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So I fear my BB might be on its way out , a slight creak when the down stroke is under heavy , Its a Sram gxp BB ,now im after a little advice
A. change if for a new sram gxp bb at £22
b. Any real benefit in ceramic bb at greater cost
C. Change to a Shimano xt crank set as I here their bbs are better than the sram ones
I'm in the same situation with my Whyte T130. I'm thinking about a Hope steel bb with a fxp converter. About £75 for both. The gxp bb only lasted about 600 miles.
If there's no play on the BB it might be worth strip down clean and re grease the bearings? Reasonably cheap to replace if that doesn't help but interested to hear how long the hope one would last
Buy a shimano one for £10 offa Rose and stick a token gxp converter in it for £5.
SRAM GXP BB's are famous for being very shortlived.
It's more a fault of the poor quality of the sealing on the BB, than it is the crank.
No point in changing to a Shimano crankset. Firstly, you can't fit a direct mount chainring (and Direct mount is good in a 1x context!), and secondly, well... There's just no point!
Upgrade the BB to one of many external bearing BB's (Praxis, Token, Hope etc.) that are known to be reliable, fit a GXP adapter for a few quid, and Bob's your mother's brother!
Absolutely zero benefit of ceramic bearings on an MTB IMO (road bike is possibly worth it from my experience, although expensive for the small benefit). Ceramic bearings have very slightly less friction, which given you're worried about bearing longevity not how far/fast they roll, is a moot point. I've got a Hope Ceramic BB in my road bike (had stainless before) and it spins ever so slightly more freely. It's possibly worth the extra £30 on the road bike, given it's my summer bike and doesn't come out in the rain or dirt, but I just wouldn't bother on an MTB.
Creaking means a loose or dry thread, you probably don't need a new bb ( though fitting a new one will coincidentally sort the issue)
Hope GXP, on the new bike 2 years in and it's spinning freely and silently with zero maintenance.
I have a steel hope bb that is lasting forever, thoroughly recommend it.
Well bullet bitten Gxp converter and hope bb paid for . I will check the sram bb tonight as it didn't seem as bad last night ,if it lasts a little longer all good and well if not I gave the hope sat in the wings waiting ,everything I've read and the lbs tech said hope was the way to go