Does anyone change their BB regularly?
If so, how often?
If not, when do you know it’s time to change it other than the obvious noises.
I am concerned that all the sweat in the last 2-3 years will make it much harder to remove the old one just like some of the bolts.
Also does it matter which BB to use?
Probably depends on what kind of BB you have and how often you ride in the rain.
In general tho I would say most people
Don’t bother until it gets crunchy. Pressfit BBS are kinda a pain for the home mechanic.
If you’re feeling it’s crunchy by all means take it in to get replaced.
I never ride in the rain and about 90% of my rides are on the trainer. But I do make a good sweat.
BB is one thing I don’t do at home. It’s just easier to give $150 every once in a while to the LBS to do it. I could bear hammering my frame.
I have a Madone so I think it’s a BB90?
The end of winter every year, but I ride audax events all year and here in the South West of Little England, it’s wet.
Pack with new grease. Every bike in the house has a different BB so I learn. Most are marked with a code if you need another BB but it’s usually only visible after deconstruction.
$150 
(insert local profane expression of surprise here)
I fitted a Hope BB to my road bike about eight years ago and I’ve replaced one bearing in that time (last year just before starting the winter’s trainer programme). I’d expect it to last another eight years which might be longer than the frame!
My MTBs also have Hope BBs and are from two to six years old. They get a biannual clean, before and after winter, but that’s it. Ten minute job to remove, clean and replace.
I have no idea what it costs. I just assumed 20-40$ BB plus labor would come to that.
BB90. Ugh. Don’t touch it unless it’s rough. Otherwise you might be headed to creaksville.
It’s not the best long term design since the bearings are pressed directly into the carbon frame. Lots of instances of the frame ovalizing.
I would do everything you can not to get sweat into that area. Towels, more fans. Wouldn’t do maintenance on that BB unless absolutely necessary.
Do nothing until it makes some noise or doesn’t turn smoothly. I really doubt that sweat is getting into the BB.
I just had same question as OP. How often have you replaced your pressfit bottom brackets ? How many miles/hours have them lasted?
My road bike is little bit over 2½ years old and it has been rode approx 20 000km oudoors (98% nice summer weather) + 250 hours indoors. Bottom bracket is pressfit BB86 shimano in carbon frame. I don´t have noticed any obtrusive noice and there is no play.
Should I replace (take for LBS) it for sure or just ride ?
I’m on a 22,000 mile original BB90, probably 50/50 indoor and outdoor riding, outdoor is sunny days only. With the chain off the crank spins very freely but it does sound gritty. Working with my LBS now on figuring out a replacement, I want to get quality bearings because the more times you service press fit the more opportunities there are to booger up the frame it seems, so I’d like the next one to last just as long. Not sure if I should go for a basic enduro or BBInfinite. I’m not interested in ceramic
I got on there just in case but considering my LBS will be doing this I’m not sure that spraying on activators to dry for 24 hours etc is possible in a shop that’s filled to the brim with bikes and a 3 week backlog of work.
The BB is something I would never do on my own, if it was threaded sure, but having the LBS do the work gives me an out if the frame gets boogers up or something, because I have the warranty on the frame as the original owner. If I mess it up then I’m SOL. Pressing a bearing into a knuckle of a car has less consequences than ruining a carbon frame, which I couldn’t even find a reasonably priced replacement for with the crazy demand for bikes. I would pretty much pay almost any amount of money to shift the liability to someone else in case of an oops
There is only one guy at my LBS who works on my bikes, he and I know each other pretty well and I know he will not cut corners with my stuff. That being said, I’m not going to tell him how to do his job and what compounds to use, but I did text him a link to the Hambini kit to see what he thinks of it. He said they likely have the BBInfinite kit in stock, but I really struggle to buy into these companies woh try to sell their product based on “look how smooth it spins” because I feel like they sacrifice actual performance in favor of having something cool for social media, wend wax comes to mind
Your standard screw in BBs will last a long long time in terms of miles, rain or not. I’ve had bike frames crack where the BB was still going at over 60,000 miles. Grease threads when you fit them, then forget till they make noises or other symptoms. Cheap to replace as well when they do go.
It’s funny depending who you ask you’ll hear “companies are ditching press fit because threaded is better” or “companies are ditching press fit because they suck at making the tolerances consistent enough”. I think I fall more in line with #2, using my uneducated opinion
Step 3 unless I’m misunderstanding
Or #3 “companies are moving back to threaded BB’s because consumers are demanding it, based on horror stories (whether justified or unjustified) they have heard about proprietary press fit BB’s”.
I think the switch back to threaded has been because:
improperly installed threadless BBs
customer dissatisfaction
warranty issues
shop dissatisfaction
This has been compounded by manufacturers giving faulty installation instructions, incorrectly installing BBs from the factory, and/or shops not having the full skill set.
If a pressfit BB is correctly installed with loctite retaining compound it will probably last a long time and be creak free. It also has to be installed squarely with the cups being pushed in with a proper press. Attention to detail is often beyond many local shops so this gets screwed up over and over. It is also a little bit beyond the average consumer because you need special tools and the correct retaining compound.
The Trek BB90 shouldn’t require a bearing press. They come out and can be pressed in by hand quite easily. ( it’s one reason they generally are rubbish) . I’m in the UK so a lot of my riding is in the rain so I’ve had to replace mine a number of times. It takes about 20 mins. I need one of the oversize bearings in one side only and I use bearing locktite on that side only. I love my Domane but the BB sucks.
I have a 2018 domane. Absolutely need a bearing press to put one in. Sounds like you either had a dodgy frame to begin with or a badly seated bearing that wore away at the shell.