Bearings: Enduro XD15
 

Just read the EnduroBearings newsletter, which has a nicely documented test protocol. The XD15 bearings stand out, but are $$$. Anyone have experiences to share?

I splurged on an XD15 68mm English Bottom Bracket(24mm Spindle) for my Mosaic build... and honestly I pulled it off the bike after 400 miles(in two rides). Admittedly it was a mucky and wet trial by fire with a 370 mile race to break it in, but it was loud and chunky by the end of that, and needed to be rebuilt(new seals and such). It's nice that they offer the rebuild kits, and I'm sure it'll find a home on a bike again but I don't know that its any better than tons of the other options. I'm running a variety of other BB's on my bikes, with Kogel Ceramic, BBinfinite Ceramic, and standard Sram and Shimano offerings. Not sure your use case, but where I've landed is that on the road, it might be worth a nice $200 BB, but on anything that sees dirt, I'd rather replace it every year with another OEM one for $40...

I junked mine. Not an Enduro fan.

Hawk racing bottom brackets are where it's at. I have yet to wear one out. I get the stainless version with regular seals.

I had the same experience when I tried one. I went back to a King BB pretty quick and have been very happy with that.

Not a fan of Enduro either, especially their mtb pivot bearings which are ok at best. When you compare them to normal industrial bearings such as SKF or NSK bearings they are made cheaply and the seals are also sub-par. Enduro has a good marketing department at that's about it.

When it comes to BBs I have had Chris King, Wheels Manuf., Shimano, Campy, Sram and IMO it's better just to go with a Shimano or Sram version especially for threaded BBs. They are cheap and they last.

Just an FYI, Wheels MFG uses Enduro Bearings inside their own shells almost exclusively... Not the end of the world, as I've had good luck with their thread together BB's in the past.

At least with standard cartridge bearing dimensions, you can always knock out the originals and replace with the brand of your choice. My wheels manufacturing thread together have angular contact bearings. Riding dry conditions on asphalt, I expect a long bearing life.

Thanks for sharing experiences. Are there independent bearing evaluation sites, say similar to the BRR site for tire comparisons?

Yes, they last forever if installed/preloaded properly. The key to this bearing's claim is how hard the metal is. The metal is "XD-15", and the bearing is named after it.

I talked to the founder of Enduro at Sea Otter at length about this bearing and cyclists are quite lucky to have this metal available for bicycle bearings. It was designed for aircraft and the relatively small amounts that would be purchased to make bicycle bearings would not have been worth it for the supplier. Fortunately someone there likes bikes and Enduro was able to acquire the metal for this bearing line.

I was also told you can run these without seals and power wash your bike after rides if running these bearings throughout. The metal is so hard it will grind up and spit out any particles that make their way into the bearings.

I have had several BBs with XD15 bearings on my own bikes and they have been absolutely bombproof. I have also recommended them to several riding buddies and they have reported no issues over several years. There is one friend in particular who rides at least 10,000 miles a year, and every time I service his bike, I am still shocked at how smooth the bearings are. The BB bearings on his bike must have at least 30,000 miles of use on them by now.

4 races and 4 BB's into my first full season of cyclocross I switched to Chris King. Absolutely no regrets. If resistance against contamination and ease of service/re-usability is a priority and you have need for a threaded BB, I highly recommend.