I have a Scott MTB (710) bought 20 months ago. I have done approx 5000 miles on it - mainly on tracks, not ridden hard or on rough ground.
Within a few months, the bottom bracket went. The bike shop told me I had 'ridden it loose' - to be honest, I don't know a deal about set up, but they had set it up when I bought it.
The replaced the BB and off I went. (Not under warranty, it cost me £350 - about $500)
About 4 months ago, the bearing went.
They replaced it. £100 -

I think the bearing has gone again.

Is this normal?
I know I'm the worst kind of customer probably because I have little practical knowledge. (I'm a nurse and practical isn't my comfort zone)

But I love to pedal and escape from my ****ty life. (Which I'm struggling to do now)

Any advice is welcome.

Thank you

First you need to find a different shop...this one is clearly taking advantage of you. 500 dollars to replace a bottom bracket after a couple of months riding is outrageous. Did they replace the crankset too? or just the bottom bracket? If you had really only ridden it a couple of months from the date of purchase and the bottom bracket was loose then the I would argue that it was an initial setup problem. And then another 100 to replace bearings 4 months later? Either you are a beast of a rider or you have the most expensive but sh*tiest quality bottom bracket on the planet.

-j

Is this a Scott Scale 710? Did you buy it new?

Assuming it is, this is my take. That thing has excellent components so I don't think the bearings are failing in the BB. Because it has a press fit bottom bracket, I'd say it was pressed in crooked and damaged the hole it sits in (made it an oval). This now oval shape will feel tight until it gets stomped on a few times then its loose.

Now, shops don't usually press the bb in for the first time so this may not be their fault originally. It is their fault for the repair. They should have checked to ensure that the BB cup seats were in good shape before pressing in a new BB. It could be a frame warranty claim, so I might take it back and ask about this possibility. If they say no, I wouldn't let them work on it and would call Scott myself to try to work it out. Also, never go back to that shop for work after resolving this issue.

Thats a £55 repair, inc parts at full retail, the OP really needs to find a new LBS, or they haven't given all the details of what was replaced

I still call bullsh*t!

First, if one looks at the specs of all of Scott's current lineup of 710 bikes they are all spec'ed with the same shimano XT M8000 double crankset and pressfit BB with the exception of the Contessa 710 which comes with M622 crankset (deore level) and the Gambler 710 which comes with Saint crankset.

The entire XT M8000 groupset can be purchase for £430 and the M8000 crankset cost only £109. The average price for the pressfit bearings/cups is only around £22.

If the OP has the Contessa 710 then replacement parts of the same spec as the original are even less expensive than the other 710 models. The M622 crankset sells for between £60 and £79 and the bottom bracket is roughly the same price as that used on the other 710 models.

Second, the shop replaced the OP's BB at cost of £350...the BB axle is part of the crankset. So if they replaced the BB bearings, cups, and Crankset then they totally ripped the OP off because those parts should not have cost much more than the £109 for the crank, and £22 for the bearings/cups....it should actually have been less because the crank is available without the chainrings and the shop could have move the chainrings to the new crank if they actually replaced it. If they only replaced the bearings/cups then they totally took the OP for a ride.

Third, a few months later the shop replaced the bearings/cups at a cost of £100 for a part that costs on average £22.

Even with the cost of labor added in to do the work they have seriously ripped the OP off.

No matter how you slice or dice this, the the OP has been getting F***ed by this shop...especially if this is something that should have been covered under warranty. And this is especially true if one looks at the 2014 model year specs (since the OP indicated their bike is 20 months old) which indicate the XT M785 crankset which can be purchased for roughly £92.

OP...find another shop, your current one is totally screwing you over.

-j

While I find this story incredible at face value and have no reason to doubt the OP in his take on it I do wonder when such a huge disconnect is made known what is the info not said.

A few comments- 3000 a year of any condition riding can and does wear out BB bearings many times. The press fitted cartridge bearing seals don't always do the best at keeping out water. I'd be very interested in seeing the "bad" bearings to know the actual "failure" mode.

I agree that miss installed cartridge bearings will hasten their demise. And add possible bearing seat damage. But there are work arounds to this often, if seat damage did happen.

It's a well known issue of press fitted BBs that proper initial machining of the seats is vital for best performance.

It would be interesting to see a copy of the service sales slips (shop ID can be blanked out) to see what actually was done at what cost. We reprint service tickets for customers sometimes for them or for our needs. If the OP didn't save the original slips (and if not then bad on him) he might approach the shop and ask for the records so he can track his costs. Andy.

For the prices, a PF71 the BB fitted to the bike has a retail of £24.99 (SM-BB71 MTB press fit bottom bracket with inner cover, for 92 or 89.5 mm | madison.co.uk), that's going to be the price at a shop, not the on-line which is about £20. Fitting (going from Evans website) is £25, an indepenent will be less, my local is £20.

Given the OP hasn't come back, thinking it is all BS