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Having gone through my most recent one (SRAM 22 quid one) in about 10 rides - is there a GXP bottom bracket that will last longer than the sell-by date of a loaf of bread?
Grease the bearings before fitting. Uber Bike BB's are supposed to be good.
I've got a Hope with gxp adaptors. You can change just the bearings as they wear out, I'm not expecting to buy another BB unless I fancy a colour change.
Yeah Hope BB with an adapter, lasts an age and can replace the bearings if you ever get through a set.
Yeah, Hope with GXP adapters is the way forward. I have 2 bikes with this setup, both running smooth through all conditions.
Or just a shimano Deore with adapter lasts longer
I don't understand. I've read such bad reviews about GXP before I bought a SRAM groupset, but my stock Truvativ one is 2 years old and still spins smooth. How are people destroying these things so quickly? Not trying to argue, genuinely curious.
C-Bear. I have them on two bikes. Been running them over a year all year round. No special shims or adapters needed.
@hollyboni - SRAM GXP are the second worst bottom brackets I've used (Raceface are worse), I've GXP on my Genesis Croix de Fer, fitted as per instructions - it lasted 1000km on the road. No jumping off anything, just plain riding to and from work.
I'm no serial BB killer, people on here moan about not getting much mileage out of Hope BBs. I've got 14,000km so far out of mine, that includes Alpine downhill, riding through rivers in Scotland, etc. I haven't pulled off the seals and added grease as some do/recommend, the only servicing I do is a biannual cleaning to get grit out from the top hat and the shell/BB threads.
Or just a shimano Deore with adapter lasts longer
This.
eBay sells 99p adaptors. £11 Deore BB.
Job jobbed.
@whitestone I guess my BB must be blessed or something then. I never powerwash my bike and i'm very careful how much water I use near bearings. I also take off the crankset every now and then to clean the chainring and the surrounding area, and while i'm there I wipe off the BB seals and give everything a fresh coat of grease. (That's one of the things I really like about GXP, how easy it is to take off and install the cranks) Maybe that's why? No idea, but mine seriously spins as smooth as the day I installed it about two years ago. No idea how many Ks, more than 10 rides tho that's for sure. 🙂
I don’t understand. I’ve read such bad reviews about GXP before I bought a SRAM groupset, but my stock Truvativ one is 2 years old and still spins smooth. How are people destroying these things so quickly? Not trying to argue, genuinely curious.
My standard GXP one that came on the bike is 2 years old, including very wet muddy winters and it's only just got a bit grindy. Not noticeable when riding yet but spinning the cranks with the chain off you can feel it.
I've got an Uberbike one ready to go on, but if I didn't I'd just buy another SRAM GXP standard one.
Can someone post a link to one of the Deore -> GXP adapters? I’m not sure what they look like. Just a set of shims to shim the axel size?
Grease the bearings before fitting. Uber Bike BB’s are supposed to be good.
Unfortunately mine was utter dog****. The tolerances on the adapter were so bad it put too much preload on the bearings and killed them very quickly.
Binned, replaced with SRAM, fine a year later after a lot of abuse.
@hollyboni ride the bike in the rain, mud, grit, river crossings, hose it off lash it in the garage, drag it out again a few days later, you know - mountain biking.
My last GXP BB was perfect for 4 months felt spot on. After the (very wet and very muddy) ride I cleaned and lubed the bike - BB was smooth. A week later of sitting in the garage the BB was locked solid. It had rusted up.
Hopes last me the best but I think false economy vs a few cheap deores. I will whip the chainset off now and then to clean it properly anyway so sticking a new BB is no bother.
It's not just BBs these days, FSA lower headset bearings are just as bad - another bearing that used to last forever ten years ago now is a service item.
I've just killed a Dub BB in two months. Two summer months. The worst Deore has ever performed is six months through winter.
Back to Shimano cranksets and BBs for me.
@wzzzz I guess i'm just not hard enough on my bike, and i'm the odd one out for being careful when washing my bike. In your case I kinda understand how/why the BB got destroyed (not saying you did anything wrong by riding your bike).
However, it still doesn't make sense to me how a BB gets destroyed in 10 rides, or a 1000ks of road riding. Maybe it will make sense when it happens to me, hopefully it will never happen tho. 😀
My Hope BB with GXP adapter has finally died. It's lasted 18 months maybe? Lots of poor weather so I'm pretty happy with that. Now replacement bearings are currently £17.99 EACH?!
I'm thinking it's probably easier to just stock up on SRAM GXP's. Easier to change out and much cheaper?
Using a HOPE one too - seems decent!
@hollyboni I'm also careful when washing a bike, never use any kind of power washer and hose is never much more than a dribble.
On my summer road bike the sram GXP BB is smooth as silk after maybe 5 years.
@r8jimbob88 did you read the thread? TLDR get a deore and a £2 adapter
@wzzzz - sorry my skim reading failed me! Thanks for the link. I'll take a look
I've ordered one of those adapters, are the BBs the same width? Any faffing with shims other than boshing the eBay one into the non-driveside?
Hopefully I'll end up with a Shimano BB on my fatbike with SRAM cranks.
Gusset make a decent one IME.
Unfortunately mine was utter dog****. The tolerances on the adapter were so bad it put too much preload on the bearings and killed them very quickly.
That shouldn't happen as there's nothing preloaded in a gxp bb, the nds bearing is clamped between the two parts of the crank and the ds bearing just sits on a machined bit of the axle?
Or just a shimano Deore with adapter lasts longer
A Shimano bb shouldnt work as they use acb's with a little preload. But maybe there's enough supourt that it doesnt matter?
The problem ive had is on the fat bike the drive side bearing will walk its way out of the shell. The sram version is circlipped in, but the plastic top hat comes out instead. Hope work as long as you replace the plastic bearing shields every 6 months or so as they work as circlips.
Fitted the Uberbike one today, will see if it lasts as long as the original. NDS was still perfect, DS bit rumbly and loose when I took it out.
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(Should have got black, the orange is maybe a bit clashy).