Originally Posted by
Kai Winters
Another benefit of a higher quality BB is serviceability. Often you can either clean and regrease the bearings or replace them with matching or sometimes higher quality bearings. Buying high quality bearings is easy.
I generally used Dura Ace BB on my Aethos. My complaint is the bearings are not serviceable at all and the bearings do not move as freely as other BB's I've installed in customer's bikes. But it is a relatively inexpensive BB.
I recently switched to a Hope BB and it is a night and day difference. It spins so much more freely and smoothly and is completely serviceable plus I can get the bearings either through a shop source or any business that sells bearings.
A couple of things worth noting here. Firstly the difference you are feeling when spinning them is mostly the seals and grease and that is often a trade-off between free-spinning and weather protection. Secondly, the actual difference in power absorbed is likely to be much less than 1 Watt between them. While I can easily feel differences in resistance of BBs when spinning them slowly by hand without a chain, I certainly can’t tell any difference while riding them, or even turning them over with the chain on.