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Shimano BB's seem quite cheep in comparison to most others... Any reliability issues with them? Is there any reason for spending the extra money on the Hope or Chris King items? (I did do a forum search but got quickly confused so sorry if this has already been covered recently!)
Hope and chris king you can replace the bearing easily so you don't buy a new one. On the other hand you can buy a shimano ht2 for £25 so you can buy 3 for the same price as the hope.
Just stay clear of the cheaper FSA ones
my xtr one has lasted me since 2004 on the hack bike. gets weekly use. just bath it in motor oil when it gets a bit bindy.
just bought replacement BETD races for it as the bearings have finally disintegrated.
i have CK BB on both my bikes (FS and HT) and they appear to be lasting well.
i grease them regularily and are running smooth as day one.
Hmmmm... Are we saying then that the Shimano ones are not servicable, and when they are gone they are gone, whereas the more expensive ones require bearing replacements every so often...
Next question, are the bearings cheap ie £ not ££££'s?
I've gone from Shimano (usually lasted about 3 months) to Shimano with BETD bearings (lasted a little longer except for the last change - 1 month !) to Hope, which have been on for a couple of months and seems to need taking apart every few weeks to stop creaks. I despair.
3 MONTHS!!!!
Is that between fettling or between replacement!?
"DrDomRob - Member
Hmmmm... Are we saying then that the Shimano ones are not servicable, and when they are gone they are gone,"
Someone chose to imply that but no, not true, the bearings are replacable. Shimano just don't advertise the fact.
Not sure exactly how long mine last. About 9 months from the first XT, the £15 Deore replacement is still going fine 5 or 6 months later. And the XTR one that came with my used XTR cranks was already pretty old I think but just keeps going.
It's worth paying the extra for the XTR one then? Will they be compatible with all cranks or would I have to go XTR - Not sure why I think there would be compatibility issues but I have a niggling feeling I've read about it somewhere.
I have no idea if the XTR one is better or not tbh, I've got another cheap XTR to replace it with but I wouldn't be too surprised to find out it's absolutely identical to XT bar the colour 😉 Deore isn't as good though, the sealing is definately inferior.
Ok... It would be interesting to completely dismantle the full range side by side to see where the differences lie. I'm thinking XT(R) at the moment... I would like a bit of Shimano bling...