Designed to be used with your X-Type cranksets. Manufactured from high strength aluminum & featuring twice the number of ball bearings than our competitors, Race Face BB cups are also compatible with some Shimano and FSA external BB systems, making for a great upgrade.
• BB Cups are forged & CNC machined from 7050 aluminum.
• Tapering wall construction to minimize weight.
• Massive external bottom bracket cups house 35% larger ball bearings than internal systems, yielding vastly improved durability.
• In addition, bearings feature a special “full-complement” construction. This doubles the amount of ball bearings in the cartridge & greatly increases it’s load carrying capacity.
• Bearings feature our new custom triple wiper seal to better retain grease & keep contaminants out and are factory filled with Phil Wood waterproof grease – tested & proven to extend bearing life.
• Interchangeable with select Shimano and FSA external MOUNTAIN BB systems.
BUILT FOR: XC/AM
WEIGHT: 110 grams
COLOURS: Bad Ass Black
COMPATIBILITY: 68/73mm BB shells only
Submitted by
amish
a Weekend Warrior
from Greensboro, NC
Date Reviewed: April 7, 2011
Strengths: Cheap, Made of metal, easy to install.
Weaknesses: Bearings, Stock Grease
Bottom Line:
From what i have read of other reviews i went into this bb knowing that it was not very good. I had planned on upgrading to enduro max bearings in the future. however, i did not expect the future to be after 4miles of riding. i weigh 135lbs and only put maybe 2 miles of light trail riding on the bb. The stock bearings are terrible. the non driveside bearing developed a knock. Well got the new bearings at LBS for 11$ each. It is easy to take the old ones out if you put them in hot water. i had the LBS put the new bearings in, then pack with waterproof grease, and i just kept the stock dust covers. Now it should perform as a 100$ bb. :)
the bearing number is 6805 in case anyone was wondering.
Submitted by
RFehr
a Cross Country Rider
from Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Date Reviewed: October 1, 2010
Strengths: Widely available replacement bearings, reasonable price.
Weaknesses: Bearings and plastic bushing are complete, utter, garbage.
Bottom Line:
Can't even believe or describe how poor the OEM bearings are. I ride hard (for a 43 yr 'old dude'), and XC/AM race in novice class - but no drops more than a few feet and my bike is meticulously cleaned and maintained. Bearings were 'sloppy' after a handful of rides, completely done after less than a (short Canadian) season.
However, partly because of reviews like this, you can pick up this BB really cheap, yank out the brand new garbage bearings and replace with $15 Enduros and you have a fantastic value in a really high performance BB.
Bike Setup: Yeti 575, talus 32 150Rlc, SRAM X.0, Hope Tech M4, CK ISO
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
John Pedroncelli
a Cross Country Rider
from Albuquerque, NM USA
Date Reviewed: July 14, 2010
Strengths: The cups on these are plenty solid! Fairly inexpensive and easy to work on. You don't neccesarily need a whole new bb!
Weaknesses: The inferior bearings and plastic bushing are definitely the weak link for this bb and other x-type setups. Need bearing press out tool. Just replace the bearings with quality ones.
Bottom Line:
Everyone needs to look at Endurobearings. This is the most informative site I have yet to find. They sell SUPERIOR replacement sealed bearings with larger and fewer balls for many parts of most bikes. Equally important they eliminate! the plastic bushing by decreasing the i.d. by 1 mm. I replaced the stock bearings on the Race Face and the Shimano w/ the 15$ cromoly set and have been on these for over 2 yr with not a single issue! They have to be installed correctly whether they are stock or replacement anyway So get them done right. A decent shop can press them in and out for you as well!
Submitted by
JOwens14
a Cross Country Rider
from Lynchburg, VA
Date Reviewed: April 8, 2010
Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Pure garbage. Bearings will be shot the minute you go through some water or muck. Might as well throw them out when you get the crank it came with and invest in something more worth while.
Bottom Line:
As others have said, this is a junk product. Save your money and time and grab a King or Wood. If on a budget, get an XTR external as it will mate w/ X-Type cranks as well.
Submitted by
Vikingbiker
a Weekend Warrior
from Brunswick, GA
Date Reviewed: October 26, 2009
Strengths: I like the cranks.
Weaknesses: Mud,I've had 2 Atlas Cranks on 2 different bikes. The one with a XTR BB has had no problems, even in mud. The new one with a RaceFace BB had died in a week of riding muddy/wet conditions. I have heard of this problem before. I do like the cranks
Bottom Line:
Install, ride the stock BB until it gives out, then by XTR or XT and enjoy it forever.
