Had an XTR external BB for 8 months and it is dying. Not even seen one full British winter! This is my first experience of these type of BBs. Used to have square taper internal XTs for £15 and lasted 3 years. Any recommendations? Are the new Hope units worth the extra?
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 8 months isn't too bad for HTII type BB's. I have been running Hope on 2 bikes now for 6 months, 1 steel and 1 ceramic, no noticeable difference between the two and both going strong. I would only get about a month out of a race face BB before it started showing signs of deterioration, but would continue to use it for a couple more noisy months.
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 FSA mega exo..crap..race face DH alrightish but too tight so easy to stress the bearing race..Shimano have held out better on my mates bike..Heard good things about the hope..will be trying those next
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 You would hope that the new King BB would be very good. We won't know for a while though.
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 The King BB looks about the only 1 worth bothering with, atleast you've got grease ports for easy maintenance to keep it going. Sticking to Square Tapered for the time being though.
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i thinkall my bottom brackets wear about the same as my chains middle ring and cassette's tbh. about 6 - 8 months.. Going through one of these expensive phases atm..Luckily my mates race face DH bottom bracket seized the opposite side of mine so i managed to make one good one out of two. But I am quite hard on the running gear..and I ride in chiltern mud and chalk in all weathers. Just grabbed one of the slx cassetes instead of my usual xt ( credit crunch) will be interesting to see how that works out. I think the SLX groupset is pretty good vaue TBH and not much of a compromise over xt.
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Cheers Guys. Looks like its always going to be a problem! If the King is half as good as the headset then it will be worth the extra. But they are hard to get hold of and not many reviews yet.
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 The King BB is in stock in a couple of places but the service tool might be a little delayed. Phil Wood makes a truly excellent BB as well as the hubs.
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I killed a Race Face BB during summer 2006 - The driest on record. I've gotten a year out of an XT BB which was quite impressive, but its replacement died in five months. To be frank, I'd stick with the Deore Octalink unit I started with - lasted 13 months and cost a paltry £16 to replace. External BB systems are a gigantic waste of money - although I'd be prepared to give Phil Wood bearings a go.
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 Truvative GXP. Guaranteed for 12 months. When mine failed after about six months i took it back to evans and got a replacement straight away.
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Most people don't get 1 month out of them Gorehound, so all fine if you happy visiting Evans Monthly and doing a BB swap, alot of hassle for my likings. * Well other Truvative BB's * Need a better way to see life than life of the BB, as some people ride once per week, others ride 3 times and some ride once per week and rotate around 4 bikes if you see my point.
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 I'm currently trying the acros s/s ext bb, 2 year warranty and has the axle protecting plastic insert that the hope doesn't. I know a hope didn't ought to seize, but if it did thats yer cranks ruined.
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Face, chase & follow the instructions. For any BB. Yumm.
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 Who needs bearings? I recently found my XT running on the axle with stationary bearings. It does seem marginally easier to pedal with new bearings but not much.
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 They do eventually snap though... I know someone who fell foul of that.
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