[Closed] Hope Bottom Bracket, worth the price?

Depends on what bb you need I think.

I have one on my fat bike to replace the awful SRAM gpx one. It has been brilliant. Has lasted ages where the SRAM ones lasted a few months.

I am contemplating whether to try one to replace a DUB eagle bb on my other bikes as DUB seem as bad as gpx to me…

With Shimano bbs lasting longer than SRAM I’m not so bothered about forking out for a Hope on my Shimano bb bikes… but once you have, at least you can just buy new bearings rather than the whole cups.

If you want’s BBs that last, best option is protecting that area from wheel spray - some sort of down tube guard and another behind the seat tube / BB area

didnt get on with mine. The spindle runs straight on the bearings inner surface, so its flat metal on metal. I found mine clicked, because the surface of the crank wasnt 100% spot on the correct size and there is no scope for taking up that microscopic slack.
(though i dont remember what cranks this was with, to be fair)

Shimano ones run on a plastic spacer between the bearing and the crank, and i feel that this slim plastic part has a certain amount of flexibility to it that takes up any variation or deviation. Also, as its not metal on metal, they dont click even if they do move.

I stick with shimano. Cheap enough and last ages anyway.
TBH i dont know what advantage there is to getting the XT one over the SLX or Deore.

Aye, it's a conundrum.

Assuming you mean HT2 style, Shimano XT BBs were available for £15 and it's a lot of £15s before £100 looks like a good price. However they've not been that cheap for a while.

Hope BBs take a standard bearing, with no plastic shim to deal with and so bearings can be replaced cheaply and in minutes.

I've not found longevity a real issue with either.

I am contemplating whether to try one to replace a DUB eagle bb on my other bikes as DUB seem as bad as gpx to me…

I've just replaced one after about 3,000 hard, often muddy, off-road miles. Longevity didn't appear any worse than any other BB I've used.

No experience, and I'm interested in the answer myself, but the Hope would have to do in excess 10,000 miles for me to justify the cost. Are they serviceable?

I got done by this at the LBS during lockdown, dropped in for a new shimano £15 BB, got the call saying sorry actually dont have any, got a Hope one for £85 you can have though... Couldnt tell any difference and didnt keep the bike long enough to comment on longevity.

I did like that when the time to replace comes instead of getting a new BB the LBS said they can replace the bearings only.

I agree with Gowerboy...

Shimano BB's cost significantly less and las t considerably longer than GXP... no idea on DUB.
I usually pay £15 for a new Shimano BB but up to £20.
I usually get a couple of years from each.

Lets say optimistically Hope bearings last a decade and each bearing is £19 (never see them reduced) then over the decade I've spent £75-£100 on Shimano BB's. If they only last 1 yr then £150-£200

Hope I've paid £38 + cost of BB plus say £100 for the original BB.

So worth it? If I get 2yrs from a Shimano no over 10 yrs... if I get 1 yr then yes.
(my XC bike has a 2015 Shimano PF still going strong)
My 2015 Hope BB needed a new bearing a year(ish) ago and it was cheaper to replace with a new Shimano BB for both sides than single bearing.

Wheels Manufacturing offer a similar design at a good price, mined been sold fit a couple of years

scotroutes

Hope BBs take a standard bearing, with no plastic shim to deal with and so bearings can be replaced cheaply and in minutes.

You can but then if you are buying into the "not replacing" and "justifying upfront cost" then I'd probably only use the INA stainless ones.

I’ve got a set of hope bb cups still going strong that I bought in around 2007 I think. On a bike that isn’t being used much right now and on second set of bearings. They’ve been on about 4 frames with the same amount of different cranks in that time. I think I got them for £70 in a sale. How many shimano/superstar etc bbs have I got through in that time on other bikes? Probably more than £70 worth.
Having said that I’ve got a blingy saint bb on my main bike and it’s still perfect after 2 years and 2 frames. £30 I think. And it’s gold!

I would happily buy a shimano one, but its for my fatbike and as far as I can see shimano don't make one for 100mm bottom bracket shell.

