Any feedback on Chris King or Phil Wood outboard bottom brackets?

[tv_vt]

Wondering if anyone has any experiences with either of these Shimano-compatible outboard bottom brackets. I would be getting the threaded version for 24mm spindles.

How much maintenance do they need, in terms of adding grease, etc?

Thanks.

[bikinchris]

I looked hard at both of those for a customer of mine. He had worn out his old BB and wanted a top quality replacement.

I put a Wheels Manufacturing unit with Enduro bearings.

Not because it was less money, but because it didn't use spacer adapters between the bearings and spindle. If I'm going to spend that much money on a bottom bracket, it better not use adapters to make it fit.

[Pinned]

Praxis also offers a nice bottom bracket with properly sized bearings. I agree, I try to avoid adapters/spacers when possible.

[AngryScientist]

i've gone through this exercise a few times.

for shimano cranks, you can buy the CK or PW if you want the bling factor, name recognition or fancy colors. there is nothing wrong with that, and i have CK BB's on a few bikes.

the fact though, is that if you buy the mucho excellent ultegra level BB's on any type of sale, they are really pennies for what amounts to an excellent BB, and you can throw away a whole bunch of them before you approach the price of a CK or PW.

they look good though!

[SteveV0983]

I had the same dilemma when I built up my Vamoots a few years ago and actually ordered the PW. I’m the farthest thing from a weight weenie, but this thing was heavy. I mean “noticeably” heavy. But the thing that made me decide against it was that the out to out dimension once mounted would have been a little wider than the Ultegra I was used to, and the CK is the same as the Ultegra. It may have been a tiny amount, but I didn’t want it getting in my head so I went with a CK instead and love it. I also bought the grease injector tool, and twice a year I pull off the cranks, insert the tool, pump in some new grease, and the old grease just purges out. I spend more time getting the friggin grease gun to work than it takes to change the grease.

[bigbill]

When I was doing a few thousand miles a year on my gravel bike, I'd go through an Ultegra bb a year on average. I'd buy a couple when they'd go on sale, usually <$18. My MTB has an XT that I shimmed over 2mm with some Wheels spacers. Shimano is hard to beat for the money.

[dmurphey]

Originally Posted by tv_vt

Wondering if anyone has any experiences with either of these Shimano-compatible outboard bottom brackets. I would be getting the threaded version for 24mm spindles.

How much maintenance do they need, in terms of adding grease, etc?

Thanks.

Consider better bearings instead of a different BB. SKF has new Matrix bearings which are filled with gel-like grease that is supposed to hold up to nasty cross racing and such.

https://www.skf-mtrx.de/en/our-solution

[bitpuddle]

They are both very nice, well-made products. The Phil has good bearings and very tight seals. Filled with their grease, they should last a long time with no attention. Building with CK components, you are kind of committing to regular maintenance. If you flush the grease once a year, the bottom bracket (and hubs) might outlast the frame.

I do agree with the comments about Shimano bottom brackets. They are good and very inexpensive. I throw a new one on every 12-24 months and don’t think much about them.

[BdaGhisallo]

Originally Posted by SteveV0983

I had the same dilemma when I built up my Vamoots a few years ago and actually ordered the PW. I’m the farthest thing from a weight weenie, but this thing was heavy. I mean “noticeably” heavy. But the thing that made me decide against it was that the out to out dimension once mounted would have been a little wider than the Ultegra I was used to, and the CK is the same as the Ultegra. It may have been a tiny amount, but I didn’t want it getting in my head so I went with a CK instead and love it. I also bought the grease injector tool, and twice a year I pull off the cranks, insert the tool, pump in some new grease, and the old grease just purges out. I spend more time getting the friggin grease gun to work than it takes to change the grease.

I had the opposite with the PW BB I tried when they first released them. The cups were noticeably not as wide as the stock Shimano cups. I would have had to have a few spacers between the cups and the crank arms - and that wasn't going to be allowed.

Additionally, I found the cups very hard to install. The cup threads were very rough and wouldn't interface with the threads in my alu BB shell very nicely at all. I had no issue with the Shimano BB I was looking to replace nor the King BB I ultimately ended up with.

The final nail in the coffin was when I called PW to ask a few questions about the issues I was having. They couldn't have sounded less interested and their surly attitude put a black mark against them for the rest of my cycling days.

[gibbo]

CK make great stuff that lasts forever, but it’s not cheap or light. The lifetime warranty speaks volumes to me. I wanted a BB that will last ages and never creak so I was happy to get a steel bearing CK BB, then I matched it with a CK HS and some R45s and I am confident with a bit of love and occasional grease my bearings will spin smooth and quiet for years n years.

[GonaSovereign]

This steel bearing CK has tens of thousands of kms on it and is perfectly smooth and solid. That said, an Ultegra equivalent is excellent and I'd be happy with either.
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[chiasticon]

Originally Posted by bikinchris

Not because it was less money, but because it didn't use spacer adapters between the bearings and spindle. If I'm going to spend that much money on a bottom bracket, it better not use adapters to make it fit.

the CK BB doesn't require spacers or adapters when you're using a Shimano crankset. it's when you want to use a Sram GXP crankset that you have to employ washers, a stepped adapter sleeve and a stepped disc spring. Shimano setup just has the plastic seals between bearings and spindle. in my experience, it works great with Shimano, but is absolute garbage with Sram GXP. it binds and barely spins/won't spin if you have it torqued correctly.

I think the PW BB is the same. you need a stepped adapter on the NDS if you're running GXP, otherwise for Shimano you just run it stock. I haven't owned it, but I do own their eccentric BB, and that's how it works.

[mktng]

I'm super happy with my CK bb24. I usually get them for my bikes that can run threaded bb's.

I have the grease injection tools and flush once a year. The bottoms brackets never give me issues.

Their warranty before their lifetime warranty guarantee was good. So it's only better now. Had one king BB get eaten alive by salt. They replaced it with very little stress.

Along with their headsets. Amazing stuff.

PW has been on my list to try, as they offer Italian threading. However. I don't ride that particular bike enough to justify the cost ATM. So Shimano BB's it is.