Bottom Bracket Advice

cat_with_no_tail

Looking for a new BB to replace the x-type one that came with my Atlas cranks.

What's the difference between Deore, SLX and XT HTII BBs?

Is it just bearing quality?

Is the Deore BB reasonable quality?

sherbert19

One of my friends has a deore bb, and is still going strong after a year. Proper installation and maintenance makes the most difference IMO.

cat_with_no_tail

Yeh, I've had both XT and SLX BBs before, and they've always been flawless. I just wondered what the difference between them is?

cavegiant

I have the atlas and have tried a few BB,

Hope's BB is very well sealed so will last a long time in UK conditions, ceramic gives a bit more bling.

The new Chris King should be stunning, exceptional build quality and has a grease port.
In theory this could be the perfect BB for UK conditions.

Shimano are OK, cheap and replacable.

Chunkers1980

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Yeh, I've had both XT and SLX BBs before, and they've always been flawless. I just wondered what the difference between them is?

When HTII came out there were only 2 versions of the BB for Mountain biking.

XTR and the version that came with XT.

When LX went HTII - they did not have a specific BB for it, so issued the XT version with the cranks.

Then came along SLX and they then created a new BB for that. so the range was now XTR, XT and SLX.

Then came Deore HTII cranks so they added a Deore version of the BB to the range.

In the mean time you also had cranks that were not in a range like the versions made for some specialized bikes - that weren't XT and weren't LX - they may have just had the XT version of BB as there weren't so many then until now.

The difference will now be quality of materials, bearing and seals - but Deore BB have only been around about a year so the longevity is still unknown as they 'should' last longer than that.

I've had 2 XT BBs over the last 3 years and neither have failed yet - I just swapped them between bike and all is fine.