MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Anyone using them? Was just in my shed fiddling with the bike, and noticed a load of resistance when spinning my cranks. Rode through some water at the weekend, but would expect a BB to cope with that, it was wet toes, not wet knees
it's the time of year where bearings fail, irrespective of who/what, a lot of that is due to temperature and dew point changes meaning condensation forms really easily at the moment.
Maybe... was fine on Sunday though, and been in the shed since. Hopefuly a regrease sorts it, but never had this with Hope BBs
Buy cheap, buy twice I guess
The drive side bearing on mine failed inside of a month. Mine is a 30mm axle version so tiny balls & I put it down to the supplied seal not actually being a seal & not touching anything on it's outer dia'. I've replaced them with some Enduro seals with a proper rubber lip from Kinectic bearings. I only changed them last week so too early to say if it's made any difference but I'm hopeful as they actually cover the entire diameter of the bearing. I also make more of a point of drying the area around the BB with a rag after washing now so that should help too.
2 year warranty on Nukeproof BBs including bearings. If you have an issue speak to the dealer you purchased from and get it replaced.
Buy cheap, buy twice I guess
They aren't that cheap though sadly (well the 30mm version isn't).
@simwit did you change the bearing as well? If so with what as nukeproof don't appear to sell spares.
@nixie CRC sell replacement bearings https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-bottom-bracket-bearings-6806-30x42x6/rp-prod200106
I replaced mine with a standard 7mm wide bearing, partly as I couldn't find anything 6mm wide through any of the suppliers we use at work & partly because I didn't want to spend £30 on replacements if they were going to meet the same fate. The wider bearing wasn't a problem as I just left a 1mm spacer out when I reassembled my cranks. Now I have better seals I may well try the official ones again the next time one needs replacing.
@dhrider I must admit I didn't even think about that so cheers, I'll have to see if I can find the old bearing & get in touch with them.
So removed mine, was really rough, and the next day it had seized totally, can't move the bearings by hand at all.
CRC were very quick to refund me, great service, didn't even ask for it back. Shame, had hoped these would be a good value option, but have ended up shelling out for a new Hope instead.
@Simwit above is right about the ineffective seals, there's a gap of about 1mm around the outside of them, so they keep nothing out. The 6mm bearing leaves room for an internal sleeve too, thought that would be a good thing, but in practice it seems to mean smaller bearings all round, and that coupled with the lack of seals isn't a good mix.
Hmm not sounding good. I just ordered a second one for my other bike. Can at least check the first one before fitting the new one as it is moving bikes.
Make sure you have a drain hole in your bb shell, amazing how many bikes don't!
Grease fill on a brand new bb is often poor, so would recomend pulling the seals off and greasing with 222 grease.
The plastic dust shields on all the bb's dont do much to protect the bearings any more than the bearing seals themselves. The reset racing BB's look to be very well sealed, spendy though!
http://reset-racing.de/product/hollowlite/
Don't have a drain hole in mine. I'm a little scared of drilling an expensive ti frame though!
I bought some of those nuke proof bearings about a month ago. They only had a seal on 1 side!! The other side had a soft Transparent covering over the ball bearings but it didn’t looked watertight at all. I got in touch with Chainreaction and after viewing the pictures I sent they said the bearings were supposed to be like that so I sent them back. Never seen bike bearings like that before, git to be a mistake
Utter rubbish!!!! GXP version lasted about 4 months before it developed an awful squeal so I finally binned off the GXP n thought yeah DUB that'll crack it so I risked nukeproof version. 149 miles later and BOTH bearings were seized solid and couldn't be turned by hand. JUNK!
@Simwit Would you have a link to those Endhro seals? Realised I have some spare 7mm bearings in the shed, and since the BB didn't have to go back I might try to resurrect it.
@honourablegeorge here you go https://www.kineticbikebearings.com/bottom-bracket-bearing-seal-for-30mm-bb30-pack-of-2-enduro.html
Nice one, thank you
My turn to add to this thread.
Having has one of the bearings in my DUB Nukeproof BB fail after not that many months, I've now got a set of replacement bearings for them, and also a Hope SS BB sat on the table.
One of the sets of parts is going back to the shop, the other will get fitted and run. To keep the Hope is £100+, to keep the enduro £30 as it's just the bearings so the Hopes need to be materially better. I've also one of the Kinetic bike bearings seals coming to shoehorn into whichever ultimately gets fitted to get some semblance of sealing going. I don't mind unscrewing either from the bike every few months to clean out and re-grease if it's needed.
Looking at them the design is pretty much identical - the Hope seal / dust cover is no better than that on the Nukeproofs and the bearings are just a set of Enduro bearings.
Is the Hope really that much better than the Nukeproof? If so why - are the bearings themselves better quality and better sealed ?
I went for the NP BB to replace my SRAM BB due to the 2 year warranty, fully expecting to make use of it at some point due to living in the UK and probably only managing that sort of lifespan out of one XTR HT2 BB about a decade ago! Do Nukeproof/CRC/Wiggle not honour the warranty? It covers the bearings which i was surprised with consider they are normally classed as wear and tear items.
Do Nukeproof/CRC/Wiggle not honour the warranty?
Yes - wiggle refunded it (in vouchers) but by then I’d already ordered some bearings. I’ve asked them how to return the old BB but radio silence so they don’t seem to want it back.
I was fully intent on returned no the bearings hence ordered the Hope using the refund vouchers but now having looked at both im not sure which to actually use hence asking for experience. I’m thinking to stay Nukeproof and add the extra seals and check / regrease periodically - through winter at least.
More confusingly with the Hope - they’re angular bearings so need some preload to work properly, but the fitting instructions are to not apply any prelod. Weird.
Don't all BB30 / DUB cranks have preload collars ?
Not to preload the crank would be sloppy 🙂
Don’t all BB30 / DUB cranks have preload collars ?
Not to preload the crank would be sloppy 🙂
Yes, they do. But the fitting instructions specifically say not to apply any preload - tighten only until there is no free play - including Hopes own instructions for their cranks.
My first Nukeproof BB died after just a few weeks - bit disappointing as it was my first venture away from plain old Shimano XT which usually last me a season.
CRC/Nukeproof did replace it though to be fair, and it's done about a year since and still OK (but doesn't feel brand new, not had cranks off in a while but suspect when I do it might be rough enough to consider changing).
What are the kinetic seals mentioned?
https://www.kineticbikebearings.com/bottom-bracket-bearing-seal-for-30mm-bb30-pack-of-2-enduro.htmlCopied from Simwits post further up the thread
I had an issue with my 1st set and CRC replaced them immediately without question. This set off a few alarm bells but actually the replacement set have been fine so far, and if they honour their 2yr warranty each time I won't have to pay for a BB in the near future. Plus they fit the BB tool as well
I've never understood drain holes in BB shells as the frame won't hold enough water for it to be worthwhile.
I've found the Uber plastic top caps to be some of the better designed for protecting bearings.
But with any BBs, you're best off IMO using a #11 surgery scalpel to pick off the bearing race seals, repack the races both sides with good grease and keep doing this whenever it's necessary.