I bought a hope ss BB 18mths ago now and yes its done some miles but the bearings are starting to wear and feel ropey! Iv always used shimano 20quid bargains up until this last time and i thought id get some magical amount of extra yrs out of a 80 quid hope BB. Seams not!
My dilemma now is do i keep the hope shells and buy new bearings at 20quid a side a total of 40 notes or just by another shimano and render the hope shells useless?

My answer is.... iv just bought a shimano bb for 9 quid!! So in hindsight i could of got about 9 of these for the price of one hope. And had 18 yrs of trouble free bb's.
So did i just see shinny hope goodness or have i missed something?

I will say this, im not putting hope products down at all as iv alot of their stuff and its ace.
Just think i expected abit more from the bb

Press fit?

I fucking detest PF. It’s not just the sub standard creaky performance, but the idea of smashing my frame with a hammer every year is just madness. I’ve had some crap Hope wheel bearings in the past, but bought one of their screw-together BB systems for the Spearfish, which has been pretty good for a reasonable distance now. And I should be able to swap out the bearings without that bastard hammer, which is worth far more than saving a few quid.

Still hate PF.

I have a Royce BB, square taper, that I bought in 2005. It’s been on my main bike all that time with the exception of a 3 year holiday in the parts bin in my shed. It still runs perfectly and the cost now is less than £10 year (and falling).

Don’t buy the bearings from hope, I use this company
http://www.wychbearings.co.uk/bike_bearings.html

5 minute job

I've had my Hope SS BB for about 7 years. I regreased the bearings once in that time .... it must you you and all the power you generate

It used to be that Shimano BBs didn't last (though even at their worst they weren't as bad as SRAM or RaceFace) but now even the cheap Deore BBs are fine and you'd expect to get a year or two out of them depending on conditions and care.

I'm up to 13,000km or more over the course of five years on my Hope BB on the Solaris. I'll do a biannual clean - remove from bike, clean shell and BB threads, remove dust cover and clean out dirt, grease up and refit to bike. I haven't repacked the bearings with extra grease or anything like that that is supposedly essential (STW lore).

The Hope BB on my road bike has done even more. I did replace one of the bearings last autumn but that was after 24,000km or so. Roads can be surprisingly mucky - lots of oil, diesel and dirt on them.

Agree with Craig re: pressfit - marketing hype to cover up a cost cutting exercise.

Not press fit ones i have. These threaded. Seems i must just have a sub standard one then.

Steve, that company is just around the corner from me i use them for all my bearings but i though hope used there own weird size bearing in their BB, maybe im wrong

Mike I've been through the exact same process over the last few years. Hope bearing lasting about 6 months. I've now gone back to the £20 Shimano BBs and they last about 3 times as long. The Hope BB shell is now sat on a shelf, silently mocking me.

My hope H2 BBs seem to last for ages. Last time I needed to replace the bearings on one I bought some none -hope for £8 a pair. Think it was these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292925787529

Mike wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:25 am Not press fit ones i have. These threaded. Seems i must just have a sub standard one then.

Steve, that company is just around the corner from me i use them for all my bearings but i though hope used there own weird size bearing in their BB, maybe im wrong

Don't think there is such a thing as wierd sized bearings Mike. Just harder to find bearings. I assume you might be able to press fit some new 'cartidges' into your Hope. If thats the case then FAG for longevity and NTN for ultra smoothness and speed. Just be aware that some of the bigger/better names like NTN etc (not Enduro and EZO as in my research/reading/watching/exp they're pretty *hit) might be more prone to being copied

If you wanted to keep your Hope going (and its press fittable) then I'd go get myself some new bearings but not from them. I had an issue with a rear hub and its crappy cartridge bearings once which kept getting worn out (from buying the suggested bearings from PowerTap). I contacted Hambini to make me a suggestion (he wants to be bigger than Hope as he also specializes in BBs) and I think it was some some NTN he sent me. What a revelation that was and stopped said problems with my hub bearings wearing out*...

Another thing I recently learnt (and the reason why my press-fit Dura Ace bottom bracket doesn't spin considerably longer than it should... Although it does last 4000 miles at a time), which probably isn't the case in your situation, is that these s*itty carbon bike manufacturers have some real substandard quality control especially in the carbon BB area. So my Canyon carbon road frame is probably causing the bearings to wear prematurely (4000 miles road riding on Shimanos best) due to misalignment of the BB shells from left to right (a theory I developed/picked up from the various vids he's (Hambini) done fixing peoples bottom bracket issues due to his £200 ultra smooth BB not working for them**


*But then the torque measurement thingy went and he couldn't help me cos he's not an electrical engineer).

** Obviously he does have a slight conflict of intwrest in his vids as he's a BB manufacturer but I believe he only makes small amounts and its his side job/hobby... Also, previously the slating his BB used to get from customer reviews, now makes more sense - if he's being totally honest in his techincal vids - as it mihht have been the QC of the frame manufacturers thats the problem...

hope that doesnt sound like a load of tripe and if it does just ignore...

NB. If you check on his (Hambini) site he has a graph of which bearings are smoothest and which are best sealed... Hence where I got my info about FAG being best for mtb muck

PF Shimano BB on my carbon Cube is still the original. The bike is 11 years old. I don't know the mileage it's done, other than "lots".

I've used Hope BBs. Not had any issues other than eventually they die. Lifespan is about the same as the Shimanos but the latter are a fraction of the cost.

Had Raceface on my 1st fatbike. The original stood up to all sorts of abuse for about 4 years. The replacements (all the same model) made it to about a couple of years each.

i have Hope, SRAM and Shimano - personally I dont think there is much difference in use or longevity though Hppe come in pretty colours and you can replace the worn parts . Trying to reduce waste Hope are a better option IMHO

Or if you’re a pimp you can go for Uber bike ceramic bearings - they spin forever, you clean them with Wd40, but they do wear and develop play.