are they worth the extra money
performance
lifespan etc

Yep, I recommend a Hope one…

2nd hope seems to be doing better than my xt, had a little creaking from new but that soon went away

Liking my Hope.

yea i like my hope one too.
lasting much better, and still perfect smooth after a few months of winter riding.

At £75 from CRC (£95 in an emergency from your LBS) it should effin’ well last for 5 years minimum.

If there was ever need of an illustration of just why external BB cranksets are a poor design, look no further than the need to spunk inordinate amounts of cash up the wall to have a fighting chance of keeping them turning.

After three of my supershite ceramic bb’s fell apart without the aid of either rocks pressure washers or being installed by a monkey I’m going to try a King bb.

Just waiting until the grease injection tool becomes available.
To me pumping fresh grease in there on a regular basis seems to be the only option for keeping these things running.

Hope for me too. Still going strong after a lot of evil gloop abuse. A £90 emergency LBS purchase but is still going strong after quite a while.

sss, you dont rate the ‘supershite’ ones then?

was considering taking the plunge….

hope here too – super smooth. noticeably more smooth than XTR.

epo.

after three of em all doing the same thing no.

standard XT’s last longer and cost much less.

epo.

after three of em all doing the same thing no.

standard XT’s last longer and cost much less.

Woha.

not sure how that happened.

I’ve heard standard XT’s last longer and cost much less.

Where’d you hear that then? 😉

SS ones are rubbish – lasted one 3 rides before going gritty, their sintered pads are good though.

Never tried them but the acros (from balfa) ceramic BBs have a 2 year guarantee. Some of their headsets a 10 year guarantee!!! My next BB is coming from them!

i have had an acros xc one on my demo9 for well over a year now and its good as the day i put it on 🙂

I’ve never had a problem with standard Shimano ones TBH, but those King ones look like a good idea well executed.