the bottom bracket problem with modern bikes.

[tommaguzzi]

Today I have replaced the external bearings in my bb for the 4th time in 7 years at at cost of £22 this time!
Really!
Just a few years ago bb's were made of 'kin 'ard steel and had 9 softer ball bearings in them which normally wore out first, the bearing could be taken apart and cleaned, greased, serviced and adjusted to take up the wear and the balls eventually repalced for pennies. Today they just fail and the whole lot has to be replaced.
Bb's were never an expensive problem, you just greased them up or replaced the balls!
Is it impossible for bike makers to make their bb's water\grit proof? Car manufacturers have no problems making wheel\drive bearing systems which are weather proof and are good 5 years 50000 plus miles without replacement.
Old fart moaning i know but it never was like this.

 

[Drago]

That's the progress that we're urged to embrace.

My oldest bike is on its original 39 year old bearings and is as slick as a spivs hair, which makes the modern stuff laughable.

 

[S-Express]

Today I have replaced the external bearings in my bb for the 4th time in 7 years at at cost of £22 this time!

Unless your annual mileages are embarrassingly low, I'm not seeing too much wrong with that...

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

Unless your annual mileages are embarrassingly low, I'm not seeing too much wrong with that...

True, that looks par for the course for modern bb units. But the OP comparison is to bb's of old, they would last for many many years.

 

[tommaguzzi]

Mileage doesn't matter they fail when if i ride a lot through winter or go on mild cycle off road tracks (usually unpaved ex railway routes )
The manufacturers should be able to make bb shells grit and weather proof.

 

[tommaguzzi]

We should not accept this poor performance from a supposably better design.

 

[Drago]

Its not better though, is it? Its all hype for the fashionista, so they invent some guff about stiffer axles of something to justify smaller bearings and moving them outboard, and then charge more money. Then they get to dip regularly into your wallet agan and again during the life of the product. Brilliant.

 

[zigzag]

Mileage doesn't matter they fail when if i ride a lot through winter or go on mild cycle off road tracks (usually unpaved ex railway routes )
The manufacturers should be able to make bb shells grit and weather proof.

while i agree, it's not in the manufacturer's interests to make parts that don't wear out - people would not buy replacement parts then

 

[I like Skol]

Today I have replaced the external bearings in my bb for the 4th time in 7 years.

Unless your annual mileages are embarrassingly low, I'm not seeing too much wrong with that...

Really? In the old days you would fit the equivalent to a Shimano UN55/square taper BB and then just ride any mileage/any conditions for a few-several years before even considering replacement. How is the modern BB with a 3-4k/18 month life span if used in good conditions an improvement or even acceptable compared to this?

 

[tommaguzzi]

I saying the old style bearings could be maintained and definitely lasted longer if they were.
When they eventually needed replacing it was just the 18 balls and a bit of grease, costing a pound.

Now i am tied to modern bb's because that is what my Titanium bike frame, which i hope will see me i to the box uses. I just want some manufacturer to produce a water/grit proof bearing like all front wheel drive cars have.

 

[S-Express]

Now i am tied to modern bb's because that is what my Titanium bike frame, which i hope will see me i to the box uses. I just want some manufacturer to produce a water/grit proof bearing like all front wheel drive cars have.

Not sure what frame you have, or what chainset you run, but the likes of Sugino and others are still making perfectly good 'loose-ball' square taper BBs.

 

[Drago]

Remember how some bikes of yore even had grease nipples on the bottom bracket? We reached a pinnacle, and for the last thirty years have been slowly backing away from it.

 

[Racing roadkill]

The manufacturers are businesses. They make money or they go bust. The most lucrative market is the chopper market. Choppers like shiny things, they don't care if stuff lasts, because "the LBS can sort that out, innit". The manufacturers of the shiny stuff seem to live by the mantra 'make it pretty, but make it sh177y' that way, you capture the chopper market ( where the money / volume is ) and if you don't care how durable your shiny crap is, that's okay, just make a slightly shinier piece of crap, and they'll lap that up, and replace the previous piece of less shiny crap, with the new piece of super shiny new crap. The problem is, the people who aren't so easily impressed, and just want stuff that works, and lasts, are not spending as much money, so they can get stuffed. It's a sad state of affairs, but that's business.

 

[Moodyman]

Like Tommo, I'm unhappy with external bearing BBs on my current fleet.

I had a UN54 (square taper) on a previous commuter and it had done c. 12k miles (and was running smooth) when the bike was nicked. The only maintenance I did was remove and regrease the threads once year to avoid it seizing.

Now, I go through two 105 or Tiagra level Hollowtechs per year (c. 5k miles) on my current commuter.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Likewise my old Dyna-Tech (1994) has a Campag Chorus BB & chainset
Until the day it was retired - including its last 4 years commuting '365' on it, the BB was never touched, & still span freely/no play/ no noise

The Tiagra, in my 'blue' Ribble (that replaced it) required a new BB at about 2 years old
It had developed play, & was bone dry on the drive-side, with the bearings breaking up

Re; the old days, of adjustable cups, & tapered axles
I've had a few that have worn, with the cups developing 'tracks'