Originally Posted by
Andy_K
do these things really last forever? I mean, I understand cup and cone bottom brackets lasting forever with proper maintenance but my experience with cartridge bearings has generally been that they last a long time and then you replace them because you can't really do proper maintenance.
Ass long as you don't abuse them, they could last the lifetime of the bike. That said, I came into an abused Phil BB that had solidly rusted into an ancient Legnano frame. I literally had to hammer the cartridge out of the frame, and in doing so knocked the bearings out of their mount. Not a big deal, since they needed replacing anyway: The races had completely rusted through.
Phil does not encourage home replacement of the bearings, but they do offer to rebuild their bottom brackets for a nominal charge. I decided to do it myself, anyway, and it wasn't difficult.
