What or which brand bottom brackets are the best to go for?

I seem to be getting through a few of them. I dont use cleaners/degreasers on the bike and this BB has not really had all that much use.

Shimano for me, though I’m going to assume you mean for HT II? £20 from Rose bikes for an XTR one that has seemingly lasted (2 years) even better than my previous XT version (18 months). Though my m8 has happily run a deore one for 18 month now too & is just feeling rough.
Chris king and the greasing tool does seem very good, but for the price of all that kit, I can get 10 odd shimano BB’s that last a minimum of 18 months… same goes against the Hope ones for me.

if they’re not lastign long I’d look at either installation ‘issues’ or a frame that needs facing.

most external BB’s are fairly good now.

Shimano for HT2 IME. Stay away from Race Face HT2 BBs.

I had a RF one in my genesis io and it broke within 2 weeks. After that I put in a NC-17 basically because it was cheap. It’s amazing though, never had any problems with it, just fit and forget. Had a look at getting some more NC-17 kit because it was so good but their prices seem to be creeping up. Guess that’s the same as everyone else though.

+1 for not buying anything RaceFace with bearings in it. Mine died after five months during the summer of 2006, one of the driest I can remember.

If you’ve got £££s to chuck around then Hope ceramic is the way to go. If not then XT will do a fantastic job.

If you’re using Truvativ/SRAM then you’re almost out of luck, but Hope do a spacer kit for their BBs that fit.

shimano work best for me too. Cheapest ones are as good as the xt ones, they use the same bearings as far as I can see..
Note shimano do not recommend facing.

I have a king simply because it was cheap and pink 😀 and it can be regreased easily (i have the tool). i think it is a great bit of kit but probably a bit ott. Never had much issue with shimano ones. Had a couple that have lasted for an age but my last one lasted about 3 months/1000 miles.
Race Face ones are rubbish. never had one but my riding friends have and they’ve all had issues.

Muddy Wyre has seen off a ( carefully fitted )RF Xtype in about 300 miles. The cheap Shimano one originally fitted to the same bike did about 2000 miles til it expired.
I’m just deciding if to wade in for Hope or go Shimano again.
I just use warm water / sponge / brush to clean mine, quickly rinsed off with washed of with a low pressure hose, so no strong degreasers here either.

Note shimano do not recommend facing

Why?

Why?

It’s a good question, I can only speculate.

But I suspect its because its a load of bollocks..

I have searched and searched among the big S literature and never found a reference to facing.

I had RaceFace ISIS, first lasted a summer, 2nd lasted a month. Replaced with XTR HT2, not had problems. Go for XTR, for the price of £20, you can’t really go wrong.

Raceface still aren’t that good, but at least they’re compatible with most others. Really hard these days to justify anything apart from an SLX/XT BB, they last well and they’re cheap.

I might go back to square taper ,or cotterpins as ht2 are really poor especially Shitmano ones

well sorry folks but i had a ‘RaceFace x type’ BB which lasted 18 months and the bike was ridden loads over rocky terrain etc…. i then went to leisurelakes bikes and they looked at it and said i had another couple months ride in it yet….but anyway i got them to stick a Hope BB in … 😉