Originally Posted by
Johno59
I'm impressed that folks can tell that the bearing race of a fixed cup isn't damaged/worn out from looking from the drive side into the BB abyss. Putting new ball-bearing in a worn out race will not improve anything.
No, but spindles almost always wear faster than cups. And the condition of the fixed cup can be assessed without removing it by removing the adjustable cup and spindle. You only need to pull the fixed cup if you're replacing the whole bottom bracket.