Longevity of equipment

pliptrot

Is it just me, or have things in this respect taken a turn of the (much) worse? Bottom brackets of old, if set up right, more or less lasted forever. The current crop of external BBs, including those with all the latest fashionable buzz words like ceramic, appear to have a very limited life. We've been suckered into accepting disproportionately low life expectancy for cassettes and chains, and it seems that changing the bottom bracket will now be -at least- an annual event.

Pretty poor, really, when every other industry is pushing things towards greater reliability and longevity. Imagine changing the wheel bearings on your car every time you change the engine oil.

Monty Dog

I agree, external BBs in particular don't exhibit good longevity - the bearings are too exposed to all the muck thrown up by the front wheel. About 12 months seem to be the norm. I have a 3 month-old SRAM GXP that required a good clean and regrease recently whereas I have some Chorus BBs about 8 years old still running smoothly.

pliptrot

Well, MD, this could be the first time we agree on something. While I have often thought your nomination for the most helpful forumite was entirely appropriate, I am a CTC member (from Manchester Wheelers onwards I've found competitive cyclists to be inordinately unfriendly) and my favourite bike is an 853-framed machine. You've been excessively critical of such positions previously. Anyway, I ain't going external anytime soon, and I won't be buying CULT (or should that be Completely Useless Negative Technology?) ever. Which is a shame, as I spent my entire paper round/university grants/graduate salaries on Campag. Back in the day before the marketing department got a hold of what they do.

softlad

good job you agreed monty - I would hate to think what he might have said if you hadn't...