Hope Stainless bottom bracket

rockmonkeysc

Are Hope stainless bottom brackets worth the extra cost over a Shimano XT BB?

BloggingFit

You would would get better wear from it over the Winter. Depends how fast you get through XT bottom brackets.

rockmonkeysc

About one every 6-8 months.

BloggingFit

I'd just stick with the XT then. Doubt the Hope runs much smoother.

rockmonkeysc

Replaceable bearings seem like a good idea.

cooldad

An XT BB is half the cost of a pair of Hope bearings. Add the cost of the Hope BB to start with and to me it's a no brainer.

XTR are even better, and you can find one if you hunt a bit for about the same price as a single Hope bearing.

lawman

As Cooldad says, XTR all the way. I'm super impressed with mine so far, not just by the longevity but how smoothly it spins, it's pretty much like making every gear feel one higher than it should. Well worth the money.

swod1

uberbike do a stainless steel bb and the bearings are 15pound for two to replace which seem good value, never used any of there parts though to comment on reliability etc.

i thought xtr bbs only came with xtr chainsets?

cooldad

Nope, XTR BBs come from shops.

jimothy78

I've also been impressed by the longevity of the XTR BB. Dismantled and regreased mine the other day after a year of use in some pretty filthy conditions - driveside bearings still clean and shiny, grease in the non-driveside was a bit dirty, and the bearings have lost their shine, but no play and spinning smoothly after the rebuild.

paulneenan76

My friend replaces the bearings in his shimano bb. Says you need to be careful but you can pop em out. Hope seem ok but the cost doesn't add up I'd say.

My two pence.

jimothy78

paulneenan76 wrote:

My friend replaces the bearings in his shimano bb.

Ask him where he gets them and what bearing number he uses - I removed some a year or two ago, only to find that the bearings shimano uses are non-standard. (The code printed on them refers to a bearing that is 6mm wide with two rubber seals, but the shimano ones have been modified in such a way that they only have a seal one side and are only 5mm across).

rockmonkeysc

XTR bottom bracket ordered. Hope BB can't be worth three times as much.

allthegearnoidea

get yourself some juice lubes bearing juice too, i pop the seals off all the bearings i get and Properly grease them up, they only come with bare essential grease in now adays,

Levi_501

Treat yourself, Hope ceramic BB

cooldad

Levi_501 wrote:

Treat yourself, use the money you saved on a Hope ceramic BB on blow and hookers.

FTFY

rockmonkeysc

allthegearnoidea wrote:

get yourself some juice lubes bearing juice too, i pop the seals off all the bearings i get and Properly grease them up, they only come with bare essential grease in now adays,

More isn't always better in bearings. Too much grease will lead to cavitation effectively leaving the bearing un lubricated. Thats why bearings are only lightly lubed.

Levi_501

Go for the ceramic, all my bikes have them; dream to pedal.

cycleclinic

There are two external BB's I have run. Token for starters and the bearings are replaceable so when the bearings died I replaced with INA 6805 or was it skf's and these lasted ages. I am now using an XTR BB but only for the last couple of months so too early to tell and given I use mostly for racing it will take a while to rack up the miles. Probably go back to the Token when the XT BB runs out they are fine. I still run square taper XT M730 on my winter mud bike and it never wears out, well it will but it will take a while.

rockmonkeysc

I got the XTR BB today. The bearings look tiny and it's very light. Nice and smooth.

swod1

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I got the XTR BB today. The bearings look tiny and it's very light. Nice and smooth.

Nice I've managed to get about 12mths out of a deore bb, its not running rough yet but not as smooth as it was and looking to get one of these.

I've heard the bb cups are smaller do you need another tool to fit the xtr bb, as I've already got the park one for hollowtech 2 bb's?

jimothy78

swod1 wrote:

I've heard the bb cups are smaller do you need another tool to fit the xtr bb, as I've already got the park one for hollowtech 2 bb's?

This came up on another thread the other day - they are smaller, but if you buy the BB93, the adapter needed should come with it.