Bottom Bracket options.

bobbydigital

Some opinions on BB please.
Threaded for 24mm axle.

Shimano SLX BB70 - I watch out for these to pop up on ebay they seem pretty good and about £20.

Race Face X-Type - Never used any RF components, these are £32.

Shimano XT MT800 - They are £12, for an XT component, seems like bs. I have used 2 of them before, one lasted under 1k miles and the other, well the threads got damaged on installation, even though I put a BB70 in there without issues, so put it down to the BB rather than how I installed, I literally swapped it for a BB70 there and then. (different bike)

Shimano Saint BB80 - £20/30 - these look like a good replacement to the BB70? On the down side they only seem to come in gold.

Any other decent options for around £30?

steve_sordy

I'd stay away from Raceface. It was OE on my Whyte T130 and it lasted less than 800 miles. The shop it came from said that RF BB's were made of cheese. So I fitted a Hope and I sincerely hope (no pun intended) that I never have to replace whilst I have the bike - at least another couple of years.

02gf74

Bobbydigital wrote:

Shimano XT MT800 - They are £12, for an XT component, seems like bs. I have used 2 of them before, one lasted under 1k miles and the other, well the threads got damaged on installation, , so put it down to the BB rather than how I installed,

I find that very hard to believe.

No doubt you are referring external BB, it all depends on the quality of the bearings and seals, can't see any reason why an slx will be better than an xt.

These types of BB are notoriously censored for longevity when compared to the old square taper BB.

BTW despite what shimano say, it is possible to replace the bearings, shimano use slightly narrower than standard but minor modification to the plastic cap sorts that.

bobbydigital

02GF74 wrote:

Bobbydigital wrote:

Shimano XT MT800 - They are £12, for an XT component, seems like bs. I have used 2 of them before, one lasted under 1k miles and the other, well the threads got damaged on installation, , so put it down to the BB rather than how I installed,

I find that very hard to believe.

No doubt you are referring external BB, it all depends on the quality of the bearings and seals, can't see any reason why an slx will be better than an xt.

Yes external, hollowtech ii types.

It's marketed as XT/SLX/LX so who knows, I think retailers are adding xt to the mt800 name bb in order to shift units, it's priced on par with a bb52 which is a deore bb, seems very strange but they are the smaller cupped versions which save a few grams.

JBA

If the bike is a long term keeper I'd recommend getting something like a Hope or Wheels Manufacturing BB.
They are expensive but very well made and the bearings can be changed without having to remove the bb.
I went through 2 Shimano BB's on my Trance in about 800 miles. Fitted a Wheels Mfg one and have done 1,700 miles with no trouble at all. I took the chainset off last weekend and removed the bb bearing seals to check the grease. They looked like new and were still packed with the original grease.

steve_sordy

I've never had a problem with Shimano Hollowtech II bottom brackets. I buy them as cheaply as possible and they last at least 1500 miles. Sadly neither of my current bikes can fit them!

PS: If you buy Shimano components from Chain Reaction Cycles you get a two-year warranty. Although I have never claimed on a BB. Cassettes, jockey wheels, yes.

swod1

if your going to spend up to 30 pound just by an xtr bb?

bobbydigital

I spent £20 and got sm bb80, was a good deal I hope.

swod1

Bobbydigital wrote:

I spent £20 and got sm bb80, was a good deal I hope.

should be fine for a while until you need to buy another one. i use now xtr bb93 but is going to buy a hope one for my bike at some point in the next few months.