[Closed] Hope/Chris king Bottom brackets .. worth the money??

Yes

My truvativ one lasted 4 months. Hope BB is still like new after 6 months. Definitely worth the money.

Hope ceramic worth getting over steel?

I have Hope B/B's on all my bikes, The longest serving is on my winter road bike which has notched up 30,000m so far.

Just out of interest why/how do they last so much longer?

Mainly full stainless INA bearings, that's both balls and cages. unlike other that just use stainless balls.

My Shimano ones have lasted longer than my Hope did. Cost of Hope bearings means you're almost as well to get a complete new Shimano one anyway. Chris King apparently use surgical steel, so no matter how rough they get you can clean them up and regrease and pop them back in.

Hope ceramics here. 3 yeras and still going strong

External bearing? If you don't know that it's already been done, get the bb shell faced or you may have problems whatever you fit...

Yes. I've both steel and ceramic Hope's. Steel's on its 4th frame and the Ceramic was a treat when I bought my Ti frame 4 years ago.

I had a 2nd hand king one which lasted 2 years, it only died when I drifted the cranks out with a rubber mallet and the inner race of the drive side came out with them scattering the balls across the garage 🙁

They were bone dry, so the sealing isn't upto much (there isn't much), but there was no grit and the bearings were still smooth. On that basis I'd buy another for a winter bike/singlespeed/commuter (which is where it was) but I'd get the greasing tool as well. Having said that I'm not sure how much help it would have been!

Very happy with my Hope BB (stainless) just short of 3 years old and holding up well.

It's been ridden through some right shit weather too.

Happy with my Kings. I had Phil Wood bearings in a race face bb shell for 3yrs before that. The Phil Wood is probably the best value for money option

Phil Wood external BBs on mine. As near fit and forget as you'll find.

I've got a hope with Steel bearings and it's been in 18 months with no issues. All thro last summers wet season which merged into winter.

I know some folk don't rate Hope stuff but I can't fault it,

I've found they seize up due to grit in the bearings, rather than corrosion. So the quality of sealing should make more difference than what material the balls and races are made from?

If water gets down your seat tube and collects in your BB shell then any expensive/aftermarket BB will eventually wear and feel gritty, either take your seatpost out after wet rides or over zealous washing and tip the bike upside down to drain the seat tube and evaporate the moisture or drill a 4-5mm hole in your BB shell to let the water out.

I,ve just fitted an Uberbike BB after some good advice from a mate who,s had one a while. runs really smooth £35.

If a hope gets gritty, you can remove the bearings, regrease, buy a new plastic Tophat from CRC, and go again!!

Where can I look at thw uberbike and Phil wood bb please!

Hope here 2 & 3 years fine.

I've found drilling a hole in my BB shell makes BBs last a lot longer.

Not really worth it imo. They are cheap to buy and easy to replace. Better to spend more on hubs imo as they are much harder to replace.

Chris king b&b, 2 years, no problems a all
Pump fresh grease in once a year, just like new

I recently bought two XT ones from Germany. They were only £15 each! Not available in pretty colours though..

shop around and you can get a deore BB for £12 which is less than one bearing for a Hope BB, that makes them almost disposable, my Hope lasted about 5000 miles (just over a year) deore lasts around 10 months for me

So pretty much what we can deduce from all this is -

Some people like them, Some don't.
Some people think they last well, some don't.
Some people think they're good value, some don't.

I guess from that, buy what you want at the end of the day, personally I've had better results with Hope brackets than Shimano or Sram.

I've had an XT one which is on its third year. Its a little grumbly on one side but it still rotates.
I've just obtained a secondhand Hope BB so I'll be trying that out, too early to comment thus far. Certainly it was a little rough, but a good clean out has restored its smoothness.
The key to HT11 is going easy on the bearing preload, regreasing the bearings when they get rough.
Cheap bearings in reused cups seem to corrode pretty easily, so avoid.
The only thing I haven't yet done is put a decent quality (SKF / INA / FAG etc) SS bearings in my superstar cups. That's something I may do in the future, but no rush as I've got a brand new XT BB in the spares box at the moment.

Hope ceramic - must be a good 5 or 6 years old. Still as smooth as the day I bought it.

It seems different riders get different results.

