Hope bottom bracket worth it?

[jay91]

Another knackered Shimano bottom bracket that'll be three in two years. I don't do high mileage .
Are hope or any other brand better ?? Just a normal 68mm threaded one

[redefined_cycles]

Another knackered Shimano bottom bracket that'll be three in two years. I don't do high mileage .
Are hope or any other brand better ?? Just a normal 68mm threaded one

Jay, I assume you're using standard Deore. Get an xt or xtr. They'll be good for 2 years or more. The bearings are very sensitive to correct torque levels so worth using a decent torque wrench when fastening down.

Shouldbe able to find an XTR for about £40 if you look.around..

[redefined_cycles]

https://www.bikester.co.uk/shimano-xtr- ... l=shopping

Oh, and btw, are you sure it's not a poorly designed/aligned BB shell. What frame is it and might be worth a check for alignment and uniformity (and all that physics engineering jazz). Hambini might be of some help...

[whitestone]

There's a couple of things that can cause aggressive wear on BB bearings. As Shaf says, the BB shell itself has to be correct - that is, both faces are parallel and in line so cut at 90deg and not 89deg. Since you are asking the question it's unlikely you'll have the tools to check and/or fix, find either a good local bike mechanic or a respected frame builder to check it for you.

Shimano BBs are sensitive to side load: that funny star nut on their cranks should be tightened to finger tight then backed off about 1/4 turn, Then you tighten the two crank bolts to the appropriate torque. That side load could be a problem if you have either RaceFace or Sram cranks (won't be DUB cranks as they use a different spindle diameter) as they tighten differently and can exert undue pressure.

I've Hope BBs on four out of five bikes so might be biased! My Solaris is 8yrs old, it came with a RaceFace BB that lasted 1500km, about 6-8 months. I replaced it with a Hope BB and have had one bearing change in 20,000km, from memory the change was at about 14,000km which is about five year's worth of riding on that bike.

[pistonbroke]

Hambini might be of some help...

As said by no-one ever.

[Lazarus]

Never heard of them would someone pay over £200 for a BB?

I have three hope ones and they all are great ( not sure they are worth three figures but mine are a decade old ) but I suspect your issue is not the BB type given the limited mileage.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I fitted one to my Inbred after getting fed up of replacing lots (various makes), not had an issue since. I recall popping the seals and giving them a clean re-grease once.

If nothing else, I dislike the disposable nature of BB, so the ability to repair / replace bearings is a big bonus.

[thenorthwind]

I got fed up with Shimano ones too. I think I had a couple of ones that were badged XT (M8000?)... the ones with an annoying plastic adapter for the tool, which only seems to serve the purpose of being able to use smaller bearings, thus partially defeating the point of external bearing BBs

Tried replacing the bearings in them, which is theoretically possible, but very difficult to do without destroying the seal components, rendering the whole process fairly pointless.

Each time I have to replace it, I look at the Hope ones but can't quite justify the cost.

I've got a Praxis one in at the moment which I've just replaced the bearings in (the main reason I bought it, though since modern BBs are basically all bearing, having to chuck bearings often isn't much of an improvement environmentally, though it is better financially). I didn't feel I got masses of life out of the original set, but we'll see how it goes. The BB was about £30 I think.

Hambini might be of some help...

[jay91]

Another knackered Shimano bottom bracket that'll be three in two years. I don't do high mileage .
Are hope or any other brand better ?? Just a normal 68mm threaded one

Jay, I assume you're using standard Deore. Get an xt or xtr. They'll be good for 2 years or more. The bearings are very sensitive to correct torque levels so worth using a decent torque wrench when fastening down.

Shouldbe able to find an XTR for about £40 if you look.around..

