[Closed] HT2 bottom brackets. Hope or Shimano?

Shimano ones, at least XT/SLX ones, are better than they used to be, and you can buy four or more for the price of Hope SS one. So if you don't mind changing the shells more frequently... It is usually the NDS ones that go for some reason in my experience. Oh, and the plastic Top Hat covers are prone to squeaking.

Having said that I have yet to have to replace a Hope stainless shell , indeed on one of my bikes I put one on in 2007 and it is still near perfect. So if you want fit and forget ( as long as jetwashes are aren't used)...... If you use jetwashes frequently they seem to seize up on the chainset shaft quite easily if others bikes are anything to go by.

Gusset ext24, £25, standard bearings and VERY* well sealed. I have one on my commuter that's done about 15,000 km and it's still fine.

Uberbike, as above, but a little 'nicer', £30 ish.

(*much better than the hope on my singlespeed)

I bought an Uberbike one, early days but felt decent twiddling it, as you do.

I had a Hope stainless BB on my Prophet for a few years and the longevity of the bearings was excellent.
Unfortunately the threads in the bottom bracket shell of the frame stripped on the driveside, I can't be sure but I put this down to the threads on the Hope bb being quite a bit shorter than those on Shimano BB cups.

Shimano may be the cheaper option if your time is worth nothing. I've been very happy with how I've been able to ignore my Hope ones since they were installed.

Asking as my Hope has lasted a year of twice weekly rides and the occasional careful use of a (domestic) pressure washer. Can get an XT BB for less than the cost of Hope bearings...

My Hope S/S one has lasted 3 years, last time I stripped it to swap the bearings out they were actually like new so I've pu it back together and it seems fine.

Buy a SS Hope, give it an annual re grease (15 min job to remove craks, flip off the double seals and pump with fresh high quality grease) and it'll last and last and last. I have 3, all bought in about 2007 and they are all ace, having been ridden in and around The Peaks constantly and washed after each ride (ie, flipping tough conditions). my mates who (have no idea) simply get their lbs to fit a new shimano XT one every 6 months, because they have no idea about servicing them, and an lbs will charge the same to service a hope as to fit a new XT one.

Never had any problems with the XT ones. They last at least a year for me, usually a lot more.

Fitting them is a 10 minute job. Hardly a waste of time.

I think there's always going to be a vocal minority of people who come on here slagging kit off saying its longevity is poor, and to buy this or that boutique brand at X times the price, but these tend to be the people who are serial kit killers because they ride like this....

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....when the majority of people ride like this....

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Just bear that in mind when you are shopping for kit. 😆

Don't tend to wash my bike much, rather just brush the dirt off, and get at least a year out of Deore and XT - the only difference seems to be a slightly larger inner seal on the XT. Regreasing them helps extend the life too.

I've had hopes in my bikes since they came out. I've done one set of bearings.

they also come in nice colours

I'd say Gusset as well- nice colours, better longevity than Shimano, you can service them if you want, and bearing swaps are cheap and easy as they use standard bearings. (just don't damage the plastic tophats). The ceramic ones in my experience are pish mind but the standard one is a great balance of value and life.

XT is perfectly decent, though you need to be careful not to overtorque them, they hate that and will die fast. Hope is fine too, but the bearing life ime isn't good enough to justify the price- mine didn't outlive 4 XTs, which was the breakeven at the time, and o'course you have to pay up front. And I'm still annoyed about their nonstandard bearings. Let alone outlasting... Uh, probably about 10 quality bearing replacements in a Gusset. (Hope OTOH are much less sensitive to overtorquing, great if you're hamfisted)

Time's not really a consideration for me, it takes, what, 5 minutes to change a BB. Maybe 10, if you're me and have to dig the tools out first.
Deore is shite though.

After 2 race face BBs I've gone for a deore (not xt) for under a tenner as the all seem to last the same amount of time no matter how expensive...

With the crap we ride through all year round, I'd go Hope every time. They're only up the road. they know the effect of peat/mud/gritstone on a bike. 🙂
Most other stuff seems designed for nice dry dusty trails in colorado and dies very quickly.

Do Rose bikes still do the shimano bottom brackets for £8? Just keep a few in stock...

When servicing bike bits, does everyone make sure the bike, or at least the adjacent area, is clean first? I just feel like I'm tempting fate if I try to install something with bearings on a dirty bike. And seeing as I almost never clean my bikes, any maintenance jobs also require cleaning the bike first, which adds a huge amount of time to the process....

I'm with Northwind on this.
Hope are better. Not 4 times better though.
XT are very good just so long as...
1. you don't over-torque the side load adjustment
2. you pack the whole assy with calcium based waterpump grease. This is the most effective way I've found of keeping crap out. It almost "skins-over" like Plasticine and prevents grit mixing into the grease.

I've got Hope BBs in a few bikes because I don't like having to chuck out worn components and I CBA changing BBs. Not under any illusion that it's a financial win.

Yeah there's an interesting ethical argument with regards to waste and chucking old BBs in a landfill.

if you have a dead one, pop it in a bag and send it to BETD, for about 25 quid they will put bearings in and send it back to you. I did this with a raceface about 4 years ago and I've not managed to kill it