But - that just shows you that water down the seat tube / over tightening them makes them them die fast.

For £13 Deore ones, fitted properly and some care with water down the seat tube makes it difficult to justify anything else.

shimano BB's DO have a seal, it's a light-contact jobbie that relies on correct, careful installation.

even then, it's not as good as others*:

(*it's rubbish)

hope BB's are very good, but £72, i've got one.

gusset ext24's are good enough, with even better sealing/shielding that the hope, and you can get them for £24, i've got one of these.

uberbike are similar (perhaps a little nicer* than the gusset?), i don't have one, but will probably buy when i next need a new BB (with 6 or so bikes in the cellar, it's only a matter of time)

A lot depends on where & how much you ride. Round here its gritty mud or snow and I'm out in all eeathers. Bikes ridden in better conditions or left in the shed when it rains will obviously last longer

How long has your Gusset lasted - what sort of use?

Honestly, for £13 you get a BB made by Shimano. Buy one and go and ride your bike.

Even if you buy it twice, its still flipping cheap.

Hope seem very resistant to overtightening, Shimano seem pretty easy to damage with overtightening. And mountain bikers overtighten absolutely everything then blame the components when they break 😉

Just comes down to numbers for me- Hope cost 4-5 times as much as XT, and it's an upfront cost. There's a labour saving but changing a BB takes minutes so it's not a big consideration. There's an increased chance of falling foul of incompatability (since you care less if your relatively disposable Shimano BB doesn't fit a new frame). So realistically, Hope has to last 5 or 6 times longer than XT to be a good alternative, and they don't.

If the maintenance side bothers you (or you can't fit them yourself) then things change, also you might just not like sending bits to landfill prematurely.

Middle ground is the EXT24 from Gusset, and its ilk- as servicable as Hope, not quite as durable, but 2/5ths the price

OK, good advise/summary 🙂

What are you meaning on the overtightening? Cup in the shell?

Crank in the BB- people cranking up the preload too high.

OIC - 'squeezing the bearings' balls?'

Overtightening is an issue - Ive seen riding mates who upon hearing a squeak go round their bike and tighten up everything as much as they can.

Then wonder in amazement when the bolt head snaps off, or wont hold tight for long.

A lack of simple understanding of mechanical things is often to blame for stuff wearing out fast or breaking.

I believe any half decent and properly installed BB will last years with no problems. Loads of grease and the right tightness are key, irrespective of manufacturer. From experience I have a c1990 steel road bike with the original shimano exage bb still running smooth enough, only ever been re greased (I think). Also a 2008 race face bb still running without fault and they have been panned for reliability. That’s 23 years and 5 years on those two without fault so I see no need in paying over and above shimano pricing. I would spend money elsewhere.

Put new deore in when I built the bike at the end of may last year. Lasted until early August. Replaced with saint after reading good reviews. It died in early May. I now have a CK. It creaked on the first ride. 🙁

Overtightening only applies to shimano ht2. You can't overtighten a sram crankset, you just shear the head off the 12 quid retaining bolt. 😮

bonesetter - Member

How long has your Gusset lasted - what sort of use?

mine has lasted a whole month so far, so... 400km of commuting.

in my experience: shimano BB's die as a result of dirt and water getting past the outer seals, so better seals should = longer life, and the Gusset ext24 is VERY well shielded and sealed.

water in the seattube/BB shell is a myth imho, even shimano bearings are very well sealed against water from this side.

Gusset's still looking favourite then...

I believe any half decent and properly installed BB will last years with no problems.

You clearly never used one of Shimano's first generation HT2 BBs in the Peak District then. It would have been an interesting exercise in the mechanical power of faith.

Anyone tried one of those supposedly indestructible ones from RWS, the [b][url= http://www.enduroforkseals.com/id240.html ]XD-15[/url][/b] thing? There was a review, I think, on Bikeradar saying they ran one all winter with the seals removed and it was still fine... Mind you at $199 I'd want it to outlast me let alone the bike.

Thanks for the replies.

For the record...

Bottom bracket shell has been chased and faced.
cups torqued into frame correctly.
cranks preload cap done up correctly to.

bike has done two off road rides since fitting and the rest has been riding to work which is about 700m each way!

not lasted long at all really?