I've always been a Campy man. I started riding during the Nuovo/Super Record era. I've logged many miles on all my Campy stuff and, other than a few minor "failures", the parts always performed well. In fact, I'm still using Campy parts that I've owned for 25 years.

My question is about Campy's sealed bearing/square tape BB. How many miles would you consider the life span of these BBs?

The reason I ask, is that my Campy sealed BB has just over 17,000 miles on it (this bike have never seen rain) and it started to make noise. I checked it out and noticed that, though it turns freely, it feels "dry".

17,000 miles may sound like a lot. But, I'm still using a Chorus "loose ball" BB from the C-Record era that has over 85,000 miles on it and it is still smooth (it has been on my winter/wet weather bike for the past 10 years). I also have a C-record BB that is pushing 30,000 miles and is still as smooth as ever. I'm not a maitainence freak. I disassemble and clean/repack these BBs every 10,000 miles or so.

So, back to my question. I'm I asking too much from the sealed bearing bottom bracket or did I get a rare bad one from Campy?