need a new bb for my giant reign and gravity light crank. The one bearing is shot so im looking at a hope replacement. Are they worth the £70

Been done to death in here.

My answer yes even compared to the 15 quid ones from Germany I’d at least be on parity cost wise and up on time spent replacing throwing out dead parts and limping home on rides. I know you can release grease etc to eek out the shimano but that is missing the point.

not over any other ime, I currently have a hope ceramic one but i dont notice any difference over the shitmano on my other bike or previous pooperstar ones…in fact given the choice again i’d go pooperstar and swap the bearings to decent ones once they wore out, as they dont have the shimano lip inside they are easy to press out and replace when needed (like hopes but less money)..

Normally I would say yes, go hope stainless or even ceramic.

However, been selling the new Rotor BB’s for a little while now and TBH a rotor stainless BB will be my next one. Again replaceable bearings, but more like £35-40 retail rather than £70

Yup!…i got tired of changing knackered shimano bb’s!… bought used hope stainless off here….its been super smooth ever since…lovely…..buy hope!

IMO yes! After a concerted 2 year 4k mile stint with Chris King BBs I’ve gone back to Hope. Never let me down yet. With the CK you had to give it lots of hugs and kisses and if you didn’t, or you weren’t VERY careful when using the propriety grease injection tool, you could screw up the BBs a bit too easily. With Hope just swap out the cartridge when the old one is goosed….simples!

I would say no.
Its more important to have decent bottom bracket drainage..

xtr from germany 20 quid posted

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shimano-xtr-bottom-bracket-cups-hollowtech-ii-sm-bb90/aid:274227

Yep £20 for xtr with lighter seals and more changing per year. At that price I’m upon the hope purchase.

I’d say yes for the Hope BB but I have multiple bikes with Hope BB and a bearing press. I keep a few spare bearings and its then cheap and almost as quick as fitting a completely new unit to change the bearings over.

Superstar have theirs on offer at the moment

Yes for the Hope’s, either Ceramic or SS, If you’re in any doubt get your BB faced as well to ensure the BB spindle on your cranks interface correctly with your BB bearings so the preload is correct.

XTR doesn’t seem any better than XT to me- they’re different inside but it doesn’t seem to matter. Both equivalently well sealed and both equally picky about correct torque.

Hope doesn’t outlast 5 XTs in my experience, not close in fact, so it comes down to whether you hate changing BBs, whether you hate throwing things in the bin when you don’t have to, and whether you’re happy to pay a price premium up front to avoid that stuff. (because the £70 is out of your wallet today, rather than spread out over however long)

Still… I’m back to recommending Gusset EXT24s, they’re great- come in pretty colours, last better than Shimano, not much more expensive, and replacing the bearings is quick and easy.

I though mega exo and HT2 wernt compatible something about the shaft diameter being a bit off?

I measured the crank spindle size and its 24mm and I’ve checked the bearing sizes so should fit

My Hope ones sound like a sand mixer after a wet ride and let in water so not infallible. Have to regrease them. Maybe now the seal is marked from having to do this regulary.King has ben great. I have an Uberbike BB on my road bike and it does ride through the road ‘streams’ here and is still smooth and half the Hope cost. Just another idea other than Hope.

Northwind, how much are replacement bearings, and where from?.

Anyone tried the Phil Wood ?

Been done to death in here.

My answer no when compared to the 15* quid ones from Germany

*actually more like £23 with postage now.. but buy other cheap stuff too to bring it back to bargain value.

(get in their quick they just come back into stock, got me another 2 on the way)

I have Hope Ceramic in 1 bike (came with it) and XT in another (could have bought XTR for £3 more, but why?) The XT one is 2 years old. My old XT on old bike was 2 years old. Not had any problems with any of them.

So IME it certainly isnt worth spending the extra on Hope. Massive Hope fan, but when XT ones are so cheap from Rose, its not worth it, especially as they are so easy to change anyway.

Personally i have to say no. My stainless Hope has lasted 6 mths, although
I hope a strip/clean and regrease will be enough rather than new bearings.
I used to get 12 mths out of XT ones

Hope Ceramic here and must have been going since they first come out as that’s when I got it. I think that was 2005/6 as I had a Kona Explosif then and I’m sure it was on there. Just had its first re-grease last week as well.

Hope ceramic here – it has done two puffers and a lot else inbetween, on mine and my wifes bike.

Nobeerinthefridge – Member

Northwind, how much are replacement bearings, and where from?.

For the Gussets? It’s a standard bearing, can’t remember exactly which one but dead easy to find. Think I bought the current set from everyone’s favourite forum madman-bearing-bearings, Kaesae- good quality and a decent price.

With the CK you had to give it lots of hugs and kisses and if you didn’t, or you weren’t VERY careful when using the propriety grease injection tool, you could screw up the BBs a bit too easily.

Cobblers.

You regrease them once a year, you don’t need the tool to do this. Whip the seals off, clean and lube. Couldn’t be simpler.

I hate the fact you have to keep throwing stuff away so i just change the bearings in my shimano XT cups for stainless ceramic hybrid ones and have been great so far.

where did you get the bearings from Baz?

I got them made so testing them at the moment, if the durability is there i will start selling them, was thinking of a service along the lines of customer sends me there old shimano cups and i will change the bearings and post them back for 22 quid.

and yet I’ve a Hope BB that’s lasted 5 years.