The raceface one fitted to the bike had lasted less than a year, about 700 miles according to strava. So want something that will last a bit longer. Plus it's not like I have ridden it much through much of winter. I was hoping it would have lasted a bit longer.

I would happily buy a shimano one, but its for my fatbike and as far as I can see shimano don’t make one for 100mm bottom bracket shell.

Just don’t fit the plastic shell that goes between the cups. Lots of bbs don’t come with them now anyway.

I replaced shimano ones with Hope based on the poor lifetime of the shimano and serviceability of the Hope. I believe that the cranks spin much nicer I’m the Hope BB too.

I got them both on sale.

If my bike has Shimano I’d just run a shimano one. I had a previous bike with Sram gxp and they were dreadful and I replaced it with a wheelsMFG one and it’s was spotless until I sold the bike - I think wheels mfg ones are cheaper than hope as well.

I would happily buy a shimano one, but its for my fatbike and as far as I can see shimano don’t make one for 100mm bottom bracket shell.

pop the old bb out, if its clean and dry inside the frame, just run a shimano one without the plastic bit. Imo its only needed for frames that leak

Probably not, all Hopes stuff is expensive, and other options like a Saint BB or XT are probably just as good. £20 for the XT, about 30 for the saint.

I got a new hope and literally within a couple of months it developed a click in one side. Not sure why, might just be a one off, but my other bike i did a lot more miles on has a saint BB and thats still going great.

I only bought the Hope as im a bit of an ano whore.

I've had a couple in the past they are very good, spin nicely and do last a while. But if its Shimano cranks then Shimano BBs are pretty decent these days so its changed the price / longevity equation in favour of just sticking with Shimano.

If you hammer bikes or do lots of miles then you might appreciate less frequent BB changes but I can easily get 2 years out of Shimano BB

Funny that, I had the absolute opposite experience with Saint and XT 🤣

Look at Uberbike ones. About 40 quid with replaceable bearings. They are very good. Used them for ages.

Shimano seem to last longer than SRAM. I run a shimano BB on my SRAM cranks with a spacer you can buy on ebay to decrease the non drive side cup size.
Hope didnt seem to last any longer so sod paying more.

I've got Hope and Saint in different bikes. I got the Saint BB for about £15 quite a few years ago and it's been on several bikes but obviously when it does die it'll need a new one. The Hope has also been going for years but will only need a bearing change at some point.

Cheap Shimano work fine and the intial outlay of Hope is much more, but several shimano ones means more uneccesary waste and more plastic crap going into landfill, so I'd rather go for Hope in the first place.

Big fan of Hope stuff, but I don’t seem to get more than a year out of theirs, which is on-par with what I’d always previously got from XT. I’ve occasionally pondered at Praxis/others but always go back to Hope (use their cranks so need the larger diameter bearings etc).

No, get hambini best there is.

I've got two Hope BBs which I've used for all my MTBing (bar the Levo) since 2010. I think one of them has had the bearings changed once. They're the threaded 24mm variety and have done thousands of miles in all weathers. Not cheap but for the lifespan and lack of hassle I think they're worth it. Each Hope BB is in its third frame!

No, get hambini best there is.

I wouldn't send a penny in his direction. He's an absolutely throbbing rotweasel.

Sharkattack, very similar to my thoughts 🤣

Nope sorry I dont think they are. Both myself and my fella were on hope BB's with the GXP adapters and neither lasted any time at all, the new set of bearings lasted an even shorter time. Used to have top notch quality but for my useage just lately something seems to have gone from a longevity aspect. I'd rather just grab a SRAM DUB BB bracket now and replace it regularly.

I have 2 hope SS ones in 24mm/threaded shimano flavour. Combined age of over 20 years with weekly use for both in all weathers. I bought some bearings to service one of them 5 years ago. Still waiting for an excuse to swap them out. I think that I may have regreased one of them once because I thought that I should. Silent, effectoive and faultless for me.

For reference, I used to chew though genuine shimano XT/SLX ones in under 6 months and superstar ones in 3 months.

I have used Hope BB over the years. I dont have one now as the bike fitted have all been sold on.

