Originally Posted by
onbike 1939
IME even expensive frames may not have the BB faced. My last bike at £1500 had not had the BB faced and it had a thick layer of paint. While I was lucky enough to be able to do this myself, I would have been outraged if I had to pay for this to be done.
At the danger of being seen as an old Luddite, I have to say that it is now my practice, after experiencing the lack of durability with external BBs, to exchange these as soon as practically possible to a chain-set with a traditional cartridge, despite the small amount of weight this adds.
What I have read elsewhere, which makes sense to me, is that facing was not prioritized in the cartridge BB era, from 1990-2005 or so, but prior to that it was important as BB cup position was important for bearing positioning with traditional loose-ball BBs. And my frame is from ~1980.