Bit of a word of warning against SRAM and some good words about that mega bad, nasty, LBS ruining corporate giant Wiggle!

Bought a SRAM GXP BlackBox BB with Ceramic Bearings from Wiggle 4 months ago, bit of bling and Hope weren’t available at the time. 3 months of summer riding later bearings are shot to pieces, so I send it back, and SRAM investigate. they came back with: –

‘This has been received by our warehouse team and sent to the suppliers for inspection, but bad news this issue is not covered under SRAM’s warranty.

This is due to the large amount of dirt and grime found within bearing races. The BB has not been looked after and because of this it would not be accepted for return as a warranty claim.’

I ask them to relook at it and explain that I don’t jetwash the bike, (I really don’t) and anyway all other bearings on bike are fine (soft as shit southern californian 2015 SC Nomad) and it has been ridden once or maybe twice a week on average in the summer.

Come back with same explanation – cue me explaining that even if I had ridden it everyday through sludge, it’s a mountain bike and its only 3 months old.

Next explanation: – SRAM recommend stripping and re-greasing every 100 miles or after any rides in wet weather

Word of warning – do NOT buy any SRAM GXP bottom brackets!

Anyway Wiggle themselves say the following: –

To me this seems a little ridiculous to expect a BB to be stripped after such minimal mileage or poor weather conditions and I would not be happy with the result of this inspection either.

Based on all this information I will not be able to fully refund you but I would like to offer you a voucher for the total value of the BB so that you can put this towards a replacement. I do appreciate the fact this has been rejected by the supplier but I feel that we can step in here and try to assist in finding an amicable resolution

It is a really shame that Wiggle have to take this on the chin and that SRAM can’t admit to making a poor product, but feel that Wiggle deserve recognition for sterling service and that SRAM deserve very many raspberries being blown in their general direction.

Enjoy the rest of your day chums

Quite odd on the BB front, but for balance I’ve had a set of Pikes (via LBS) and a SRAM GX cassette returned for warranty (via Wiggle) as a tooth cracked off after about 2/3 months use. Both were replaced with new items in just over a week.
I have a standard GXP BB which has been really put to the test over the past year or so and it’s still spinning nicely (jinx).

It’s just the GXP BBs with ceramic bearings that have that regreasing requirement. The conventional GXP BBs don’t.

Unless you’ve a team mechanic to service your bike at the end of each day, stick to the regular ones.

Wear and tear component, so standard response. I get that from a lot of manufacturers, bike or car. Usually find it’s the small guys who might be a bit more accommodating to keep a good reputation, but not big names.

You can chase after it though based on what you may think is unsuitability for the job. Or take the voucher and get a new one.

Word of warning – do NOT buy any SRAM GXP bottom brackets!

Their cheap GXP BBs are perfectly fine in my experience, and £20 to replace. They only get proper wrecked when I’ve done exactly what SRAM claim, i.e. not look after them.

It’s not just about avoiding jet washing. I always wipe a rag around the BB parts every ride at least.

Also with GXPs it’s worth using a rubber o-ring in the axle space between dust cap and crank end, just to ensure the cap stays in place.

I’d also add, with a ceramic BB, did you try strip and clean? I’ve not had ceramic bearing BB, but have other ceramic bearings and one thing I find is they are more fussy about grit that gets in there. They often are supposed to run with little or no oil/grease inside, but that means the crud can get in easily and jams the bearing. However it’s unlikely to be worn. Just needs a clean.

Personally for a BB I’d say ceramic is false economy due to the level of crud it will get and maintenance required. Though I do run ceramic jockey wheels which are nice because they don’t utterly seize up for good like regular jockeys and last longer, but I do still have to flush them out occasionally.

And yes, 3 months can wreck any BB in the right shitty conditions.

Fair play to Wiggle.
Stupid answer from Sram. You’d have to re-grease the BB after every ride in the UK pretty much from what they’re saying.
I can’t understand why nobody can make a BB that lasts a decent length of time anymore. The old square taper Shimano ones used to last me 5 years or more, through all kinds of wet & filth.

and half way through a 24 hour, which’ll mess your times up a bit.

LOL! Indeed!

GXP BBS have always been rubbish tbh, this just helps explain why that is. It’s not like XT are a shining beacon of longevity but ime they last about 10 times longer.

Gusset do a well priced GXP BB- I’ve not used it personally but their HT2 one is good, uses a standard inexpensive bearing too so it’s cheap and easy to replace when it needs it. And Hope do one if you want to spend more.

Thanks all, some very worthwhile points. I did have the cheaper GXP one on another bike which lasted longer. I expect a year out of a cheap one at least, but which ever way you look at it 3 months isn’t good enough.

Anyway I flogged the cranks and replaced with DMR and praxis BB, fingers crossed.

In other news…I do have a lovely, barely used (but well inspected) ceramic BB if anyone wants to buy it…

Changed my SRAM GXP BB to a Hope one when it died and that’s lasted 5 times as long so far!

My experience of SRAM warranty has been really good, I had a broken freehub jamming on a 10-42T cassette onto my Roam40 wheel, SRAM replaced the freehub and cassette FOC as the wheel didn’t have a spacer added when it was built at the factory.

TF Tuned sent back my RockSox Debonair Monarch shock as when it was serviced as the inner shaft was chipped and SRAM replaced it with a Monarch Plus as they had no stock and didn’t want me shockless for more than a week!

As always some people seem to get better luck with warranty replacements than others, the GXP BBs are shoddy though!

Thanks guys – I’m going to be mithering about this every time I ride the fatty now! 😯

Fittend a hope with the GXP conversion 40 months ago…might grease it later

Same (secondhand) hope BB on my (secondhand) Orange Five I’ve owned for the last 6 years now… 😯

I’ve re-greased it once in that time (it was getting a bit notchy).

The thing won’t die.

Sram ceramic gxp bb only really of use on a road bike. As no one is going to follow the service instructions and pop it apart every week in the uk

Anyone use the Uberbike gxp BB’s? How to they hold up?

To be fair we all knew that SRAM BBs were dodgy, replaced mine with xtr and it’s lasted 3x a long so far (push fit). SRAM warranty usually good, if a little slow ime, my monarch packed in after a winter of riding, was told it was full of water and mud and shouldn’t jet wash, which I never do! Never had this problem with fix shocks in many multiples of wet must miles, Pikes have been fine tho, much better sealed