Truvativ GXP Bottom Bracket

2.21/5

(29 Reviews)

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MSRP : $39.00

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Submitted by Chad Thomsen

Date Reviewed: July 5, 2012

Strengths:    Price?

Weaknesses:    Crappy design!!!

Bottom Line:

I bought two of these thinking the first one was defective, and I was on a tight budget. Both of them the drive side plastic bearing cover comes loose and pulls out of the bottom bracket. On the second one this happened on the first ride after installing it. I used a gheto fix of electrical tape wrapped around the crank spindle that goes though the bottom bracket. Shame on you Truvative/SRAM for NOT FIXING this after its a known problem for a few years!!!! After I blow though these two crappy bottom brackets I am getting a Chris King. In the long run Chris King will be cheaper as it lasts forever and does not need a "gheto fix" to make it work. Enuff said!!

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Submitted by deadkenny a Weekend Warrior from Surrey, UK

Date Reviewed: October 12, 2011

Strengths:    Cheap, easy to fit, just works.

Weaknesses:    Perhaps cheap quality, but had little if any problems.

Bottom Line:

Numerous times I've stripped down the bike to clean and remove creaking which turned out to be coming from the pivots and not from the BB, every time. The BB has been on there for 2 years in the most muddy conditions possible and not a creak or grind from the BB itself.

One thing though is as mentioned about the fit. These were pre-fit and have just never been a problem. Servicing the pivots on my GT requires the cranks to come off, so I've done that a few times and first thing I read was a tip to tap the cranks with a rubber mallet when they're bolted back on just before a final torque to ensure they're tightly seated. Not sure if that was something GT or even SRAM said, or I just read it somewhere on the web, but I do that and torque up to spec. Never, ever used loctite and the GT manual never said to do so either (it specifies where on the bike to use the stuff).

Another thing I read somewhere was to use plenty of grease on the exposed parts of the bearings and the contact point of the crank, as well as the splined part of the crank axle.

Also, the Firex canks I've got are self extracting bolt style with just hex key on the axle bolt to remove and fit. This pulls the cranks together. Don't know if some have a different system, or all GXP cranks are like this. Again, torque to spec.

One other thing to point out is since many of these reviews, SRAM have made some modifications to the BB cups with better seals to avoid muck getting in there. Got another bike now with these BBs and will see how I get on with it.

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Duration Product Used:   2 Years

Price Paid:    $30.00

Purchased At:   Came with the bike

Bike Setup:   GT I-Drive 5 XCR. Truvativ Firex cranks.

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Submitted by PointBoy a Cross Country Rider from New Jersey

Date Reviewed: September 11, 2011

Strengths:    nothing

Weaknesses:    worst designed BB that I have ever used. Plastic dust cap/seal on drive slide constantly slides out causing play in the crank arms. I have two bikes with this bottom bracket, it happens on both bikes. My friend has a GF Rig and came with the same BB; happens on his bike too. Search these forums or google it and you will find countless people with the same problem.

Bottom Line:

not even an email address listed on the SRAM website? Come on - wth.

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Favorite Trail:   Any

Duration Product Used:   3 months

Price Paid:    $35.00

Purchased At:   speedgoat, CC

Similar Products Used:   Shimano, Chris King, etc..

Bike Setup:   Misfit Dissent SS & Carbon TB

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Submitted by Ant-Eater a Racer from Vermont

Date Reviewed: September 6, 2011

Strengths:    Works well when new

Weaknesses:    durability.

Bottom Line:

These suck. This bottom bracket came stock on my Trek/Fisher Rig. I've been through three (3!) sets this summer. One set lasted less than 100 miles before becoming so loose and sloppy that I could feel the cranks move with each pedal stroke. Another set failed in the middle of a race so that I could not even pedal. Thanks. I finally go so sick of them that I ordered a Chris King bottom bracket. If I get a full season out of the King bearings it'll be cheaper than what I've spent on SRAM's junk this summer. SRAM/Truvativ should be embarrassed and ashamed to sell something as poor as these.

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Favorite Trail:   Dead Moose

Duration Product Used:   6 months

Price Paid:    $35.00

Similar Products Used:   many different bottom brackets over the 25 years I've been riding.

