jekkyl – Member
I concur, changing the BB is one the easiest maintenance jobs you can do on a MTB. Also take time once every month or to it take out, check for play or if the bearings is losing smoothness (?), regrease and put back in.

nah, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! 🙂

Also take time once every month or to it take out

are hope easy to access the bearings? Coz with shimano and RF re-greasing the bearings (as opposed to just slapping a bit of grease around the outside of the “sealed” bearing unit) is a right old faff.

yeah once every month or so, it might not be broken but maybe it would benefit from a regreasing to safeguard against little creaks and from it getting stuck in there, and you can check how the bearings are. I like to replace mine if I feel it’s bit rough and for the cost of BB’s it’s a no brainer, but meh, subjective, each to their own. 🙂

EDIT: didn’t see the hope bit, mine’s GXP.

There are a couple of things that can make it harder, XTR M970 cranks frinstance, but mostly it is dead easy. And not just the price of an LBS, it’s the hassle too, the time taken to get the bike to the shop and back will be more than it takes to DIY unless you have an LBS in your garden.

Also take time once every month or to it take out

nah, wait till its really crunchy, leave some more, if it seizes then hit the crank till it spins again. 😉

some of your clocks are broken

doing the job dilligently and correctly as per cytech training is more than 5 minutes/.

but yes its easy and you can do it your self with limited bike specific tools required.

Hope bearings are very accessible. I’d recommend a packet of spare tophats from CRC for a few quid.

doing the job dilligently and correctly as per cytech training is more than 5 minutes/.

aye it did take me about half an hour.

Seriously though, I’d definitely recommend getting the tools and doing it as its one of those jobs where the tool costs are less than 1 fitting at the LBS. There are other jobs where the tool cost will always exceed mutilple LBS job costs – eg bottom bracket thread chasing, so you’d never buy one of them.

“Also take time once every month or to it take out and grease it”

if you have to do this – your fitting it wrong. I dont care where or what conditions you ride in* only caveat would be if you store your bike at the bottom of a swamp

Assuming the old one comes out easily, its 10 minutes if you do it properly.
Stick some copper grease on the BB threads to make sure it will come out again.