Press Fit Bottom Brackets… Are they really that bad??

Hi all,

There is a slim chance that I might be able to purchase a new bike this year (yay me!), so I’ve started the intensive selection process… and I’ve noticed that most of the bikes I’m looking at have press fit bottom brackets.

Commencal Meta TR v4.2 = Press fit

Canyon Spectral = Press fit, although interestingly the new women specific bikes are threaded.

YT Jeffsy = Press fit

Vitus Escarpe = Threaded

So I was wondering, are they really as bad as forum users would have me believe?

What are your experiences of press fit bottom brackets?

Am I wrong to let the bottom bracket type put me off an otherwise good bike?

My head hurts.

I wouldn’t let it put you off too much, just factor in £100 at a later date (sooner if SRAM…) for a Hope replacement.

My SRAM unit creaked from an early stage then seized after a couple of cyclocross races. Stuck a Hope in and haven’t looked at it since.

My Cannondale was fine whilst I had it. Trigger carbon with press fit. My Giant road bike lasted 1500km before needing a new BB (developed a slight creak), at which point I replaced it with a wheelsmfg threaded press fit thingy. I’d not let it put me off a Jeffsy.

What are your experiences of press fit bottom brackets?

No issues whatsoever.

Run one in my Production Privee hardtail for well over a year in all weathers, all the time, not a single issue as yet. That’s a cheapie Deore one too.

I don’t jet wash it, but strong hose and scrub when I can be arsed.

Have an Cube Stereo 150/150 27.5+ aluminium frame where I soon neet to buy the BB.

It’s BB 92 pressfit. Not a fan of pressfit either.

Guess it’s an good idea to buy the £100 Hope BB right away?

I have never had to replace a bottom bracket, but until recently have only used square taper sealed and more recently hollow tech type bearing, and also a similar rotor bsa30 with even smaller bearings. I now have a Cannondale caad 12 with bb30a press fit bb. Installation went smoothly and everything is running fine. An a oohing squeak turned out to be my shoe!

The question is how long will these bearings last and will repeatedly removing, re inserting them effect the ‘press fit’ interface. At worst and it becomes loose I suppose a bit of loctite may help.

There are a number of press-fit standards, so not all equal / as bad.  I’ve got a couple of bikes with BB92/PF41 running 24mm spindle cranks – absolutely no problems with either, as durable as normal BBs. However, I’d avoid putting a 30mm spindle crank in a PF41 BB shell – tiny bearings are weak. The other one to avoid is BB30/PF42 where you have the bearings pressed directly into the BB shell as any water penetration into the BB shell means the bearings are immersed / corroded in no-time / creaking hell. Whereas PF46 with the same bearing in a carrier presents often presents fewer problems. Finally, not all BBs are equal and RaceFace in particular are rubbish / best avoided

PF92 on my Commencal (with 24mm spindle) has been as good, if not slightly better, than previous external ones.  There are enough workarounds now that, whilst not ideal, I don’t think any of the standards would really put me off a bike I wanted.

As soon as a bike is PF, it’s scrubbed off my purchase list. There’s a lot of nice bikes like the commencal that are simply scrapped from my plans after PF on the list.

The Shan was another.

What like your spearfish lol

The BB92 type are pretty decent now (shimano ones anyway), seem to last about the same as external equivalents.

Ballache not being able to just swap them over yourself in five mins though. All my bikes are threaded now and that’s not an accident, but I wouldn’t let it rule a frame out if it were otherwise perfect.

Avoid BB30 if poss.

Exactly why I don’t have it. Stupid stupid design.

Wouldn’t concern me tbh – wouldn’t make the top 20 of things to consider when I buy a bike.

Quite like press fits overall – they’ve caused me very few problems over several bikes and are very simple to work with. I’m aware of their flaws – have absolutely annihilated some BB30 bearings on the CX race bike over a couple of months, for example, but that’s an extreme case, generally I get on well with them.

My transmitter came with a threaded bottom bracket, first one I’ve had for a few years – so was interested to see how the BB would last. Got 260 miles out of it! So there’s ample scope for shite-ness in most BB designs.

Fitted a hope push fit BB to my specialized stumpjumper. It’s been fit and forget so far.

I don’t think it matters about the design of the BB just the components you use. Correct installation also helps.

I’ve a few friends with them and they regularly have issues. On our annual north Wales trip last year one friend forked his on our Friday ride and as none of the shops in the area stocked what he needed it ended his weekend with 3 days of riding still to go. I don’t think I’d let it be the single factor that put me off buying a bike but I’d make sure I always had a spare in my pack

I have PF 92 on one bike and threaded HT 2 on the other with 24mm cranks on both. They seem to last almost identical periods of time but the press fit is more faff to replace but not really a reason not to buy a bike. Having said that, my mate is always moaning about his BB30 on his Cannondale…

Never had an issue with either BB30 in a xc bike and carbon hard tail or a BB92 in another carbon frame.

Mind you, my RF Next cranks didn’t break so maybe I’m just light on that bit of the bike!

I’ve had 3, including the much derided raceface one, all have been fine. While a threaded B.B. is a nice to have, a pressfit one isn’t going to put me off. Especially as Hope make one.

Pressfit is not my prefered choice of BB as for me it will be more of a faff to replace. Buy the bike you like and dont worry about the bb, for me other factors are more important. My full suss is pressfit 94, i had concerns when buying the bike but 18 months later it is still fine, so as i am getting 18 months+ from a bb i have no complaints.

My hard tail is hollowtech 2 screw in, which i prefer as it is easier for me to change, i have the tools, but only changed on in 4 years (last year), so getting 3 years out of a screw in.

I have both, and happy with both, hence pick your bike on other factors than what BB it has imo.

Ok, so the general consensus is that threaded is better, but not to let press fit put me off.

Cool.

Wasn’t the original BB30 supposed to be particularly bad, because it required unrealistic tolerances, or some such? Or is that myth?

EDIT: whereas *PF30* is different, and supposedly works fine.

I have a BB92 on my road bike which was fine for ages, then needed replacing, and with the help of some loctite has been fine ever since.

The Shimano one that was fitted to the shan I had was faultless,  easy to replace, and cheap. I wouldn’t let it put me off buying a frame or bike

I have a press fit on the shan. I bought a wheels bb with the frame. Replaced once in 500 miles of mainly muddy riding so longevity isnt the issue. The fact i had to pay someone to fit it was.

Never had an issue on 3 bikes, ran hope, praxis and Chris King B.B. all without problems, no creaks, don’t see why people whinge about them, easy to put in and take them out. It wouldn’t put me off buying a bike.

The issue with all pressfit BBs is that if the cups are composite/plastic (many are inc Shimano) then they’re softer than the frame so if ever so slightly out of alignment at install will deform rather than pull true as a metal cup would. This leads to bearings being slightly out of register and short life. There are now several options for BBs with metal cups, it’s not necessary to spend the Hope premium unless you want to.  Strictly this means PF fails are user error, but no one ever sees it that way… 😜

Early SRAM BB92 one I has was pants, works components replacement still going after >12mths  thru 2 winters, refilled bearings with grease once.

It’s probably last on my list of considerations when buying a bike

The development of Press Fit:

Accounting dept: “we need to cut frame building costs. There’s no need to thread the bottom bracket”

Engineering dept: “Oh FFS!”

Marketing dept: “We can spin the line that the frames will be stiffer”

Accounting dept: “Excellent! We can charge more for that!”

Engineering dept: “Oh FFS!”