Two xt and one deore shaf on a stanton Sherpa frame
I'll have a look at a xtr

[jay91]

There's a couple of things that can cause aggressive wear on BB bearings. As Shaf says, the BB shell itself has to be correct - that is, both faces are parallel and in line so cut at 90deg and not 89deg. Since you are asking the question it's unlikely you'll have the tools to check and/or fix, find either a good local bike mechanic or a respected frame builder to check it for you.

Shimano BBs are sensitive to side load: that funny star nut on their cranks should be tightened to finger tight then backed off about 1/4 turn, Then you tighten the two crank bolts to the appropriate torque. That side load could be a problem if you have either RaceFace or Sram cranks (won't be DUB cranks as they use a different spindle diameter) as they tighten differently and can exert undue pressure.

I've Hope BBs on four out of five bikes so might be biased! My Solaris is 8yrs old, it came with a RaceFace BB that lasted 1500km, about 6-8 months. I replaced it with a Hope BB and have had one bearing change in 20,000km, from memory the change was at about 14,000km which is about five year's worth of riding on that bike.

I'm using raceface affect so that could be the issue . I'll have a look for the spec on them

[jay91]

I fitted one to my Inbred after getting fed up of replacing lots (various makes), not had an issue since. I recall popping the seals and giving them a clean re-grease once.

If nothing else, I dislike the disposable nature of BB, so the ability to repair / replace bearings is a big bonus.

I'll probably end up buying a hope
I've still got a square tapered in my inbred works a treat

[redefined_cycles]

Hambini might be of some help...

As said by no-one ever.

Sorry. I didn'tean to offend. Just thought that might be the fastest way for Jay to understand the various ways in which the shell can be built substandard. I'm sure he's able to sift through the negative points of Hambini himself?

[redefined_cycles]

Another knackered Shimano bottom bracket that'll be three in two years. I don't do high mileage .
Are hope or any other brand better ?? Just a normal 68mm threaded one

Jay, I assume you're using standard Deore. Get an xt or xtr. They'll be good for 2 years or more. The bearings are very sensitive to correct torque levels so worth using a decent torque wrench when fastening down.

Shouldbe able to find an XTR for about £40 if you look.around..

Two xt and one deore shaf on a stanton Sherpa frame
I'll have a look at a xtr

There's hardly any difference in the workmanship between the XT and XTR Jay (IME). so that might well not not work. One thing to add to what Bob said about the side load bolt. The official tool from Shimano is made of nylon (or similar). Hence only so much (very little) torque can be applied with it. Some tool makers offer an alloy equivalent which probably would cause problems...

[redefined_cycles]

Hambini might be of some help...

I know Dave and I did think it might backlash at me a little when I was typing . I don't subscribe/watch anymore but from dealing with the chap theres no doubt (IMO but there's others) he's a top level engineer. Also helped me understand some things that I couldn't fix myself and why it was happenig (like how Powertap hibscome with £5 bearigs!).

What I concluded about him was that he was getting frustrated at bike engineering not being to the same level as aircraft engineering. Which is probably an unfair comparison. But I learnt alot and I don't think it's fair for bike makers to sell £7k frames with below par engineering..

[rudedog]

No issue with XT bb in my experience, the last on lasted about 6000 miles before it developed a creak. Got a deal on saint for £20 so decided to replace it. However, when I took the XT bb out , the bearings all seemed fine so moved it on to the lads bike and it’s still going strong on it.

[redefined_cycles]

No issue with XT bb in my experience, the last on lasted about 6000 miles before it developed a creak. Got a deal on saint for £20 so decided to replace it. However, when I took the XT bb out , the bearings all seemed fine so moved it on to the lads bike and it’s still going strong on it.

These things just make me so happy. Thanks for sharing that Rudedog

[whitestone]

The official tool from Shimano is made of nylon (or similar). Hence only so much (very little) torque can be applied with it. Some tool makers offer an alloy equivalent which probably would cause problems...

Shaf, it's not so much the material but the Shimano tool is thumb/finger operated and you can't put much torque into it



whereas something like the Park Tools BB tool has the pre-tension tool on the other end to the actual BB tool so you are tempted to overdo things.

