[Closed] External Bottom Brackets - worth spending more?

Gusset ext 24 gets recommended on here lots and cheap enough to take a punt.

I've done fairly well from shimano but went back to square taper on my bike that gets muddiest.

I bought a gusset a few months ago, very pleased with it so far, iris the cheapest shimano external be was recommended on here recently over the more expensive shimanos

I would personally go with a Hope (and I have on a few bikes) but perhaps I'm biased. One advantage of Hope is the stainless steel bearings which outlast anything Shimano do (same reason Chris King stuff lasts ages too).

You could in theory replace old Shimano bearings with stainless steel ones, but this would cost between £20 and £30. So the £70 for a Hope isn't actually all that much more. Another advantage of Hope BBs is the ability to convert them for SRAM GXP cranks.

Don't forget to make sure your frame's BB shell has been faced to ensure parallel cup/bearing alignment - worth doing if you're keeping the frame.

Ime non xt ones wear out in short order. Must be sealing or something. Xt ones seem to last forever, certainly longer than the hope one I ran. Have found this on a mates bike and also my wife's. Xt bbs are cheap.

What porter_jamie said. I've killed deore ones in a couple of months, but all my XT ones have lasted at least a couple of years.

Xt seems to be the sweet spot, they seem pretty much spot on these days.

A hope ss does not last anything like 7 times a deore.

XTR @ CRC for £28. Mines 18months old and still runs smooth.

I always regrease (or "grease" in some cases) shimano ones and they last well IME

As already said, XT last a lot longer than Deore and are regularly on CRC/Wiggle etc for only a couple £ more

I used to kill Shimano XT in three months or so, Hope ones in about a year, but it took five years to iill a Chris Kng BB and even then the bearings were bright and shiny as new, the problem was the race fell apart. Covered by CK warranty though, so my much more expensive BB has actually saved me money in the long run 😀

Is there really much difference between Deore and XTR bottom brackets?

I've had hope in my bikes since they came out. I've never started a what bb thread.

Hope are good, but have recently been introduced to wheels manufacturing - so far so good

For example a Hope one is around 70 pounds, is it really going to last 7 times longer?

unless you like shiny of course in which case why not buy Hope. They are lovely and work. If you have a high end bike you would probably be hard pushed to show that it worked twice as well as something half the price

jamesgarbett - Member

Is there really much difference between Deore and XTR

Yep, Deore is pretty nasty- they can die very fast in wet conditions or hard use (I killed one in 6 hours, the races dented! To be fair, in use it was not meant for but still, a good test)

XT and XTR seem functionally identical to me, they're different inside but I don't think it adds up to any real world benefit.

Gusset EXT24 as above is a really good option- comes in different colours, decent life from new but more importantly takes standard, common bearings unlike Hope so future servicing is dirt cheap. Just don't break the tophats too badly, and don't get the ceramic one, not worth it.

Hope has one real advantage, their BB is very resistant to overtightening, whereas a lot of BBs are very sensitive to it, and a [i]lot [/i]of people overtighten cranks

Funnily enough when I removed my Gusset EXT24 day before yesterday, the top hat came out with the crank and when I tried to put it back in it snapped? The plasticky feel of the tophats feels horrid, wouldn't it feel smoother if the metal was interfacing with the bearings like on a bmx mid style bb? Looking to get another tophat, wondering if I can get something like hope and put it on for better sealing, but since they press in and the hopes don't, doubt it wil work.

On the otherhand, I have a Chris King bb on my Moonlander, almost 4 years old and it's still freaking perfect. Razor smooth and spins forever. I guess I know which bb I'm getting next.

officerfriendly - Member

wouldn't it feel smoother if the metal was interfacing with the bearings like on a bmx mid style bb?

Has its own drawbacks, this.

The Token tophats are interchangable with Gusset but as long as you've got most of the original tophat, it'll still work fine. They have a lip on them which means you can't just force them in, they'll easily break- but there's various ways around that. TBH it's the only real drawback and I wish they'd sell the damn things separately.

Well my Hope ones have been on the bikes 4 years and they are serviceable. I am happy to pay extra for a quality British product. I couldn't be bothered with a component that lasted only 12 months not least as my lbs wouod have to fit it

Take the cups out, send them to BETD and they put bearings in that are invincible and are the correct size so don't need the top hat

I had BETD's bearings in a Shimano BB and they were sub-deore rubbish.

Regarding "the correct size", do you imagine Shimano are fitting the plastic top hat because they just can't find a bearing the right size in their spares box so they're bodging it?

Anyone know if the Race Face X-Type Bearing Cap tophats on crc for 99p fit the gusset bottom bracket?

I've found the Shimano plastic top hat to be an advantage TBH.

Had a Hope BB seize on the driveside after two very wet and muddy days (2 years old) and it wore a groove in the XT chainset axle deep enough that it had play in a new bearing. The same thing happened with an XT one on a different bike and it was the plastic that wore instead. The worn chainset worked fine with an XT BB but I demoted it to the commuter bike just incase the wear had weakened the axle. All bikes (with threaded BB's) now run XT's.