Just scored some XTR cranks (M960 if it matters) on ebay, and I need a BB to go with them. I want to spend around £30-40, so King and ceramic are out of my price range. I've heard various good and bad things about Shimano, anyone care to point me toward something that won't wear out in fifteen minutes.
I'm assuming the overall width of the cups is the same for XTR as for anything else. It's for a 63mm shell with no E-types or chainguides BTW.
I'm yet to find out how long the BB that came with my SLX crankset lasts, but it's already lasted about 10 times longer than my horrible Truvativ BB and doesn't show a sign of wearing.
Just avoid Race Face like the plague.Mine shot after 4 MONTHS !!!Now paid more for Hope stainless .Time will tell.TBH bearings on the inside were better!
Shimano seem to last me 24 - 30 months, seems OK for the price
63mm Shell?? REALLY? Usually 68 or 73mm are std shell widths.
if you can stump up the extra little bit of cash, I can heartily recommend the Hope stainless BB.
The one I've got has lasted since January in my race bike, it's done 1000s of miles in conditions that have written off more than one drivechain and has been treated appalingly, yet is still as smooth as silk...unlike all the shimano and company-whose-name-must-not-be-mentioned-for-fear-of-octopus-pron predecessors
It's one of the few bits of bike kit I think is actually worth the asking price...and I'm a right miser.
For what it's worth, I came across this link on a local MTB club website, it shows you how to service external shimano BB's and extend their life. I have not tried it yet but it seems straight-forward and worth a punt:
after killing 2 shimano BB's pretty fast i decided to swap to a Hope Stainless, time will tell i guess.
Simon
Got Hope BB and did not fit my older XT cranks very well - swapped for my LX (newer year) cranks and all is fine - been going for 1.5 years and still smooth)
I've just bought a SSC and accepted I'll be changing bearings fairly often 
Acros stainless seems good so far. Little bit cheaper than hope and comes with a 2 year warranty.
Shimano BBs have been lasting me a decent amount of time.
Didn't you know, 63mm is the new black
Obviously, I meant 68mm.
Everyone seemed to recommend Hope SS when I was looking for one - no problems with mine so far but then you wouldn't expect there to be yet.
My raceface lasted 12 months and I'm on a second set. Rumour has it that raceface have improved the design, but I'm inclining toward Hope next time.
I went to a King BB with a friend and split the cost of the tool. All good so far, and charging with grease is really rather easy.
I've had cause to use the Acros 2 year warranty, and the replacement bearings that came back didn't last more that a month or two. I question whether the inner races were bashed during installation TBH, given the mode of failure.
That said, the acros bearing cups are less fiddly to dismantle and they use standard size bearings, so sourcing normal sized replacements and fitting them can be done, unlike the shimano ones.
my shimano m960 (prob same as XT etc..?) is from 2005 and is still going strong!
An XT one i left in a spares box seized though. Maybe they benefit from being used regularly?
Pace's new BB with an external grease port sounds interesting, though I'm not sure where the expunged grease goes.
Ah, doesn't look like it has an external grease port after all 
i've had a shimano XT one on my xc bike for 2yrs nearly, still going strong
i had the slightly lesser shimano one (came on a set of hones) and it died after about a year, bought an SSC one to replace it it last 2 rides, bought a hope ceramic fitted and forgot
I've got a stock SLX one on one bike and that's been going for over a year now.
On t'other I've just fitted a Pro-lite Stainless one £30 all in and it's buttery smooth out of the box, don't know what longevity is like, but I'm certain it'll be atleast as good as the SLX.
Race Face are bobbins, end of!
Scienceofficer,
Drop me an email. Would be interested to hear your story as we havent had anyone complaining about the life of replacement bearings. We hardly get any back to replace in the first instance, let alone 2 sets failing.
All bearings are fitted with a tool manufactured by Acros so no internal race bashing goes on.
J
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