After only 5 months, my Raceface bottom bracket (Hollowtech 2 type) is now scrap.

Is a Hope BB worth paying twice as much as XT for?
Will it last twice as long?

Had my hope bb for 6 years its on its 3rd frame and only its 2nd set of bearings to me its well worth it.

No.
NEXT!

probably. 2 words everyone in GB should love: stainless bearings.
RF are famously crap too.

Seem to be the winning choice we think. Def the longest lasting we sell.

I got a Ceramic but would go SS if i needed another. Only bought the Ceramic as it was in stock when i needed one.

Rose Bikes are still doing the XTR ones for £17 – I’d just buy one of them.

Yes. I have fitted Hope’s to all mine and my friends bikes, when asked, over the years and they are all still going strong. No experience with RF but Shimano last one year max in my experience.
Watch the Hope BB fitting video on Youtube regards bearing preload. This will help it to last longer still.

Just had this dilemma on the wife’s bike. Went for hope. Bigger bearing and in stainless with proper rubber shields on both sides of the bearing unlike the shimano tophat think. Ever taken a shimano bearing apart?

Shimano ones are better than they used to be. Race Face ones are total crap.

Hope last forever, I’ve got two that are getting on for 5 years old with the original bearings still in them.

I think the two fitted to mine and the wifes bike are great. Virtually fit and forget. Mine is 2 years old and still running well and hers is a year old. Both have been filled with mud, battered down the alps, etc. and still going strong. Can’t say the same for the mountain of SS and shimano ones piled in the corner of the garage.

All of my bikes run Hope BB’s and all are going strong, no problems ever. The seals are the best there is… IMO of course.

+1 to Hope for the colour options too 😉

beefheart – Member

Is a Hope BB worth paying twice as much as XT for?

If that was the price difference, then yes. But you can get 4 XTs for the price of a Hope one and have change left over.

But there’s no right answer tbh… You’ll get a lot more life from 4 XTs than from one Hope, but obviously you’ll need to change them more often. With Hope you pay extra (and up front) for convenience basically. And pretty colours.

There’s a third way… Gusset’s EXT24 is a bit longer lived than an XT (though not as long lived as Hope) and has easily replaced bearings (so is also more servicable, should you choose, dead easy to clean out and regrease). So if the disposability of Shimano offends but the price of Hope is an issue, might be worth looking at. Also come in pretty colours 😉

Thanks for the persuasion- I’ve ordered a Hope. 🙂

£59 delivered from MTB Direct.

Two sets of RF BB in a year, saw me swap to Hope BB two and a half years ago, still going strong

I’m with neninja. When my Deore bb said byebye after a relatively short time I replaced it with XTR from Rose. Excellent value and long lasting so far. I think you have to do an awful lot of riding to justify one of the more expensive BB brands.

+1 for Hope.

Just refitted a Hope SS following the early death of a Chris King BB. Not too impressed despite it getting plenty of loving via the propriety grease injection tool.

I dont know why I bothered with the King as historically I’ve never had any such issues with Hope!

Well done for getting 5 months out of the Race Face. I got through one in half the Whinlatter Enduro. And maged to kill an ISIS one in a similar time.

Yes, get Hope.

Replacement bearings aren’t cheap, but should last well. I just don’t like the idea of the plastic spacer between the 24mm axle and 25mm inner race on Shimano BBs.
You’re also only repalcing bearings rather than whole units, so its nicer for the planet innit?

Nope, the bearings in my Hope lasted as long as the Shimano one before seizing.

Get a Hope one BUT make sure you take a look at the video on the Hope website [video]http://www.youtube.com/embed/UAqAanDsAKA[/video]. It’s all about not over tightening and not ‘squashing’ the seals.

I have a mate who’s got 2 years out of his Race Face BB but he refitted it himself (the bike was 4 months old and LBS serviced) and made sure there was no drag on the seals.

My Hope SS BB has been going strong for 2 years, ridden 2 x a week in all weathers. I extracted it from my broken/bent 456 frame on Sat and after cleaning the crap off the outside of the bearing cups/faces it is still spinning sweetly.

HTH

leftyboy – Member
Get a Hope one BUT make sure you take a look at the video on the Hope website [video]http://www.youtube.com/embed/UAqAanDsAKA[/video]. It’s all about not over tightening and not ‘squashing’ the seals.

Thank you.

Just answered a lot of questions i had last week.

Hi weeksy

No problem, I’m a fairly poor mechanic but following the advice on that video seems to have worked for my SS Hope BB.

Good luck!

If only I could get the hope one in green.

sorry to hijack – my bike is creaking (again) and a mate has suggested it might be the bottom bracket on its way out – could this be the case? Also, is there any specific one to buy (and how do i tell?) or are they the same apart from material/brand etc?

The o.e Shimano bb in my Trance did well for over two years. I figured I’d be “upgrading” by fitting a Race Face Xtype one. Wrong. Two months and it was stuffed.
Hope s/steel one been in a few months now and ridden in our local gloop many times. It’s fine.

BB cups threaded in dry in Hope’s video? A bit of anti-seize wouldn’t go a miss me thinks!