Which GXP bottom bracket?

Hope. Fit, sell with bike in a gadjillion years. Ceramic if you like. They supply a little adapter to take the id down to GXP size on one side.

I'd ordinarily recoil in horror at the price of Hope BBs, but having paid £40+ for the cheapest Sram option I could find, which is already noisy a month later, the idea of having something at least half serviceable is an attractive one.

It made some sense to keep replacing them when they were £15. Not so much any more.

I tried a Prime one and it lasted less than Sram.

Two schools of thought

Hope fit-forget as up there

Deore if you just want something ‘economical’ but reasonably robust and weatherproof (haven’t bought since pre Covid so not sure what economical is anymore…)

Some chatter here https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/gxp-bb-replacement-i-knew-it-was-coming/

I’m currently on a Praxxis one - fitted in January. So far so good and it saw quite a lot of mud those first few months of the year. Still seems smooth at the moment.

I’ve found gxp hit and miss - sometimes they last well - other times they seem to go rattly and loose in short order.

Uberbike was shocking, the BB seized up even with all the correct spacers. Bodged it by filing down a spacer but yeah, not great.

A mate's hope BB was finiky, the GXP adapter could loosen, along with the bearing cover on that side.

I'm currently on a praxis and it's a year old, which is a record for a GXP standard BB.

All fairly similar to me. Bearings in dry weather have no problems. Once you get in water and dirt it'll eventually work it's way in.
I've had cheap Ali Express ones last a couple of years I had a few months from a Chris King. A wet ride across east Yorkshire roads covered in farm mud managed to get in on one particularly bad ride.

Currently I have a standard SRAM GXP and its going strong after 8 months but I haven't done much in any adverse weather conditions.

I do think its luck, either good or bad when it goes to life time on these. The gap on all of them for water to get in is similar. Putting the bike away wet and leaving it in a cold and damp place is the ultimate killer.

Never tried a Hope BB, but I have a 20+ year old Hope headset which is on it's third frame and I've only changed the grease once in it about 15 years ago. The current bike sits outside 24/7 and has done so for 10+ years.

That Headset is the oldest bit of bike I own by some margin.

Praxxis. My original SRAM one lasted 500km and less than 6 months. I've done 20000km since on 2 praxxis BBs.

ive got 50% sram and 50% shimano BB in mine at the moment. the smaller diameter gxp side seems to have lasted OK so i swapped out the knackered larger diameter for an XT cup and its been ace.

Praxxis here. Easy to change the bearings and they run on Enduro ones ! Replaced both bearings so far. Last way longer than SRAM.

I went through two SRAM gxp bottom brackets in the first year/3500 miles on my Free Ranger.I fitted a Hope with the adaptor and it’s still spinning silently and smoothly after 18 months/4300 miles since fitting without any attention.It’s long since paid for itself (I was paying £35 a time for the SRAM)

I found the newer SRAM ones seem to last OK?

I had a bike circa 2014 that I swapped to shimano cranks.

But the last one (2019ish) lasted a couple years singlespeeding including filthy winter conditions before eventually being killed by a bit of slate getting wedged between the crank and the DS cup and making a complete mess of both bearing and housing.

Inspite of that I'd still say sell/bin them and get some Shimano or shimano compatible cranks. In the long run the 24mm straight through systems just seem to work and last better.

Agreed regards the change to Shimano.

My bouncer (summer duty only) runs SRAM cranks, on its 3rd BB in its lifetime. The hardtail has done twice the mileage in all the crap weather and I've only recently put in its 2nd Shimano press fit BB.

SRAM drivetrains can get in the bin...

Hope. I got a Canyon with a GXP bottom bracket in 2011, it lasted months, the sram replacement lasted a couple of months. The Hope BB I then bought is still being used on it's original bearings with those cranks in my hardtail.

I changed to a Shimano crankset, gxp lasted no time (under 4 months for one, in summer with no mud FFS), plus the Shimano BB are available anywhere cheaply.

For dub I bought a hope bb and converters, been ace for the last 3 years.

To be controversial WheelsMFG is the route I’d go.

Changing bearings in hope pro 4 hubs every 9 mths compared to never in 9 years on Pro 2 says they’re not what they once were IMHO.

I cannot see how there’s a fit and forget bearing for BB’s who spend time in slop and muck. Dirty water gets in, stays there for a while before slowly seeping out and will inevitably get through seals and grease to rot the bearings.

At best, the sealing might be better on the outside but every mtb BB i’ve had fail has rotted from inside out. Some quicker than others depending on the level of fill.

Hope. They just last for years.

I don't really understand how people seem to kill SRAM bottom brackets so easily. I ride in peak district grit, never clean my bike and the SRAM ones seem to last fine. I think I've had 4 in the 7 years of the same SRAM cranks, which is a very similar wear rate to the Hollowtech IIs I had before that.

Current one is a Praxxis which was comparable price and, crucially, available. But I'm not convinced it's significantly better than the SRAM ones.

Thanks folks 👍🏻

Assuming you're after a standard threaded MTB BB, I have a Sram GXP one here I was gonna stick on eBay you could have for cheap.

I don’t really understand how people seem to kill SRAM bottom brackets so easily.

I don't know if it's frame tolerances, variations at SRAM or what, but they're just massively variable.

I forgot to mention the one on my fatbike. The driveside would expel the top hat cup over a few miles, and the uberbike version expelled the whole bearing as there's no circlip. The Hope one faired slightly better as the plastic seal acts as a sort of circlip to retain the bearing until it wears through.

The "normal" 68/73 version does the same but takes longer, and as the protruding bit of the axle is shorter it can only fall halfway out.

@Chakaping, I’ve messaged you. 👍🏻