Submitted by
Evan
a Cross Country Rider
from Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Date Reviewed: April 7, 2009
Strengths: Highly adjustable.
Weaknesses: Bearing quality could be better, but on par with Shimano.
Bottom Line:
Two years later, after wet rides and stream crossings, it is still going fine. I fear that the setup for this product is too much for most people. Remember when a BB had to be adjusted? Well this one does. The incorrect shell width or too few/too many spacers will improperly preload the bearing. One cannot simply screw it in T.A.F. and bolt on the cranks. If the bearing is under too much side load (something most sealed bearings are horrible at dealing with, and the reason Shimano does not use them in their wheels), they will be destroyed quickly. Bang for the buck is hard to argue with and I think the adjustablity has merits for those needing chainline tuning.
Submitted by
SafeSurfer
a Cross Country Rider
from Gothenburg, Sweden
Date Reviewed: March 19, 2009
Strengths: External bearings, stiff
Weaknesses: Plastic seal and shim is very weak.
Bottom Line:
Had this on my kona dawg supreme and the bottom bracket was installed on the bike. After a few hours riding the sealing plastic was coming lose and the crank was wobbling a tiny bit. After disassembly the shims inside the cups was crushed and this caused the crank to wobble a bit. To me it looka as if it is weak product and not not jsut bad luck. The plastic looked very cheap.
Submitted by
kmetz
a Cross Country Rider
from Edmonton, Alberta
Date Reviewed: February 28, 2009
Strengths: Reliable, easy to extract the crank
Weaknesses: none yet
Bottom Line:
I have used this product in a number of races (one which was extremely wet and was 24 hours) and did not experence any issues. I have to replace the BB now but that is after two years of regular use.
Luckly I never had any issue like the other users.
Submitted by
ffbri
a Downhiller
from santa rosa, ca, USA
Date Reviewed: February 4, 2009
Strengths: easy install, easy to find, cheap (not necessarily a strength I guess)
Weaknesses: very poor seals, plastic shim was cracked without me knowing until they were removed.
Bottom Line:
I just had to replace the BB cups on my bike after riding in wet weather 1 day. Bike has no other problems except this BB. Wish i read these reviews before buying another set yesterday. I'll see how long these last!
This BB was standard issue on my bike. I don't get out much, have hardly had any wet rides, and am pretty easy on my gear. The BB started to seize after the second wet ride, which was after about 6 months use... the cranks didn't spin freely. After 6 months more it was totally seized and turning the cranks resulted in a grinding sound.
There's a bit of discussion about these BBs around (have a look at http://pedaldamnit.blogspot.com/2007/09/race-face-x-type-bb-bearings-upgrade.html), and suggestions to replace the bearings. I ended up getting the Shimano equivalent which was easy to install and so far is doing the job.
When I took out the Raceface the famous plastic spacer cracked, so it was lucky I wasn't trying to keep it alive. Raceface need to look at this design again.
1 chilli for value, although it was part of the original equipment I've never had a BB collapse with so little punishment. 1 chilli overall as you can't service the buggers because of the plastic spacer.
Submitted by
Chris Scott
a Cross Country Rider
from Victoria, BC, Canada
Date Reviewed: April 2, 2007
Strengths: Light
Weaknesses: Poor seals. Not really maintainable.
Bottom Line:
This is my second BB on this bike, and I'm not happy. Bryn, if you are reading this, understand I like Raceface and am very happy with other gear. But for some reason these things won't keep out the crud. I do ride all year in West Coast weather, but I don't spray the bike down. I went through the first BB in 10 months, tried to maintain it myself, broke it (yes, the directions say not to) The LBS got me a couple of the plastic seals so I cleaned and repacked the bearings, freed up a single BB that had dislodged outside of the race, popped the plastic seals back in and rode like that for six mos. However again I picked up a bunch of grit and water. This time I bought a new BB and rode it for another four months. Same thing again. Last night I soaked the BBs in hot water in my sink for ten minutes until the plastic dust seals warmed up, then popped them out without breaking them (still tricky). I cleaned and regreased the bearings again, but I can tell it is a short term solution. I am at a loss as to what advice to give to a purchaser of this BB. Hope you have drier conditions than I do. As for Raceface, I hope you can develop a second seal under or over the dust seal. Regards, Chris
