How long would you expect a Bottom Bracket to last?

Another SRAM gxp happy chap here, but always repack with marine grease (a lot), the original scant thin stuff is awful. But do this will all my BB 👍

SRAM GXP on a FS – about a year with regular re-greasing. Replaced with a Praxis BB and it’s been much better, but even the enduro bearing on the drive side still needs regular re-greasing. Been on two years though.

Particularly muddy/claggy rides cause the issues. As bearings are more outboard these days, they are more in the firing line of water and mud. Further inboard, the better

Depends on conditions. My commuter bike never gets washed and gets put away wet so chews through everything. But an XT HT2 BB lasted a year on it and is still going on my SS but that’s a lightly used good weather bike

My Jeffsy has the original Race Face BB (amazingly as it was a common failure) but that bike actually gets looked after 😂

I’ve just replaced the bearings in my mid drive as it was knocking. Out it all back together and starts knocking again after a few miles…balls.

Checked it. Bearing is fine – the knocking is the motor falling out of the frame 😀

I have tried most BBs over the years and they all suffer as I ride all year round (in the wet) and whenever I remove a BB there is always water in the shell which must be going into the bearings presumably.
GXP – worst by far
Shimano hollotech – second worst
Square taper – best

I use square taper on my fixed gear as it suits the old style frame, quill stem etc,. but it is surprising that it is actually lighter than any modern lower cost external BB crankset with a total weight of crank, chainring and BB less that 700 grams. As for stiffness, can’t say I have noticed any difference.

I’ve a Shimano HT BB that is goosed and probably only done 200 miles or so commuting to work.
And it’s down hill there, the return has killed it, climbing/stomping on the single speed.
Road bike BB is at 12000km.

In my experience, somewhere between 18 months and 12 years.

Hiya,

SRAM BB’s are truly crap. Had similar lifetime with the ones fitted to my cotic. After the original and replacement I switched to Hope, like the rest of my bikes. No problems since. Oh BTW, if you think SRAM are crap, try Raceface, even bloody worse. Only bb that seems to survive our climate is Hope.

JeZ

Just replacing a 30 year old UN72. A bit rough but still spins. Modern external BBs never seem to last me more than 3 years, but I guess that’s progress.

My SRAM GXP seem to last well enough. Just checked my one after 12 months use and it’s still ok. Did lob some more grease in to keep it happy, but it was honestly doing well.

My Shimano saint one has lasted 6 years so far, across 3 bikes…. still
Smooth. I bought another on sale thinking it was so good I needed another for when it went. Still in the spares box 4 yrs later and no sign of needing it anytime soon.

My 28ish year old Lava Dome is still on its original BB. Never been serviced/removed/looked at. Its use includes 10 years of commuting

Running gxp for the last 10 years & it seems to vary. I ride all through the year, all weather.
My hard tail tends to eat bb’s But I had one last a whole year once 😊 worst entry was around 2 months doing 75 + miles a week in slop, mud, snow & Sun. It just died.
Switched my hardtail to a single speed 3 months ago, put a lovely new bb in & yesterday I noticed a slight amount of movement…..
My full sus has gxp, used it as an everyday bike for a while & the bb is still good to go, no issues but in that same year I destroyed a gx eagle cassette, hooked the front chainring to death & did 4 chains.
BB is still good though….
Soooooo I to have no clear answer 🤣🤣

DUB really stands for Doubly Utter Shiiiote

Hope stainless steel BB. Had one on my road bike for about 6 or 7 years without a peep.  Ridden all year round.

On the ‘main’ mtb about 5 years before 1 brg started to click from a little fatigue pit. Changed that brg and it still going fine, probably 10 years now.

Thanks folks, that was all really helpful. Particularly like last comment from dazh – ‘I’ve come to the conclusion that BB life is completely random’.

