[Closed] Hollowtech II Bottom bracket?

Deore are really badly sealed. Ok for summer but I run Saint year round. Some will dismiss them but work for me (replace every 4 months or so)

@tizzzzle-Replace every 4 months? Don't like the sound of that.. Do you not just change out the bearings?

Go the extra IMO. The Gusset EXT24 BB is highly regarded by some on here. No experience of it myself but I have heard others giving it the thumbs up for reliability.

Do you not just change [s]out[/s] the bearings?

You can take the seals of (carefully) and flush the shit out with GT85 then force fresh grease in.

I've gone through 2 deore's this year,not bad for £11 a pop really

Get a Chris king and never replace again!

They are 15 quid a go, so no I just replace the whole shebang

Erm, a Chirs Kings bb would be nice. Bit out of my price range..

XTR seems to be worth the extra to me.

I'm not convinced that XTR is any better than XT tbh, lifespan certainly comparable, if it's better it's not much better. XT well worth it over deore though imo, the lifespan/cost works out a little in XT's favour and it means less fannying about and less wastage.

But yeah, I'd recommend the Gusset EXT24- longer lived than Shimano, and fully rebuildable with standard bearings unlike Hope. And come in pretty colours 😉 The bearing life isn't amazing but it's a great balance of price, quality and lifespan

XT will be OK, pop the seals off carefully and pack with grease when new to stop crap getting in them.

I'd stick with square taper if you can

Saint BB is currently £15, buy a few if you can afford it. You can regrease ^^ but (my Ultegra experience now) you can't easily get at both seals on the same bearing so cleaning thoroughly and regreasing is a faff

The Gusset is a bit dearer, and then factor in the cost of replacement bearings

Weigh up the cost of the three options

Uberbike BB IMO. Just as good as Hope and has lasted 4 times longer than my SLX. It is £35 mind but a good trade off between longevity and cost.

I got a Hope Stainless on one bike, have previously used an Uberbike one, the latter is cheaper and performed similarly.
Square taper on my other bike has seen more water and mud and still runs smoothly and has been hassle free. If you change, do it after the weather has dried up a bit!

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll leave it till spring for the swap.
I would stay with the square taper BB, but I was seduced by shiny new things 😀
I've seen videos showing how to swap out shimano bearings. Anyone done this?
Or is the gusset BB the best for serviceability and cost?

I swapped bearings on, iirc an XTR... Wasn't that hard, wasn't that easy. Shimano use a nonstandard, narrow bearing- there's ways around that but none of them are very elegant imo. I took the worst possible option and fitted Enduro's replacement bearing kit, which is absolute junk and lasted literally only a few rides before the bearings were rough and draggy.

I'd bet money Shimano design the BB shell to make it harder to remove the bearings tbh.