I give up, they might only cost 10-15 quid but if im lucky i get 6mths trouble free use out of one, the recent one on my hardtail more like 3mths

the issue seeming to stem from the lack of internal sealing for the bearings

what upgrade (cheap) BB should i look at next?
if i went “money no object” would i get a BB that lasts forever?
or should i stick with the cheap as chips ones but invest in some decent grease to pack the bearings before i fit it? If so what grease?

Interested on the replies to this. I think my XT one is on its way out and wasn’t sure to just replace or to pony up for a Hope/King.

rosebikes sell (or sold) the XTR’s ones cheapish… seem (in my mind) to last much better than the XT/SLX ones I’ve used previously. CK and grease tool is you want it to last forever.

I’ve always used XTR from Rose, usualy get over a year from them (longer than square taper ever lasted before someone pipes in).

I did have a King, it looked nice, and span smoothly right up untill it disintegrated, but it didn’t last 7x longer than XTR to justify it’s price.

If you’re only getting 3 months from them, I’d be tempted to say it’s user error, they only need the preload cap screwing in untill you feel an inkling of resistance, not untill they’re tight.

Do you wash your bike after everyride? or use a lot of degreaser on your chain? If so your bike can cope with a wash every few weeks rather than after every ride.
Pack the bearings, carefully remove the seals using a stanley knife blade and fill em up. Shimano hubs are generally better than SRAM IMO but you could try http://www.uberbikecomponents.com/category/405/View-all-Stainless-Steel-Bottom-Brackets-here cheaper than Hope or Chris King.

I suffered the Shimano HTII BB issue for a while, never got more than a year out of one.
All bikes now have Hope BB’s with no issues as so far (2 years in).

Also, as thisisnotaspoon says, I pre load the thumb wheel less now too.

The Hopetech video for this is nice and clear, if I remember they say to tighten, just, then back off a 1/4 of a turn then re do, but not tight. The video is a lot clearer than my description.

Octalink. cheap and last longer than 6 months. Had one on a bike for 3 years now with no problems . Cant see any of the high end bb’s lasting that long.

I’ve just piked up some cheap deore square taper cranks (and then splashed more on some middleburns but that’s by the by) and a UN55 bottom bracket. I naveer had an issue with them before everything went to external bottom brackets so I’m happy to “downgrade” to something that lasts ages…

I’ve been using the Enduro bearings from Bted for a while. So long in fact i’m surprised at how much they now cost 🙂 Perhaps i’m not riding enough….

Current HTII BBs are much better than the first couple I had.

I have 2 on bikes at the Mo. One fitted to a new build in January and has done 2000km and still feels great.

One fitted, blimey over 2 years ago and has done probably 2500km and still feels fine.

The key is NOT JETWASHING YOUR DAMN BIKE!!!!

I don’t jet wash bikes and my bearing seem to last ages longer than most people.

Just got an XTR one from CRC for ~£25.

XTR on the other bike has been going fine for a year and half, used to get about 6 months out of Deore.

Are the Uberbike ones any good?

I never had more than 6 months from Deore. I get about 18 months to 2 years from SLX/XT. Just buy them in bulk from Rose or whichever other German store is cheap.

3x usage from slx xt sounds good.

no i dont wash my bike, no i dont degrease the bearings and make them shiney so i can take pictures of it……. and im aware of the preload on the bearings.

the most recent, dying Deore, has let water in from the frame side and siezed the drive side bearing – ive caught it just in time, but cleaning and greasing will only hold it for so long – its time to get another one.

might give that uberbike one a shot.

Deore ones are a lot worse than XT/SLX. It’s not just the sealing, the components are lower quality too (I destroyed one in 6 hours, literally bashed dents into the races using it in my Herb, perfectly indexed pedalling!) But even without horrible abuse they don’t last brilliantly.

So yeah, I back the 3x the life comment for SLX. (and also for XTR, which don’t seem to last any better). The cost difference isn’t that much but it’s less time wasted, which means more time for arguing about israel on the internet.

But I’ve mostly made the switch to Gusset EXT24s- not too expensive, longer lived than Shimano, and you can prolong that further with occasional cleans. And when they do die, it’s easy to replace the bearings with standard off the peg ones. You just need to be careful not to break the tophat.

Oh and available in pretty colours 😉

Soob

I was going to give this a go but decided to leave the country instead. I heard good things about the bearings and seals:

http://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk/items.asp?CategoryID=237&Name=Hollowtech+II+bearing+upgrade

My experiences are similar. The Deore ones are completely hopeless, the SLX / XT ones last reasonably well

Similar to thisisnotaspoon…… My king lasted allmost 5 years before it fell to bits, they are looking at it under warranty as i speak/type. I have no idea how many times it had been TOTALLY submerged in water which can be 3 times in one ride in the wintertime, but it never creaked and allways ran smooth, even with little grease in (it was at this point i was going to flush and refill when it fell to bits!)
Can`t argue with allmost 5 years though. 😛

4 years on, used 2-3 times a week, inc through winter with zero maintenance: hope ceramic. If/when it eventually dies I’ll be getting another

The Praxis BB I fitted earlier this year is going well. A good few wet rides then ~1000 miles of dry use since, no sign of bearing issues when the cranks were off recently and they’re replaceable std size bearings anyway. £30.

I had a raceface one that was utter garbage, our matt (tthew on here) mentioned that betd will put new bearings in existing cups, that was 3 years ago. Bombproof.

i have a deore one thats done c1500 miles no prob. and its 3 years old or so.
2x 105 ones that have barely been used, they are fine.
a hope screw in replacement for a press fit, its fine.
the tiagra one fitted to my cx lasted about 500 miles and is the only one i havent fitted myself.
ultegra replacement is fine after a similar mileage.

the one that broke was way more than finger tight, i struggled to remove the plastic end cap.
the hope one spins a lot more freely than the shimano ones.

so £130 gets you five years of CK
70 gets you a hope ceramic for 4+yrs
35 gets you an uberbike stainless bearing thingy unknown
25 will get you bearings from betd
10 gives me the same again

My hopes have been worth it (in all bikes)adding in the changing time, realising halfway round a ride that your BB is shot again and limping home. Heading off to buy a new one etc.

The Enduro bb kit is total shite unfortunately, even worse than Deore

Where can you get Hope ceramic for £70?

Just bought another XT @£16.99 to replace my 6 year old one – and I’m not even sure that’s shagged

I use race face ones as the bearings are a standard size and you can buy the plastic caps if you damage them.

The stock bearings are garbage, but did she a tenner you can get a pair of stainless bearings which last 1 year plus (still going).

Last week I finally took the plunge and bought the bits to swap to HTII (and 10 speed) after always being on square taper for all my riding including trips like the Alps…I wondering if I should have bothered after reading this thread 🙁

Offs. It’s clearly time for the weekly ‘my shimano BB is knackered’ thread.

Please, if your shimano BB is knackered, just TRY the gusset ext24*, you’ll find that it’s extremely well sealed (much better than the Hope), and the bearings are a standard size.

They really are very good, and they’re £25.

I’ll be buying an uberbike one next, as I like to share the love, even if i am being mr grumpy-pants this morning.

(*Or any of the alternatives mentioned here)

I wondering if I should have bothered after reading this thread

Basically you now have access to modern cranks, lots of choice of cranks etc.
The original Shimano ones are not that good but as said there are lots of good alternatives.