I did run a Chris King unit in both my road bikes (Summer and Winter) for 10 years plus. My Winter bike unit is still going strong. Now I have the right grease it feels ace

IMO no. You can get something like a Gusset EXT24 for £20 or so and they have fully removable bearings too.

sbtouring
Free Member

I would happily buy a shimano one, but its for my fatbike and as far as I can see shimano don’t make one for 100mm bottom bracket shell.

My fatbike has an XT in it with a 24mm Raceface axle, I just binned the plastic middle bit. It's supposed to protect the bearings but ime doesn't do much anyway.

The Hope stainles BB on my current FS started life on my Spesh Enduro in 2006/7, before then going on a variety of my kids bikes when I treated myself to a Hope ceramic BB for my Ti HT.

My Scandal an the other hand is on it's 3rd SRAM DUB BB in less than 18 months.

Crank axle runs directly on the bearings, if the bearings spin on the axle, it wears the axle, then creaks and eventually wobbles.

If you have shimano cranks, the shimano bb's last ages (if they dont your frame needs facing/chasing), current one is at 2500miles.
If you've got gxp, sell it and buy shimano and let someone else deal with the misery of GXP bb's
If you've got dub, sell it and fit shimano

24mm crank axles mean decent bearings that last, 30mm axle is just daft.

Big fan of Praxis here. That said, I run Shimano OEM on all of my Shimano bikes because they are cheap and last long enough that they are good value too. Use Praxis on all of my SRAM stuff because noone has told SRAM how to make a bottom bracket using modern components instead of timber and barley, so their OEM BBs only last a few miles before falling apart.

Praxis' threaded GXP BB also just uses standard Enduro bearings, so while it's not badly priced at just under £40, you can re-bearing it for just £15 when it needs doing next time - bargain! The cups are also CNC aluminium and I'm sure just as good as what Hope make.

We've got 3 or 4 Hope 24mm ones in the house that are well over a decade old and never had new bearings in. That said, I was buying then for £40 when Shimano was £20 and lasted 9 months.

Now Shimano ones last ages (my other half got 5 years out of one on her gravel bike which does a LOT of miles) and they're still £20, where Hope is the other side of £90. So I'd go Shimano now.

If I was after something more esoteric like GXP, DUB or 30mm, I'd go Hope to not have to use a SRAM BB..

I've got one and all I can say is it's a good job that the bearings are easy to change.

IMHO no they arent. They used to be but are now too much of a premium to justify as far as I am concerned.

Yes and no.

They will last longer than the standard SRAM, FSA, Shimano ones but probably not three times as long. So if you don't do your own spannering and value your precious time on the bike then yes.

But they will add a touch of resistance and obviously cost a fair bit more than the equivalent. So maybe no.

Cheers for replies. Think I'll give it a miss for the time being. Just going for a shimano one.

I changed an ht2 pressfit bb for a hope one which uses a screw in adapter.
Far better than the original, spins more freely, and lasts.
It was about £90 or so.
I think it was worth it, but if you get right down to it, £90-100 is a fair few shimano bbs.

Back in the 90's, yes. We tended to keep stuff going then. Now? People seem to change bikes more often, so why invest in a £90 version when a £30 one is just as good?

In my mind, though, SRAM and Hope are not good bedfellows.

dyna-ti

Probably not, all Hopes stuff is expensive, and other options like a Saint BB or XT are probably just as good. £20 for the XT, about 30 for the saint.

It comes down to just as good vs good enough IMHO.
The Hope seals are really good and the stainless INA bearings also but I don't see how that benefits my riding.

For reference, I used to chew though genuine shimano XT/SLX ones in under 6 months and superstar ones in 3 months.

Sounds like a BB (edit: shell) alignment issue (assuming you aren't overdoing pre-load)

martymac
Full Member

I changed an ht2 pressfit bb for a hope one which uses a screw in adapter.
Far better than the original, spins more freely, and lasts.
It was about £90 or so.

I guess it depends on the pressfit- I bought a bike with a hope BB92 in it and it's just a massive overcomplication. But then BB92 isn't too bad a standard.