I know roughly how long these bearings usually last for me, but my Soul just seems to eat them. Three months max (even in Summer) then they’re worn out. On other bikes they’ve lasted way longer, it’s just the Soul.

I need to put yet another set on, but I was wondering whether this colossal appetite it has could mean that the threads need facing?

If so, is that something I can do myself?

Cheers

If so, is that something I can do myself?

Not unless you have some very expensive tooling, no. Are you sure you’re not putting too much preload on the end-cap thing? That’ll kill them for sure.

try facing it (bike shop job) only costs a tenner and if it extends the life of the bearings then it’ll pay for itself.

^^ what they said.

Get the shell faced and threads chased at a good shop, which will at least tell you that the frame is 100%. Agree with BWD on preload, as too much and you’ll sideload the bearings, causing premature failure.

Or find some non shimano cups, wack the bearings out, replace with SKF ones for ~£25-£30, and they last ages. Wont help if the frame isnt faced properly though.

Here is another thought… over tightening the bearing cup will change the amount of pressure applied to the bearings when the crank is nipped up. I dont think HT 2 do well with side loads along teh crank spindle. (hard to explain..)

I bought a GUB bb from China. Standard spacer fit is 1 on the Non ds, 2 on the Drive side. Did this and no way would it spin. Took one spacer off the ds and checked the Raceface splines were “just” appearing through teh plastic bearing cap. RF has some small thin washers and using these I managed to get it bob on so that when nipped up, the crank spindle has minimal compression loads into the bearing, and its working perfectly.

So it may not be your bike but teh way teh HT2 is set up…?

HTH

As everyone else has mentioned, get it faced and tapped, that way you can be sure that the BB sits straight in the frame, TBH I find spending the extra few quid on Hope BB is worth it, i’m nearing 12 month on mine and it spins beautifully and a few others who I ride/work with are longer into theirs with little problems.

Why do BB shells need faced then?

If they are made by a machine they should be right,or am I missing something?

Well paint can mess up the alignment for a start

rickmeister, that method works for RF cranks, but Shimano HT2 are different. The end cap just preloads the bearings (like on an aheadset), it doesnt hold the crank on the axle. Preload the bearings too much will cause excessive side loading on the bearings.

So just taking the paint off in most cases would be enough?

If they are made by a machine they should be right,or am I missing something?

paint and at a push welding distortion

facing is a waste of time and money. discussed at length here
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/facing-bbs

try facing it (bike shop job) only costs a tenner and if it extends the life of the bearings then it’ll pay for itself.

facing is a waste of time and money.

also here

Thanks everyone (apologies for the slow response – no pc at home).

I hadn’t realised it was such a minefiled and yes I have George’s expression on above reading this!

On the preload thing, I just whip it up until it’s fingertight (I don’t have a torque wrnech for it). Not scientific and probably wrong I know, but it’s what I’ve done on other bikes which have all been fine. Recognising that there are opinios that think it’s a waste of time, the only other option is facing – I will make the long trek to a decent bike shop (my LBS have said in the past that gear indexing is a big job that will take a few days, I won’t bother asking them about facing!) and get it done and report back in 6 months.

Thanks again!