Is it my imagination or have the prices for the Shimano replacements gone through the roof? A friend bought and fitted a set last year and the drive side has failed. I thought he paid about £25 but all the replacements are £35 plus.

Can anyone advise a better engineered alternative that will fit and last longer? Does it have to be Shimano or do other makes fir?

Help!!! I’ve lent him one of my bikes in the interim but want it back while it is in one piece…..

do a search looaads of threads on here about it, personally i’d go the SSC cups route as the bearings are dead easy to drift out with a socket so when they go its only a cheap replacement from your local bearing co and off you go again with the minimal fuss and cost, i have a bearing puller for shitmano cups so its easy for me whichever cups i use, i got 5 sets of bearings and the tool free from BETD.

http://www.enduroforkseals.com/id101.html

The only real reason for using ceramics is improved weatherproofness, and if like my bike yours lets water piss down the seat tube onto your BB then these are the answer.

fat’d, is this a deal they do all the time?
Can’t find anything about the tool or any deal on there site.

yeah zippy if yo uphone them up and speak to the bloke he’ll help out, they do two tools one is a very expensive workshop tool and the other is for light use and this is the one they do the deal on, either way its a good deal, i replace mates bearings for them and just charge them what i paid for the bearings hence a nice free tool and they get cheap bb replacements everybody wins.
i stand by my comments about the SSC cups being much easier to replace though so its worth considering although the original bearings i got with mine only lasted two rides..?

Thanks guys, I’ll follow this up.