Bottom bracket choice

bobones
bobones Posts: 1,215
edited January 2014 in Road buying advice
My winter bike will probably need a new HTII English threaded 68mm BB pretty soon as they don't seem to last all that long when used in all weathers. My current Ultegra one has done not too badly though, 3500mi in just over 1 year, but the 105 and Tiagra ones I had previously packed in much sooner.

One of my LBSs has a Hope cermamic road BB on sale for £50 so I am wondering if it's worth the extra over a standard Shimano job, i.e., will it be noticeably smoother and last longer? Or should I just go for another Ultegra 6700 BB which I can get for £20. Are the new 6800 BBs much of an improvement over the old or is Dura Ace worth considering?

Comments

  • majormantra
    majormantra Posts: 2,094
    You could buy a few of these for the price of a Hope, even with postage: http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shim ... aid:366604

    Not sure about the new BBs. I presume from their overall dimensions that they must have smaller bearings than the previous generation, but whether this has a noticeably adverse effect on lifespan I don't know.
  • northpole
    northpole Posts: 1,499
    I don't think I've replaced the bottom bracket or bearings on my 7950 dura ace chainset - I assume the bb is dura ace too. These are fitted to my Spesh Roubaix Pro which I've been using as a commuter virtually every day since 2007 in all the charming weather London has to offer! Not sure about Ultegra, but suspect that it would be at least as durable as dura ace.

    Peter
  • crankycrank
    crankycrank Posts: 1,830
    bobones, do you know that you can flush out and re-lube the bearings on your Ultegra BB? Just get a thin blade and pry the seal off then submerge the BB in some degreaser until clean. Dry the bearings off with compressed air, hair dryer, oven on low temp or just let air dry and apply grease. Your BB should last tens of thousands of miles if it's kept lubed properly.
  • bobones
    bobones Posts: 1,215
    crankycrank wrote:
    bobones, do you know that you can flush out and re-lube the bearings on your Ultegra BB? Just get a thin blade and pry the seal off then submerge the BB in some degreaser until clean. Dry the bearings off with compressed air, hair dryer, oven on low temp or just let air dry and apply grease. Your BB should last tens of thousands of miles if it's kept lubed properly.
    Thanks for the advice. I'd previously pried the seal off and added some more grease, but today I did what you said and flushed the bearings out with degreaser, dried them and applied fresh grease. They seem to be running quite smoothly. I've had Tiagra and 105 BBs before that died quite quickly with pebble shaped balls that were beyond saving. As you say, with some proactive maintenance I can get a lot more miles out of this BB.

    Inspired by this, I think I may have resurrected an old FSA BB8681 by picking apart the bearing and fitting new 1/8" balls. I need this type of BB for my FSA carbon crank, but at £40 a throw, it's definitely worth trying to prolong their life when maintenance is possible.

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