Originally Posted by
rjkfsm
Just curious. What is the average lifespan of a sealed BB?
I ride about an hour or two a day, weather permitting, and I seem to be going through 3 BB's a year. That includes riding for a month or two on the bad one too. If I were to replace them as soon as they started clicking, they would last about 2 months. Is there a better BB I can upgrade to that'll last longer?
RK
If you're going through BB's that fast for that amount of riding, there's clearly something else going on, presuming your hour or two of riding every day doesn't including fording a river. Who is installing them? You, or a shop?
FWIW, the Shimano UN55's are supposed to be better than the 54's. OTOH, my Pelican came with a Velo Orange BB and I've put around 2500 miles on it since March through a LOT of rain and dusty trails, and it's still absolutely silent.
If you're really beating up on BB's, you might want to consider going higher end with SKS or Phil's.