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Shimano external BB bearings have started creaking on my C2W bike. Might be able to coax some more life from them, but replacement is certainly in the near future....
Anyway, has anyone got a verdict on the longevity of the Hope bearings? I put a set in my HT in the spring, but it hasn't really done enough miles yet (especially foul weather miles) to make a judgement on the Hope bearing life.
Had one fitted for over 12 months and it still feels very smooth. Had to clean out between the outer sheild and the bearings once as shown on the Hope website but other than that it has been maintenance free. Didn't get the BB faced, the Truvative one fitted before it lasted less than 6 months
Bearings needed some grease after a year but mine still felt smooth (then I flogged it).
I've been running the Hope BBs since they first came out, and they're now on all my bikes. I get nine months out of a Hope (stainless), three out of a Shimano, three out of the Aerozine SKF and one ride out of a standard Superstar. All shells are faced and chased before installation.
EDIT: I should point out that the Superstar that lasted one ride was one of their early ones - quality may well have improved since then!
Had xt BB that didn't last too long which also moaned at me occasionally driving me potty! I replaced them with a Hope black steel BB and the difference was very noticeable. Smoother and stronger. You still have to remove and clean the BB once in a while, but you do for most hollow BB's. If money is no problem, I would always buy Hope stuff.
will the Hope bearings and top seal fit in Shimano cups?
Even if the bearings are the correct od to fit in the Shimano cups, there's no goove in the Shimano cups to take the Hope seal. You can't run the Shimano seal as it also acts as a shim and the Hope bearings have to run directly on the spindle.
I've a SS version plus a ceramic, both pushing 18 months old now.
I've just re-greased them a couple of times, not because they needed it, but as I was swapping parts over etc.
Recommend.
Hope ceramic fitted 2yrs 9months ago, replaced bearings 2 months ago, £68 for Hope to do it, never cleaned or greased the originals, will clean this set to see how long they last.
SS now two years old, smooth as silk. In the two years prior 2 shimano, 1 RF and a couple of replaced bearings.
Mine are fine along with my Acros ones...
Surely length depends on where you ride. I imagine the peaks eats BBs where as somewhere less gritty doesn't.
Just swapped some truvativ BBs for the hope ones with adaptors on our road tandem. Feeling miffed that they are creaking worse than the old truvativ ones, but haven't as yet dug into exactly why
XT lasts very well for me and is cheap, can't see any reason to look elsewhere myself. And you can change the bearings cheaply and easily if you want too.
I've had 2 superstar ones, one early and one of the new shape ones.
Both were s***
1st Lasted 6dry rides and 1 muddy one
2nd Lasted 8 dry rides
One was saved by stripping, blasting the bearings clean with air, packing with weldtite TF2 grease, re-assembling. Feel OK, occasionaly theres a clicking from the BB, and the axel looks to have been 'polished' where its rotated at a different speed to the bearings (still using the plastic top hats so no damage)
Just bought some SKF bearings for £33 (yikes!) as I don't trust them not to ruin my holliday.
p.s. Acros/Balfa will sell you top hat sleaves for a couple of quid, so if you do wear them out there are replacemnts available (I presume they are a standard size?
Much as I dislike Neil/Fruit/TB's tactics on here and elsewhere, I have to admit that my SS BB is working just fine about a year and a half in. Admittedly it hasn't been used loads but it has done quite a lot of bad weather riding.
I only bought the SS one because it was cheap and available in colours and the bearings are easy to replace which was my plan when the standard ones died after one ride as I was expecting... hasn't happened yet.
XT lasts very well for me and is cheap, can't see any reason to look elsewhere myself.
I used to take that view when they were 20 odd quid. Recessionary price rises on Shimano kit, and one which lasted only 80 miles has changed my mind.
1. is there any difference between deore/xt/xtr bottom brackets?? there seems to be relatively little difference in price.
2. where can you get replacement bearings for the shimano BBs? couldn't find any on ebay.
IIRC Shimano bearings are 7mm wide rather than the standard 8mm which is why the bearings are harder to get hold of.
Still good after 2 years for my Stainless one. Race Face one was ruined in well under half that time!
"I used to take that view when they were 20 odd quid. Recessionary price rises on Shimano kit, and one which lasted only 80 miles has changed my mind."
Look again, they're 20 odd quid.
Horatio, Deore is different for sure, it has a different and pretty ineffectual outer seal. I've only had one but it didn't last as long as any XT I've had, in decent conditions too, not enough experience of them to rule them out to be fair but I'll stick with XT over them.
Clubber, XT BBs are 7mm wide, 6805 2rs. Available in cheap and in good, from various sources including ebay. Though you've got to ask yourself about how much sense it makes to you personally considering that a pair of really good bearings, SKF or similiar, will cost most of the price of a new BB. Also you need to be careful with the plastic tophat.
Look again, they're 20 odd quid.
Conceded - I thought they had gone up above that.
Still, I've found that it's not mileage or years that you measure the Shimano ones life by - it's the number of wet rides.
The 80 mile set was the 2007 (?) Mountain Mayhem. Fitted new before the race, one very wet commute afterwards, and they were dead.
I've found this on several sets now - they last fine until you get really wet weather, then one or two rides will kill them.
IRC Shimano bearings are 7mm wide rather than the standard 8mm which is why the bearings are harder to get hold of.
My Shimano are 6mm wide and the 6805s are 7mm. Converted over to Enduro and ditched the top hats.
I imagine the peaks eats BBs where as somewhere less gritty doesn't.
Yep, that's about right. Friend runs a Hope BB round here and the bearings seem to last about six months of regular riding or so. Standard SLX did about nine months of all-weather riding on my RC405, the latest Shimano HT2s seem to be far better sealed than the earlier ones fwiw. I'm now running a CK and regrease the bearings every six weeks or so, seems to be lasting well so far.
ps: I'm not saying that SLX lasts better than Hope btw, just that the latest Shimano HT2 seem pretty decent. Early ones used to last 6-8 weeks round here...
"I've found this on several sets now - they last fine until you get really wet weather, then one or two rides will kill them."
Have you considered your frame might be trapping water? I doubt my first XT BB got a single dry ride through last winter but it still lasted acceptably well.
Here's a bit of a curveball for you.....
Yes, you can run a tiagra spec external bb for £15.00....is slightly wider than an M770 but you can compensate with one less spacer......we tend to get almost the same shelf life as running an XT/Saint derivative....
Also worth a look are the new Gusset ceramics.....£49.99 and so far, very good......lets see how long they last on a winter peaks fleet of demo bikes!!