are all hollowtech bottom brackets crap?

Ive just killed my xt hollowtec after about 9 months, this replaced my sram one that lasted an equally pathetic time.

Ive bought a deore one from ribble at a costly 7 quid. so I know its not big money.

Whats the difference between the deore, the XT and the saint? I cant imagine a huge amount or am I wrong

is your frame faced well? worth getting a good LBS to check.

Do you pressure wash your bike? avoid the bb area if so – or don’t

DO you leave your bike for long periods between rides? make sure its all dry if so.

I’ve had more luck with hope and chris king external BB’s but you would like them to loast as they do cost a bit more!

Xt and saint are better sealed, have a higher grade of balls (iirc) than deore bb52. Shimano spec the same bb for slx and xt fwiw, and having had all of them at one point or another, only difference i could tell between the bb70 (xt/slx) and bb80 (saint) is the colour, more threads/longer shell on driveside and a very few grams in weight. Oh and its £4 more at crc.

£7 for 9 months, how much use in that 9 months? If its daily muddy rides then £7 is a steal.

As above, check your frame facing, are you over tightening the retaining bolt? Only needs to be finger tight.

I find shimano HTII bearings last longer than most other bike bearings, wheels and frame pivots especially.

count yourself lucky your cranks aren’t gxp. £7 is piffle!! 😉

Over torquing is defo an issue. Even at 20 quid, 9 months is not bad is it, riding in muddy UK conditions.

buy a hope one and never buy one again!

Slx/xt are far far (about 3-4x) better ime.

I know its not dear.

Its always covered/ridden in shite so I do expect them to be a consumable, I was more pondering if an XT one would be any better. I am on truative cranks that I modded a hope spacer to fit the shimano BB just for easy replacements

This post is a pet hate of mine on Singletrack. Here is my annual moan on the topic.

Nine months has nothing to do with it, useage and conditions do. Nine months of sitting on a shelf wouldn’t have jiggered it. Is this nine months of a weekly ride or nine months of daily riding followed by powerwashing?

OP you have my sympathy as I think Hollowtech BBs are not durable enough also. But, people of Singletrack who post things like “my brake pads only lasted one week” – don’t get a job in engineering, please. You’ll confound the folk with logical analytical minds.

Sorry for ranting but I have this silly hope if I make a post like this every so often maybe the hive mind will start discussing these issues in sensible terms 😉

I am an engineer mechanic of sorts. But I just never replaced bottom brackets in my youth as frequently as I do now…

And I dont ride every day.

I am more intested if xt was worh the extra but at 7 quid Ill just do it 6monthly

Yup pop a hope one in and when you need to replace the bearings youll find they’re welded to the crank axle 🙁

Fit forever indeed 😆

I am a hope fan but just see the bb cups as silly *

* if they have changed the design I’ll sit on the naughty step 8)

Gusset ext 24 is the standard answer for better sealing, standard replaceable bearings and not silly money. Technicolor too but the red’s a bit pink 🙁

Not as crap as GXP and no mistake. How complicated could SRAM make the bloody thing?

What’s the sealing arrangement like on the ext24? I was merrily awaiting new stock when I was tempted by an uber with 20% off. The top cap seal is the best I’ve seen. Down this thread a bit.

My first external bb was an XT one back in 2005. It lasted about 9 months. I got the bb on the bike faced and replaced it with an XTR external bb and that lasted 7 years, with similar usage for the first 2 years (40 off road miles per week), but fitful usage after that.

The two Hope external bbs I have had lasted about 4 years but the usage was more constant over the whole period.

I know good bike mechanics who reckon facing makes no difference. My experience suggests it does help longevity.

Unless you want pretty colours I’d go for XTR. They are half the price (at least) and I think they last as long.

Iff they were crap no one would buy them,I use standard deore ones,they only last 9 months at a push,just bunging water and grit at them constantly so I’m not into spending big money,gives me a change to empty the water out of my frame when I change it aswell

The Gusset BB is worth a look, the bearings are replaceable so you choose what bearings to run.

Yeah will try a Gusset when my stock of Rose XTRs depletes. The other thing I do when I replace is carefully prise the seal off the bearing and bang a load more grease in. But then do that with any new bearing 😀

EDIT: Just checked my mileage; Turner Sultan 800 miles/18 months still going strong, Mukluk fatbike Raceface replaced at 700 miles / 1 year 🙁 but did a lot of beach riding – will periodically regrease the replacement. My hardtail has done 1200 local miles, still going strong in 18 months but that’s square taper 8)

The posher ones arent any better than the Deore, £7 is great value, treat them as consumables.

I actually think HT2 is the best BB standard on current bikes, just be thankful you havent got a press fit BB, my FSA PF30 has lasted a whole 6 rides :-/

I went 5 years on a hollowtech II, then transferred to new bike with just a fresh greasing, Great BB’s IMHO

They last better if the plastic end preload cap just takes the float out as opposed to being torqued overnight and crushing the bearing…

just be thankful you havent got a press fit BB, my FSA PF30 has lasted a whole 6 rides :-/

Press fit is shit. Hope are the best of them.

