Hi Folks

Non drive side cup is seized on my XT BB.

No complaints it lasted nearly 2 years

Are XTR BBs a worthwhile upgrade for the sake of an extra tenner?

Nope. If anything, I’d suggest going cheaper and getting the BB51. Nothing but sealed cartridges and bits of metal to carry them with.

Like chains, buying cheap and replacing often can get you better average performance for equivalent cost, assuming you’re not paying for labour.

Hope BB seems to last ( in my case) installation and whether its been faced i think is important ?

I got through a couple of BB51s in 6 months at most, but BB70 lasted a couple of years each. Not all seals are created equal.

had XT bb last 2 years, then 2 sets of “deore” BB’s last about 9 months each

Are XTR BBs a worthwhile upgrade for the sake of an extra tenner?

If you want the dark grey instead of the silver, yep.

Okay cheers guys

I’ll stick with XT for £15

Alternatively, buy XTR from bike-discount (or it might have been Rose) for about £11 depending on the exchange rate. I suspect they’re all the same right down to Deore though.

XTR is actually different to the XT inside but seems to perform exactly the same tbh. Deore is a big step down imo, not well sealed but just not durable, I destroyed one in 6 hours riding- dents in the races I think. Admittedly in a dh bike but still, XT is up for that.

There’s some good alternatives- Gusset EXT24 is good ime (though the ceramic one was really disappointing). It’s longer lived than Shimano, and is somewhat servicable (removable outer seal) so you can extend that quite a long way. Not as far as Hope but it costs about 2/5ths as much. Also, takes completely standard bearings so easy and cheap to keep going.

I’ll echo Deore BBs just don’t last, one muddy ride can kill them. XT lasting well though (the bearings are bigger and I suspect better sealed) strange that the XT can sometimes be had cheaper than Deore.

XT is definetly worth the extra few quid over Deore BBnas its definetly better sealed.
Not tried a XTR one but do have a new shape Ultegra I’m about to experiment with, I know its not supposed to be compatible with MTB hence the first experiment.

Get a gussett ext24. It users standard sized bearings which can be bought for 4 quid each from your local supplier. The spacers have to have a bit of plastic shaved off with a Stanley knife to remove but this means you can get the seals off and replace the grease. I bought one 12 months ago as per Northwind’s recommendation and I’m glad I did.

I always buy the gold saint ones from Rose. Bargains galore!

interesting read only ever ran XT’s and got good life out of them – just about to replace one as def some grinding going on and have an unused Deore sat in spares box, maybe it’ll stay there

ref the Ultrega pretty sure all you have to do is keep the plastic sleeve thing from the middle of the XT ? or is the threaded length shorter on road ones as well?

ref the Ultrega pretty sure all you have to do is keep the plastic sleeve thing from the middle of the XT ? or is the threaded length shorter on road ones as well?

Pretty sure I measured them a while ago and the plastic sleeve was the same – it was the cups that were shorter on the road bb.
The Ultegra one does look good on my Tripster with the cups flush to the bb shell.

Ive had 2 XTR BB which seemed to wear our quicker than XT. Maybe they have less sealing to run quicker?
Saint seems to be lasting well.

DezB – Member
ref the Ultrega pretty sure all you have to do is keep the plastic sleeve thing from the middle of the XT ? or is the threaded length shorter on road ones as well?

Pretty sure I measured them a while ago and the plastic sleeve was the same – it was the cups that were shorter on the road bb.
The Ultegra one does look good on my Tripster with the cups flush to the bb shell.

cheers – think got confused on this and remembered the wrong advice 😥

Re.Ultegra bb
The outer bearing cups are actually marginally wider(about 1.25mm) than a MTB bb.
Plus they are a smaller outer diameter so need a plastic adaptor tool to fit(like XTR).
The idea is to use the Ultegra bb with only 2 x bb spacers(due to the extra width of the cups)to get better chain line for my 1×10 set up.

ref the Ultrega pretty sure all you have to do is keep the plastic sleeve thing from the middle of the XT

As above; road BBs are slightly wider than MTB BBs.

Just to reinforce the truth n all that shit, you understand; I keep reading the opposite and it’s possibly becoming a little confusing for the average reader/user looking to experiment. Might have even made a **** up myself once upon a time…