GXP bottom bracket - improved yet?

acer2012

I'm currently looking for a new chainset and came across a good deal on a truvativ stylo OCT 3.3. All looked rosy until I look for reviews of the GXP (team) bottom brackets. However, since most of the reviews, a new "gutter seal" has been introduced.

Are they still as bad as everybody says?
Alternatively are there any inexpensive aftermarket BBs that actually work?

stubs

I went through 2 GXP bottom brackets with the new gutter seal in 6 months. Both went the same way the non drive side seal came away from the bearing and the bearing went crunchy. Put a 2nd hand Shimano crankset and BB on and no problems for last 6 months.

Hope BBs are expensive but supposed to be long lasting but you need to buy the spacers to make it fit a Truvativ crank. Which put me off as it is an extra £15 iirc. Superstar used to do a cheap Truvativ BB but apparently they were just as bad as the original rubbish.

acer2012

Thanks Stubs, It's as bad as I feared then. I really can't justify spending significantly on another bottom bracket or I'd be better off buying a shimano crank!

I did however just notice this: "The deep external bearing GXP bottom bracket is a generally solid and reasonably long lived unit, too" written by the ever faithful bike radar team in their review of the "Truvativ Stylo Carbon". Hopeful indeed, but has somebody just had an unusually good experience?

stubs

acer I have only had experience of the one GXP crankset none of my mates or myself have ever had anything other than Shimano apart from the odd FSA. I wasnt at all impressed with the BB lasting 3 months on a brand new bike so I got the frame faced and the next one lasted the same time. It was a pretty muddy and gritty 6 months but even so its not good. I suppose it depends where you ride, we ride in Pennine and Peak grit mostly which does kill bearings pretty fast.

bennett_346

I've got a GXP going strong after 9 months with no sign of giving up. It's survived 8 hour rides every week plus some extra ones now and again, been through snow, ice, grit, sand and had a hose pointed at it frequently and it's still good as new.

Plus i think people change BBs way more than they need to. Just cos it feels rough doesn't mean it doesn't have life left in it. Give it a new squirt of grease and keep it going. It can only damage itself so until the thing starts making the cranks wobble, keep it imo.

blister pus

XTR bottom brackets from Rose for 20 odd quid. Or XT for peanuts. You really can't go wrong if they still do them.

blister pus

..assuming you give up on the idea of stylo crankset

delcol

i was putoff the truvativ stuff a few months ago when i needed a new crank the same reason you mention, the bad reviews on the gxp..
then i found a too good to turn down amazing deal on a truvativ noir carbon crank... i wanted it as it was well less than half price,, but the bb put me off.... then i found out that you can convert hope bbs to work with gxp bb,
for £8 you get the adapters they just press in real simple...
for me it was the answer i needed as my frame already had a hope bb (they are pretty dam good) had mine 2 year and it still silky smooth, all i had to do was remove the non driveside cup and drift the adapter into it. then reinstall it..

ok some might say hope bbs aint cheap and looking they are kind of expensive but you can replace just the bearings in them so if or when they do need to be replaced you just knock them out and replace the bearing...

mrmonkfinger

+1 for hope BB + adaptor

Works very nicely, lasts a long time. Currently at >2 years and still turning perfectly on first set of bearings. Original stylo BB lasted under 6 months before pitting. YMMV, but, I'm happy with the Hope.

acer2012

Thanks guys, the hope's do look like the mut's nuts but for the extra cost I'd be better off buying an xt chainset with the decent BBs like Blister said. Bennett's experience is encouraging though (thanks!), and I only ride about 3 hours a week...

rockmonkeysc

My new bike has got Decendant cranks with a GXP bottom bracket. Do Chris King make a BB to fit GXP?

delcol

RockmonkeySC wrote:

My new bike has got Decendant cranks with a GXP bottom bracket. Do Chris King make a BB to fit GXP?

sure do...
see
see

mrmonkfinger

bennett_346 wrote:

Plus i think people change BBs way more than they need to. Just cos it feels rough doesn't mean it doesn't have life left in it. Give it a new squirt of grease and keep it going. It can only damage itself so until the thing starts making the cranks wobble, keep it imo.

True-ish... Once the rust sets in to the bearings, you're on borrowed time. When my stylo BB went (non-drive, like everyone elses), I regreased it a couple of times, but only got a week or two out of each regreasing before it was back to feeling like a bag of spanners.

You're doing well out of yours by the sounds of things.

YeehaaMcgee

If you're looking for a new chainset, just save yourself some bother, save up and get a Shimano HollowtechII based setup.

acer2012

Yeah, but £65 for something that's otherwise very similar is tempting!

bennett_346

mrmonkfinger wrote:

bennett_346 wrote:

Plus i think people change BBs way more than they need to. Just cos it feels rough doesn't mean it doesn't have life left in it. Give it a new squirt of grease and keep it going. It can only damage itself so until the thing starts making the cranks wobble, keep it imo.

True-ish... Once the rust sets in to the bearings, you're on borrowed time. When my stylo BB went (non-drive, like everyone elses), I regreased it a couple of times, but only got a week or two out of each regreasing before it was back to feeling like a bag of spanners.

You're doing well out of yours by the sounds of things.

Depends how much you think you'll notice it. Hammering down a descent i wouldn't even notice it feeling rough unless it was actively wobbling. Too much else going on to care/feel it.

Greer_

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

If you're looking for a new chainset, just save yourself some bother, save up and get a Shimano HollowtechII based setup.

acer2012 wrote:

Yeah, but £65 for something that's otherwise very similar is tempting!

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shim ... aid:367974

£41 + £7 postage, bought and fitted this the other day to replace a truvativ crankset with an isoflow bb. It gave up on me after about 8 months and 800 miles.

mrmonkfinger

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

If you're looking for a new chainset, just save yourself some bother, save up and get a Shimano HollowtechII based setup.

definitely this

personally, have had good experiences with FSA setups = very similar crank/spline interface design.

bellys

Got 8mth out of my gxp...halfords have got them in at £20 http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_210159 so I put one in until iv got more cash. Then changing to hope.

bennett_346

Wow were they drunk when they wrote that description?

Comaptible with GXP hollowtech cranks
Total of 8 seals
TruVative even tested this bb with a rough, un-faced bottom bracket, and found that even major imperfections wouldn?t stop the bb from rolling smoothly

acer2012

yep, I think I'm convinced! Seeing as I'm upgrading to escape the rubbish PowerSpline cranks/BB trap I might as well go for a decent BB system! Thanks for all the help.