nzube14

I'm building a new road bike wth a 6800 groupset and Bowman Palace gray frame. The bottom bracket is Press-Fit BB86, and I've slimmed down my choices of bottom brackets to:

Shimano BB86 PressFit ($20)
Hope PF41 Ceramic ($125)
Wheels Mfg. Angular Contact Bearings ($83)
Wheels Mfg. Ceramic ($78)

I've read that angular contact bearings usually last longer especially when pedaling side to side, but I have read that ceramic bearings have significantly less friction. Can't make up my mind

If ceramic is the way to go, why should (or shouldn't) I get the Hope PF41 ceramic if the Wheels Mfg. ceramic is much cheaper?

EDIT: Intended use of bike is commuting, endurance runs, little "racing"

TenGrainBread 

You won't actually feel the difference between normal and ceramic or angular bearing BBs, nor will they give you a performance advantage for your uses.

rms13

Yeah, ceramic bearings are probably the #1 scam in cycling. Worst $ spent on upgrades. There is no noticeable weight or performance difference. Maybe you get some longevity, but at what cost? I've had bottom brackets on bikes that where 10-20 years old before they needed to be replaced. Even if you are riding bad conditions and say you need to replace after 3-5 years if you getting BB that cost $20-50 you can go through several before you get up to the price of ceramic

Campag4life

Shimano press fit BB. Loctite it in place for best probability of quiet free operation.
Save the rest of your money for tires

smarkinson

I saw something about bb drag recently. Couldn't find the exact article but I found this:
https://www.bikeradar.com/au/road/gear/article/friction-facts-measuring-bottom-bracket-drag-39233/
Unfortunately the individual results are behind a paywall but the basics are the best steel bb had a drag of 0.32 Watts while the best ceramic bb had a drag of 0.29 Watts. The worst bb was 1.64 watts but that was an outlier. The average drag was 0.77 Watts.
More interestingly is that of the five manufacturers who had comparable steel and ceramic models three of them had lower drag for the steel rather than the ceramic.

nzube14

Thanks everyone. Forgot to add that I already have the Shimano press fit BB. It's plastic. Just wondering if I should replace it with another, metal bottom bracket, or just keep it. I've seen bike builds of the Bowman Palace use the Hope BB, and now that the Pound has tanked, I could get the Hope PF41 for ~$111. Any thoughts?

rms13

Plastic is lighter then metal and $111 is 3-4 times as much as I would pay for a bottom bracket

nzube14

Thanks for the reply. Think I'll stick with my plastic BB then

noodle soup

T47 is the bottom bracket standard you want.

Bah Humbug

The Shimano BB is AG's P3 went bad in a year. Probably due to water ingress. That said, how many times could I replace it for the cost of ceramics? Six? Effitol.