Bottom Bracket Advice

cat_with_no_tail
cat_with_no_tail Posts: 12,981
edited August 2010 in MTB workshop & tech
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?
"Avan-TT"
F*cking Fast 29er
Rapid Rose Roady
Bionicon Beast
Rockhopper Communter

Comments

  • sherbert19
    sherbert19 Posts: 99
    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.
    We'll see things they'll never see...
    Fury
  • cat_with_no_tail
    cat_with_no_tail Posts: 12,981
    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?
    "Avan-TT"
    F*cking Fast 29er
    Rapid Rose Roady
    Bionicon Beast
    Rockhopper Communter
  • cavegiant
    cavegiant Posts: 1,546
    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.
    Why would I care about 150g of bike weight, I just ate 400g of cookies while reading this?
  • Chunkers1980
    Chunkers1980 Posts: 8,035
    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.

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