A few months back I fitted a Hope PF41 press fit BB to my Spesh Fatboy when the original finally disintegrated (it had done over a year of beaches and mud).

I was expecting good things of the Hope BB – no creaks and pretty good bearing life as with all the other bits of Hope kit I’ve got. I even bought the proper tool to fit it (which is impossible without).

First bearings lasted 3 months, which wasn’t great. Replaced them with proper hope bearings again (and added some Park Tools grease for extra measures) but just a month in and there’s play in the bb and a creaking cracking sound.

I can only think its something I’ve done wrong. Replaced lots of bearings in the past so i’m fairly confident of my spannering skills. I note the Hope bearings are angular contact so can be tightened if you get a bit of play. I’ve got some Surly hubs which are similar (and yes the green seals are outboard). However my Spesh cranks have no pre-tension or adjustment mechanism unlike the Hope cranks. Could this be the issue? The only side tension on the bearings is from the wavy washer. Any suggestions? Don’t really want to buy new cranks

When you fit the cranks tap it in as snug as you can? Prob still won’t be enough to tension it though. Threaded bar through the axle, washers and nuts, finger tighten nuts?

Hope make a point of saying their bottom brackets are not compatible with wavy washer preload systems. They might be angular contact bearings but the angle is very shallow. It’s more that they’re tolerant to a little preload rather than full on acbs. The advice I was given was to set them up with as close to zero preload as possible. I’ve followed that advice and had pretty good life out if mine.

Can you leave a washer out and see if there’s any play? Maybe find some fine shims for preloading?

Didn’t see anything on their website saying not compatible with wavy washer cranks – where is this?