+1 for the “it might be a bit crap but at least it’s not press fit”. One big, and often overlooked advantage, of these disposable bottom brackets is you don’t hear about many folk suffering with bottom brackets seized into the frame after 7 years of winter salty roads.

XTR are black, ergo they are best.

Just checked my mileage; Turner Sultan 800 miles/18 months still going strong, Mukluk fatbike Raceface replaced at 700 miles / 1 year but did a lot of beach riding

As mentioned before – good that you’re listing miles rather than just ‘x months / years’ : )
Shimano HT2s never lasted me more than 8-9 months at an average of 8-10hrs use a week. Some went after 3-5 months at a higher use level. No idea of miles on my bike but say av speed was 8mph, that’s around 1700 miles in 6 months average use BB duration. So I may say ‘they don’t last 5 mins’ but it’s not too bad. Stopped buying them now though, the sealing is poor and there are better options for £25-30. RE the OP, Deores through to XTR are no different in sealing – a top hat cover, a shield under that and an open-face bearing under the shield.

But yes agreed, BSA threaded is still preferable to press fit. The HT2s on my road bike last a lot of miles.

I had a hope one, the bearings didn’t last much longer than a shimano hollowtech bb and one bearing cost roughly the same to replace as a shimano bb. Wouldn’t bother with another hope one in a hurry.

My approach:

1) Take off the seals and pack bearings with marine grease. Put a bit more on the outer face of the seal before you fit the top hats

2) Spin your cups in gently. When they bottom out, is there even contact with the BB shell all round ?
a) If yes, tighten the cups in and fit yr cranks (do not overtighten the bearing preload).
b) If no, think about facing first. (I’ve never had this)

(it’s possible that the threads aren’t aligned right at either side, but you can come back to that possibility if you continue to ruin BBs despite having flush-fitting cups – I’m not aware of a way to properly correct that fault)

3) Ride bike, don’t jetwash and don’t leave for weeks between really wet rides – spin the cranks now & then if you are going to

4) If they start to sound rough, open up the seals & regrease. If they start to sound grindy, get some new and look at what you may have done wrong

My hope ceramic lasted nearly 2 years of all weather riding (will replace with steel bearings along with new cassette/chain and an oval ring once spring hits) so £7 aint all that bad.

As im sure others have said if you want more durability you’ll have to outlay some more cash at the start or suffer a significant weight penalty… You pays your money you makes your choice ^^

HTII BB lifespan really is pathetic no matter how you look at it. folk defending this fact seems very strange to me.

Does no one remember that a £15 square taper shimano BB used to last circa 10 years (and even then it would simply develop a little play rather than sieze completely like HTII often does). that’s easily over 20000 all weather off road miles with regular jetwashing or 40000 miles on the roadbike with little to no looking after at all during their life.

I’d also add to 3 above: Don’t leave in cold damp conditions if at all possible like shed/garage, if you can keep in warm and dry indoors it definitely helps keep the water out and so less likely to get rusty.

Everything else I’d agree is the best way to look after any bearings on a bike not just BBs.

I’ve got GXP/PF30/HT2 BBs and as long as you look after them they’ll last.

im not convinced xt ones last much longer…..a bit but not worth the difference in price

Does no one remember that a £15 square taper shimano BB used to last circa 10 years

I would routinely destroy sq taper BB’s in weeks.

I’ve just come to accept I’ll need to change my BB every 6months or so.

No big deal, the XT ones aren’t that expensive.

nickc – Member

Does no one remember that a £15 square taper shimano BB used to last circa 10 years

I would routinely destroy sq taper BB’s in weeks.
Posted 30 minutes ago # Report-Post

Lifespan of a couple of weeks is not typical of quality square taper BBs though, either you where fitting crap BBs or riding in extremely harsh conditions. How long do external bearings last, couple of days?

or riding in extremely harsh conditions

Nah, just the Chilterns. Although this was SS, so perhaps that made a difference? These were just regular LX/XT grade stuff, I think everything I’ve used after sq taper has been pretty good TBH, even the press fit one I’ve got in the current frame has been going for 18 moths (just replaced it now).

Used all Shimano ones and Hope. None do more than about 1,200km and I can’t say one lasted noticeably longer than another. regreasing the shimano and hope bearings definitely increases their life.

The XT external BB uses a larger outer diameter bearing than the Deore, I’d lean toward XT for this reason alone (& Saint which is the same but has longer threads). The plastic seal is a different shape, hard to say if XT is better here, the big problem with external BBs over cartridge is the sealing area is much bigger, more chance for moisture & dirt to get in. A good square taper cartridge BB has at least couple of seals, one on the bearing & one on the shaft. Unfortunately good square taper stuff is getting difficult to source & expensive – it’s just not made in the same quantities any more. Manufacturers are promoting weight & stiffness (debatable) over service length… So for better or worse we are stuck with it. Less popular systems like GxP sure do suck though.

IMO what calls most HT2 BBs prematurely is overtightening of the preload cap. You really are just closing the gap between the top hat and the crank arm.
Granted they are not as well sealed as the old UN72s etc, but the BB on my winter filth hardtail lasted last winter, the summer and is still going this winter. Ok its a bit rough, but it still goes round, its got to have been used for 3 years now.