[fatbikephil]

I'm using raceface affect so that could be the issue . I'll have a look for the spec on them

I had this problem with aefect cranks Jay - did for a BB on the fat bike (press fit) and one on the Jones. I ended up bolting it all together without any spacers, measured the gap between the BB and the back of the crank then fiddled with various spacers behind the BB cups and the RF spacer with the rubber bit to pre-load the bearing, to make it fit. Since then no issues.

[johnnystorm]

My Hope BB had 25,000km on it when I sold it. I only paid 50 quid for it as well.

[voodoo_simon]

My Hope BB had 25,000km on it when I sold it. I only paid 50 quid for it as well.

Did you get it second hand?!

[redefined_cycles]

My Hope BB had 25,000km on it when I sold it. I only paid 50 quid for it as well.

Did you get it second hand?!

[redefined_cycles]

The official tool from Shimano is made of nylon (or similar). Hence only so much (very little) torque can be applied with it. Some tool makers offer an alloy equivalent which probably would cause problems...

Shaf, it's not so much the material but the Shimano tool is thumb/finger operated and you can't put much torque into it



whereas something like the Park Tools BB tool has the pre-tension tool on the other end to the actual BB tool so you are tempted to overdo things.

Aha... yes, I forgot about that silly Park Toss tool... Thanks for the clarification Bob. Some people get the (supposedly) upgraded bolt aswell I think which can probably handle more torque and is screwed pressed/screwed down with a Hex head as opposed to the plastix torx type thing on the Shimano tool...

[johnnystorm]

My Hope BB had 25,000km on it when I sold it. I only paid 50 quid for it as well.

Did you get it second hand?!

Ha, no! This was back in 2013/2014 before prices went mental. Replaced the Deore BB in my Fargo after about 500 miles...

[thenorthwind]

Hambini might be of some help...

I know Dave and I did think it might backlash at me a little when I was typing . I don't subscribe/watch anymore but from dealing with the chap theres no doubt (IMO but there's others) he's a top level engineer. Also helped me understand some things that I couldn't fix myself and why it was happenig (like how Powertap hibscome with £5 bearigs!).

What I concluded about him was that he was getting frustrated at bike engineering not being to the same level as aircraft engineering. Which is probably an unfair comparison. But I learnt alot and I don't think it's fair for bike makers to sell £7k frames with below par engineering..

Sorry, Shaf, wasn't criticising you, just can't abide the angry little* man. If you've got some useful info out of his output, then goodonya, and that's my bad for not being able to see past his obnoxious persona I guess.

I have no doubt he's a very clever person, but an engineer's role is to apply knowledge in the real world. The real world involves dealing with people and money, and so if you can't communicate with people without getting incandescent and swearing a lot, and understand the economics of an application, you're not a very good engineer in my estimation.

Getting back to the topic (ish) I've replaced the plastic preload cap in the past, for the simple reason that the alloy ones have a hex drive, and I've been in a situation where I've needed to remove a plastic one a long way from anywhere, without the tool. It's surprisingly difficult to find something that will tighten it even to the equivalent of finger tight using the proper tool.

*Metaphorically... no-one can help being short

[redefined_cycles]

Yes, agreed Dave. Angry little man describes him well. He never used to be like that at the start and the language wasn't colourful either. I unsubscribed after seeing one too many vid where he wasn't hold himself in a dignifiedanner at all.

Definitely didn't want the kids seeing me watch him as they're not allowed to watch similar stuff. One day I hope (no pun, sorry) to get one of his BBs and even spoke to him about making a more sealed one for my commuting Indy Fab (I only wanted to say that - haven't ridden the thing in weeks cos so poorly) Crown Jewel ('ratherrr' ). Couldn't afford at the time so stuck with a Dura Ace.

Glad Jays gone with a Hope in the end, especially with reports of 15000 miles