SRAM BB bearing replacement options

[BobC]

Bearings are crapping out on my SRAM BB (not ceramic & not looking to go ceramic). Looked around and the GXP BB is about the same cost as the bearing replacement kit (which I thought was odd).
- Is SRAM replacement bearings the only option or are there others?
- Any recommendations?

Cheers, BobC

[AngryScientist]

SRAM bottom brackets are the suck. Go Chris king or Phil wood, with SRAM adapter

[batman1425]

Not worth overhauling the bearings in a GXP BB. Just toss and replace. If you hunt for deals you can find them cheap.

[adrien]

I actually changed out my bottom bracket to C-Bears. Ard (company owner) is a very big and very quick guy, and very nice, too.

I love my BB -- generally don't think about it anymore, and this after years of issues with stock stuff.

Quick search tells me they have bearing kits for you:
https://www.c-bear.com/en/products/bottom-bracket-lager-bb9095-trek-sram-gxp

But, they are ceramic.

[AngryScientist]

I actually changed out my bottom bracket to C-Bears. Ard (company owner) is a very big and very quick guy, and very nice, too.

I love my BB -- generally don't think about it anymore, and this after years of issues with stock stuff.

Quick search tells me they have bearing kits for you:
https://www.c-bear.com/en/products/bottom-bracket-lager-bb9095-trek-sram-gxp

But, they are ceramic.

bookmarked, thanks for that. good to have options for ultra-torque bearings.

[chiasticon]

SRAM bottom brackets are the suck. Go Chris king or Phil wood, with SRAM adapterI'm actually not a fan of the CK bottom bracket for Sram. why? because when I install a Shimano crankset and spin it, it spins freely for several revolutions. when I install a Sram one, it spins about one revolution or so. and yes, I installed it correctly. had this experience on several bikes and that's enough for me to shy away. and while I do think that people doing crank revolution tests to justify that their bearings are the fastest and most friction free is stupid (it matters more under load), only turning a couple crank revolutions gives me no confidence. especially when the same BB with a different adapter for Shimano spins nicely.

also, my gxp BB's are on my cx bikes which go through hell anyway, so I'm OK with just installing a new Sram one every year. they're cheap enough and they work fine. if I had to do that with the CK, I'd be crying.

[frank_h]

I replaced my CAAD 10 BB30 bearings with ones from wheels mfg - here (http://wheelsmfg.com/bottom-brackets/bb30/bb30-parts.html).

Got the ceramic ones for that bike and a set of hybrids for the CX. Couldn't be more pleased with performance and durability. Good customer service there, as well!

But you can get the base ones and if you don't mangle the clips popping out your old ones, all you need to buy are the two bearings and push them in.

[kramnnim]

I replaced my CAAD 10 BB30 bearings with ones from wheels mfg - here (http://wheelsmfg.com/bottom-brackets/bb30/bb30-parts.html).

Got the ceramic ones for that bike and a set of hybrids for the CX. Couldn't be more pleased with performance and durability. Good customer service there, as well!

But you can get the base ones and if you don't mangle the clips popping out your old ones, all you need to buy are the two bearings and push them in.

I don't think this applies to the OP, since he is using GXP. Though I'm sure WheelsMfg has some sort of beating that would work for him...

[deluxerider]

Chris King. Rock solid. Serviceable. Colorful.

[frank_h]

I don't think this applies to the OP, since he is using GXP. Though I'm sure WheelsMfg has some sort of beating that would work for him...

Bah, yes, I misinterpreted that as OP weighing bearing kit vs GXP adaptor kit.

But I would still recommend them as a good source for BB bearings in general. In the least, they are a good info depot.

[bikinchris]

Wheels MFG does make good bottom brackets for the price. If fancy ones from Chris King or Phil Wood are too much, they make sense.

[donevwil]

Although I've never had a SRAM BB fail, I've been trying to determine if any non-SRAM/Truvativ GXP BB retains the "no thrust load, pinch the ND inner race" concept or if they all resort to adding a thrust load to both cups via a spacer or shims and a wavy washer?

The GXP concept is the best going on paper, but the old "what happens when a BB shell isn't faced properly" throws a wrench in the works (moment load on the ND bearing and quick death). Anyone ever had a drive side bearing fail on a GXP BB due to something other than contamination?

Aside from bushing the Shimano standard 24mm ND inner bearing race to the 22mm GXP axle, it appears most go in different directions:

- From what I can tell Chris King compresses both cups as you torque against a spacer, effectively a Shimano solution. How they accomplish this without a stack of shims added and subtracted as needed for a crank not designed (toleranced) for this application must mean either the drive side spacer is some sort of crush washer or L-R crank alignment is whatever you end up with. Anyone know ?

- The Wheels Mfg BB uses the Enduro solution (they also make a GXP BB) of very good Enduro bearings, a stack of shims used as needed and a wavy washer, a'la Campy, to control the amount of thrust load introduced when compressing the bearing cups.

- Apparently the Phil Wood GXP adapted solution has only one part so I'm thinking it retains the true GXP design intent, for better or worse.

For now I'm sticking with SRAM GXP BBs and a well prepped frame.

[chiasticon]

- From what I can tell Chris King compresses both cups as you torque against a spacer, effectively a Shimano solution. How they accomplish this without a stack of shims added and subtracted as needed for a crank not designed (toleranced) for this application must mean either the drive side spacer is some sort of crush washer or L-R crank alignment is whatever you end up with. Anyone know ?here's a link to the installation manual for the gxp conversion kit: http://ck-wordpress-media.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Conversion_Kit_9.pdf

basically, they use a spring washer on the DS.

fwiw, just installed my first wheels manufacturing BB and loved it. PF30 to gxp "outboard" model (i.e. all in one conversion from PF30 to gxp). installed easily and is made really well. can also be removed for servicing, if needed. I have a similar model praxis converter on another bike and also think it's fantastic. wish either of those two made a straight up gxp BB.

anyway, best I can tell, the only options are: Sram, CK, Phil Wood, Enduro and Hawk Racing.