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I'm looking to re-build my old full suss and am wondering which cranks and BB to go for. In the last 10 years or so, I've always used the old square taper BB with middleburn cranks. Buying second hand there's loads of shimano about and was going to go for XT cranks with hollowtech BB but then began reading about durability issues - BB lasting for 6 months!! I have ridden xt cranks/hollowtech BB recently for a brief period and it seemed ok, although if I'm honest not as stiff as my usual set up. What does the stw massive advise??
I've been using HT2 stuff for years now but I still love the old UN71/72 bb's for their total fit and forget durability. I'm very tempted to back to some Middleburn stuff but as you say, the newer HT2 cranks are a bit stiffer. Some HT2 bb's do last a while but some, especially RaceFace stuff last weeks never mind months! Sorry it doesn't quite answer your question but I think it's one that many many HT2 users have asked themselves for ages.
Can't really afford to fit a BB that only runs for a year, let alone a few months!! What about the Hope BBs?
One very small datapoint. I've got Middleburn's on Superstar ISIS BB. They still spin freely after D2D. My friend with HT2 (Shimano XT) said just yesterday that his BB had seized up following the same event.