most serviceable bb?

[wendigo]

Looking for a bb (threadfit, english 73, external cup) that can be easily maintained
Emphasis on "easy"
I live in a rainforest, next to the ocean, so think lots of (salt) water
Pretty much burning through a bb every 6-9 mo on my commuter
The bike typically gets left out in horrible weather all day then ridden through puddles, it is an old beater singlespeed that i don't care about , though it would be nice to have cranks that aren't actively fighting me
Basically I don't maintain it, when a freewheel inevitable breaks i just kick bike or walk home, i ride bearing flattened bbs for a few months then purchase a new bb
Thinking of upgrading to a chris king bb and squeezing some grease in there once a month
what say ye? yea, nea, better options out there, suck it up and ride your stupid speed bike like a burly metrosexual

[jm2e]

Riding DH in the southeast, I discovered that Sram and Shimano threaded bottom brackets were so cheap I just always kept a new one in the toolbox. You could invest in a fancy serviceable BB, but ultimately I don't think it saves time or money.
Pull Cranks > Unthread BB > Wipe out muck > Thread in new BB > Cranks.

[plugboots]

Yeah, my Chris King needs a special tool to really do it right. SRAMs are $37? Do the math.

[donutlynx]

How many regular BB's does it take to pay for the CK BB + the grease + the grease injector (or not)? If you plan on keeping the BB long enough to pay for itself, it seems like a better use of resources. I have a CK BB on a one-speed MTB that has been in service since 2008 or so. It has over 15,000 miles on it. I service it regularly, and don't have the injector (just pop the retainer clips and seals out, then clean and re-grease the bearings, and re-install). However, it DOES need new bearings, but only because I semi-recently neglected it after the wettest of wet rides and some pitting developed in the balls and races. I am looking to contact CK and see if I can replace the bearings in the cups.

Anyway, yeah it could be worth it.

[wendigo]

oh yeah - i've been riding this bike sine 03/04?
also have a bike touring setup that needs a new bb and mt bike, plus wife's bikes, so would likely change those out to the same setup as well.
question is less about ck as I understand they are solid, but are there other brands that I should be looking at as well?
otherwise I'll be picking up a few or five, ck bbs and an injector tool

[plugboots]

How many regular BB's does it take to pay for the CK BB + the grease + the grease injector (or not)? If you plan on keeping the BB long enough to pay for itself, it seems like a better use of resources. I have a CK BB on a one-speed MTB that has been in service since 2008 or so. It has over 15,000 miles on it. I service it regularly, and don't have the injector (just pop the retainer clips and seals out, then clean and re-grease the bearings, and re-install). However, it DOES need new bearings, but only because I semi-recently neglected it after the wettest of wet rides and some pitting developed in the balls and races. I am looking to contact CK and see if I can replace the bearings in the cups.

Anyway, yeah it could be worth it.

That’s almost exactly my story, but I kinda don’t care about the pitting. Anyway, I think with the additional info now stated, the OP should get the CKs for the bikes and maintain.
I have no idea if there are almost as good BBs that are possibly easier to maintain. Prolly not.

[donutlynx]

Honestly, I don't know of another external cup BB that is as serviceable. They are probably out there, but not sure.

The Shimano, Sram, RF, and even Hope BB's that I use on other bikes all need regular replacement. Hope has been the best of the four. I've seen some of the fancy ceramic BB's last a darn long time - much longer than std. stainless.

[bagtagley]

Shimano can be serviced. The shields come off, you just gotta go slow and work your way around. The newer ones I've owned slide out without much issue, easily enough that it can be a pain to reinstall the crank.

[El Chupacabra]

For an abused, cheap beater bike - why not square taper cranks and a cartridge Shimano BB? Those things lasted forever and are dirt cheap.

[ridinshockgun]

Ride in the PNW and it's so easy to just change out a SRAM threaded BB once a season. Same with headset bearings.

[Dantheman]

For an abused, cheap beater bike - why not square taper cranks and a cartridge Shimano BB? Those things lasted forever and are dirt cheap.

My thoughts exactly, though I have no idea if the frame could actually take a cartridge BB. My wallet hurts just thinking about buying five CK BBs

[jm2e]

OP, really depends on your wants. Seems like you're torn between not caring too much about your beater versus wanting to drop a grand or so on equipping the family fleet with CK BBs. But sometimes you just want to treat yourself to nice shit, and I totally get that.

Personally, I doubt the "just squirt a bit of grease in there" routine ends up being all that easy or quick or effective with the CK. Maybe I'm wrong.
Personally, by the time I pull off the cranks and un-thread the bottom bracket, it's really nice to just bin the thing and put on a new one. At $25 for a new Sram or Shimano BB on Amazon, It'd be few seasons of fucking around with CK before I even break even.
Personally, I'd also consider cranksets. I fucking hate when I've got different standards on different bikes. If you're doing everything now, at least switch the whole fleet over to the same standard.

[D(C)]

Shimano can be serviced. The shields come off, you just gotta go slow and work your way around. The newer ones I've owned slide out without much issue, easily enough that it can be a pain to reinstall the crank.

What's the best way to pop off shields without making a mess of them?

[jm2e]

Razor knife or tiny little pick (assuming access to dental instruments)

[stuckathuntermtn]

Deore bottom bracket is like $20. Or you could try keeping the bike inside somewhere.

[bagtagley]

Razor knife or tiny little pick (assuming access to dental instruments)

Yep. I've got an old butter knife I use. A thin bladed screwdriver works as well.

[wendigo]

tried the pop the shields off method a number of times. I typically need to replace the bb sometime between 30 mins and 90 days after mucking around in there.

[SchralphMacchio]

I intend to moderately neglect my RWC bottom bracket here in my part of the PNW (Eugene). I don't have enough time on the BB to tell you yet how it handles said neglect, and I've skipped this winter's and this coming spring's muck riding due to shoulder surgery.

RWC uses a standard BB tool and less cost than Chris King. edit: Not sure how to service the bearings actually but I dont really care. I'm also in the valley and you're on the coast, so my results will not necessarily translate.