Wondering if there is a consensus on most reliable bottom bracket for external bb. Thinking about King but not heard much about them from a long term reliability perspective. Same for Hope ceramic. Currently have Shimano but they only seem to last a season at most so wondering if something else would be better?

Nope no consensus.

Hope outlasting shimano here up to 2 years now compared to 1 year tops in shimano

you can get XTR bb for less than 20bucks, even if it only lasts a year you can still get 3-4 for the price of a hope 5-6 for the price of CK.
how much do you want nice coloured cups 🙂

i stick with shimano.

3 yrs here from Hope stainless and 4 from Acros ceramic. Both have been in two frames.

Best web price from google for XTR is 25 delivered
Hope SS BB from CRC is 71
As above 2 years of heavy riding in still feels like new.
Cheaper than 3 XTR’s sticking with hope. Especially as the XTR comes with this marketing gem

Light weight seal structure helps to remove vital grams

and let sh#t is

xt/slx ones are £14 from .de sites, that’s 5:1 Hope. As it’s a 10min job, I’d rather change mine regularly and have a brand new super slick one every 10 months.
Shimano

Hope because red is faster.

Hope all the way. But I’m a sucker for pretty things. 4+ years for a Hope SS one one the commuter. Still silky smooth.

But the hope ones don’t work with Truvativ or GXP crank sets, even with the step down adaptor. The seal got mushed and killed the bearing on the first Hope one. But was replaced with out question by the Tech Shop.

Been running Hope now for over 4 years, still like new.

I’d go with hope as a company that actually tries to make something that works well here in the real world uk deserves sales. Shimano know it’s not up to the Job. But either don’t care or can’t do anything about it.
Besides. Each swapped shimano bob goes into landfill you wasteful buggers!

Hope for me as

I’d rather not change mine regularly and have a brand new super slick one every 10 months all the time.

Hope ceramic 3 years so far and still like new

My Hope one worked well with my GXP using the spacer and survived me removing the spacer too 🙂

Very happy using Shimano here- I get around a year out of an XT BB, so considering I paid about 1/5th of the price of a Hope one for my last, that’d take an awfully long time before it could possibly break even (and in the meantime, the money’s in my bank account not theirs!)

I use Hope . But lets be honest its all about the bearings if you get a shimano and it wears out just replace the bearings with some decent ones that run directly on the axle, no silly tophat seal things and they’ll be as good as hope.

Slight hijack – anyone know if the Hope/CK ones are eaily fittable to Race Face cranks (Turbine)? Just thinking about when the current BB dies…

If it’s an X-type Raceface then Hope (and Shimano) are totally compatible.

Yup as per Northwind I have RF Atlas cranks on my bikes one with a CK BB and one with a Hope BB. I did particularly well out of my first RF BB getting 2.5 almost 3 years but the second i got less than 6 months.

lets be honest its all about the bearings

true, a BB is in a sense just a bearing holder, but Hope’s cups do have a unique shape – no other AFAIK has that lip and seal type. i’m not sure how much of Hope’s longevity is down to that and how much is the stainless bearings.

it’s debatable which is better value between shimano from germany vs Hope, no real right answer.
there are plenty of wrong answers though, like FSA, and spending full uk RRP on shimano, or expensive but crap “ceramic” ones with shit steel races.
I still quite fancy a Pace with the grease gun attachment and stainless bearings fitted.. Hope does the job though.

Hope is the one to go for if you care about your ride, IMO

been running a hope ceramic for about 4 years across a few different bikes and mostly on a race face crank and its been superb the whole time

I have a pace one, been going 3 years and has a grease top up every 6 months or so, not in any danger of needing to be changed any time soon.

I currently run Hope but I’ve replaced the bearings on them twice now, so I wouldn’t say they were that good. Tempted by a CK unit as I run one on the commuter and I like the idea of re-greasing them myself with the injector tool.

Shimano are okay but I just don’t like throwing away the cups all the time.

Shimano seems to do a couple of years+ on mrs_oab’s bike; my Truvativ’s last about a year or so on mine.
As above though, I can go through 4-5-6 cheap bb’s for the price of CK…

Ok, so you can change a cheap Shimano one easily enough, but if you’ve ever dragged your bike out for a ride, only to find that a) your bb is seized and b) you forgot to order a spare, you’ll buy a Hope.

Flicked a coin in the shop between Hope and CK, glad it landed on Hope now two sets of Hope stainless, still going after 3 years, one set on my daily commuter that normally eats BB’s

Just regreased again one of my hope ones along with the pro 2 rear hub . Both full of muck. Not really that well sealed and yes, not using a jetwash , yadda yadda. BB is only a year old and has to be washed out , degreased, dried and redone every 3 months or so. Starting to feel rough on the drive side now, so may need to get some replacement bearings. Not what I expected. My CK is running sweet after 4 years. Regreased once a year or so and leave alone.

ransos – Member

Ok, so you can change a cheap Shimano one easily enough, but if you’ve ever dragged your bike out for a ride, only to find that a) your bb is seized and b) you forgot to order a spare, you’ll buy a Hope.

TBH if you have that little mechanical sympathy, no amount of buying expensive parts will keep your bikes running. BBs don’t just seize overnight.

Northwind – Member

ransos – Member

Ok, so you can change a cheap Shimano one easily enough, but if you’ve ever dragged your bike out for a ride, only to find that a) your bb is seized and b) you forgot to order a spare, you’ll buy a Hope.

TBH if you have that little mechanical sympathy, no amount of buying expensive parts will keep your bikes running. BBs don’t just seize overnight.

Mine seemed to. Went from smooth as silk to impossible to turn after 1 night. Although i do keep my bike in a ‘tent’.

A well timed thread. Just had my latest XT BB die on me, lasted about a year which seems to be about average for me.

I’ve just (today) taken delivery of a Token one, from wiggle for <£20. It has axle on bearing fitting (ie no top hats), what it calls labyrinth seals and comes in very funky red. Thought I’d give it a go, and will report back when it dies. If it does any more than a year its a bonus.

I’ve not tried a Hope, but do have a CK one on my other bike that seems to be lasting much much longer than the XT’s do. No sign of any wear 2 years in, with zero maintenance.