The previous set of DUB bearings lasted 3100 miles, and when they were worn gave plenty of warning, whereas this driveside race died with no warning at all. Not sure the bike makes much difference but they were running on a 121mm fat bike BB, used all conditions all the time, and single speed … but so were the previous set …

I note that Hope bearings seem to last for a lot of folks really well – was wary of having to add the shims to fit 30mm down to DUB, and they all seem hard to source at the moment – I kept the not too badly warn non-drive side of the previous set, which are keeping the wheels spinning while waiting for replacement …

I had a commuter bike once with a square tapper bb. Had a new one fitted and it lasted about a week, took it back to the shop near work that had changed it. Next one lasted less than a week. Changed again and attempt 3 lasted a week again. Took it somewhere else as to embarrassed to go back in.

BB30’s in cannondale road bikes are shite, i think they are all fsa. I’ve had a few and they have all been shit.

Sram external are a bit crap but IME were cheap and easy to change. The Sram bottom bracket on my Scalpel seems to be lasting ok but then this bike doesn’t tend to get used in horrible weather.

Shimano external better than Sram but still cheap and easy to change.

Hope stainless steel external much better than the above but probably not 3-4 times better despite being 3-4 times more expensive. Does save faff though.

Shimano square taper do last incredibly well but can develop an annoying creak.

FSA external were the worst I’ve come across, they are just crap. Not a fan of FSA in general, their headset bearings are equally crap.

Had a Shimano pressfit bb on my cross bike over the last 10 months and seems to be lasting well.

Worst bearing offenders though are the ones in main stream frame manufacturer full sus frames, just garage. And are bloody hard to replace too.

The love for SRAM above pisses me off royally. Yes, the bb cups and bearings themselves are great. Unfortunately, tying them to a shit ‘stepped-axle, non pre-load, padded out with a fragile tophat spacer’ design makes them annoying.

Cheap Shimano bb’s last me about 6-9 months being ridden around 35 miles a week in all weathers. In terms of cost per mile they certainly aren’t top of my worry list on the components front.

In my experience, SRAM is <3 months. Utter garbage. Been on an Uberbike ceramic bearing BB for years now and it’s been faultless

My gxp is still super smooth 18 months after install on my most used bike

My GXP lasted 2 years before it started to get a bit rough, it wasn’t that bad but I changed it before an Alps trip. The Uberbike I replaced it with lasted that trip and a couple of months into the winter before I went rough.

My wife’s was the same story. A lot of people rate the Uberbike BBs so maybe we just got unlucky. I was going to put a SRAM GXP one back in hers but can’t find them in stock, so new bearings in the Uberbike when they arrive.

Got a second hand Hope BB in my Hardtail with SLX cranks which have been in two bikes over 5 years, I have no idea how many miles but I think the cranks look like they may wear through before the BB dies.

On the full suss which gets mostly dry weather with the odd wet race, I think the SRAM GXP driveside Bearing crapped itself pretty quickly. Its got a Praxis in at the mo as it was a reasonable price, and in stock at the time.

Absolutely could not stand square taper BBs on an MTB, yes the bearings would last but the cranks either stayed on for life or creaked or the non driveside would loosen, killing the crank.
Same goes for Octalink.

My wife’s was the same story. A lot of people rate the Uberbike BBs so maybe we just got unlucky. I was going to put a SRAM GXP one back in hers but can’t find them in stock, so new bearings in the Uberbike when they arrive

The Praxis M24 seems quite nice in mine and reasonably priced. Time will tell though.

Funnily enough I stripped and re-packed SRAM DUB driveside BB this weekend. Lasted 2 winters/860km but started to feel pretty rough. Non-driveside was fine, I assume because driveside gets more exposure to degreaser? Will see how long it lasts!
Mind you, it’s done better than the FSA headset…

FSA PF30 in my “nice bike” lasted 600 miles and one wet XC race, which was what probably killed it.

Don’t think so. My understanding is that if water gets in the bearings have already worn to the point the seal doesn’t sit tight any more.

Square taper Shimano in my Dekerf, 15,000+ miles and all good. Interestingly as are my CK headset, and, my American Classic wheel bearings.

A lot of people rate the Uberbike BBs so maybe we just got unlucky

I bought an Uberbike on those recommendations – it’s also started going crap pretty quickly. Started clicking and creaking, took the cranks off and the bearings were rough as. It’s not had a hard or long life

If you have quality ceramic or stainless bearings and know how to repack them correctly, you shouldn’t have to replace for years. Started doing this with quality grease and have been very pleased with the results so far.