Bike Setup:   Fisher Rig single-speed.

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Submitted by John a Cross Country Rider from Bristol , CT

Date Reviewed: August 4, 2011

Strengths:    Still rotates smoothly, no drag, even after having the crankarms off and on many times for chainring swaps. There isn't any play in the bearings, yet.. Read on.

Weaknesses:    Starting to leak grease from the bearing seals.. Not a good sign of things to come. Probably will need replacement before the Fall.

Bottom Line:

GXP bottom bracket came stock on bike with a set of SRAM carbon cranks 2x10 setup. The bottom bracket is the cheap black cups GXP unit, about $25 everywhere so it won't be expensive to replace. Durability doesn't look good for the future as it was leaking grease from the bearing seals after only a month of riding. I prefer low maintenance over cheap replaceable components. Especially for something as critical to bike performance as the bottom brakcet.

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Favorite Trail:   any

Duration Product Used:   3 months

Purchased At:   Came on Bike

Similar Products Used:   Too many to bother listing. But the best so far has been a Race Face X-Type ATLAS bottom backet on my former bike that has lasted over two years now. Not too shabby..

Bike Setup:   2011 Stumpjumper Elite FSR

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Submitted by chilternlard a Weekend Warrior from watford

Date Reviewed: July 19, 2011

Strengths:    Fit my boardman and van nicholas frames and works with my existing truvativ chainsets. Relatively cheap. Newer design of seals look better.

Weaknesses:    The bearings wear out rapidly under my normal UK cycling conditions. When faced with 30 miles a week of mixed road (50%)and off-road (50%) chiltern mud (deep and sticky), water and flint they average about 6 months lifespan before the bearings are knackered. That's about 400 miles in my estimation. 2 different bikes, same problem. Old (pre 2010) and new (post 2010) design have same problem.

To be fair to them - I do not take them apart, clean them and grease them and they may well last longer if I showed them a little TLC.

Bottom Line:

They fit, but they wear out fast when faced with typical UK conditions.

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Favorite Trail:   chilterns

Duration Product Used:   More than 3 years

Price Paid:    $40.00

Purchased At:   various

Similar Products Used:   superstar angletech gxp (only installed for 2 months so far but no complaints to date).

Bike Setup:   Single speed hard-tail boardman pro 26" mtb with exotic carbon forks. Van nicholas Tuareg hard-tail sram/truvativ/rock shox reba race.

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Submitted by doctormemory a Cross Country Rider from West Hurley, NY USA

Date Reviewed: April 6, 2011

Strengths:    1200 + Smooth, Noiseless Trail Riding Miles

Weaknesses:    So Far No Defects

Bottom Line:

I've read all the negative reviews and I don't doubt the experiences, However, i thought I should at least relate my 1200 mile no incident usage as well.

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Favorite Trail:   Minnewaska State Park

Duration Product Used:   1 Year

Similar Products Used:   No Name

Bike Setup:   TruVativ Fire-X, GXP, Gravity,

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Submitted by ebart a Cross Country Rider from Grand Rapids MI, USA

Date Reviewed: June 21, 2010

Strengths:    Nice Buying price and lower weight.

Weaknesses:    Poor seal on BB cups.

Bottom Line:

Two flippin rides one with muddy conditions. I clean me bike religiously and still the seals let in tons of grit. Know I have to pull everything and try to clean it out. NOT IMPRESSED! I am thinking of putting an older Race Face DEUS crankset back in.

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Favorite Trail:   All

Duration Product Used:   Less than 1 month

Price Paid:    $140.00

Purchased At:   Pricepoint

Similar Products Used:   Bontrager Race, Race Face Deus

Bike Setup:   Jade Frame, Fox Fit RLC 29er fork, Easton Wheels, Sram X-9 group, Avid Elixir R brakes

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Submitted by wouter_vm a Cross Country Rider from Belgium

Date Reviewed: April 21, 2010

Strengths:    cheap, worked well for a short time.

Weaknesses:    weak, incompatible with everything else.

Bottom Line:

They're wasted after less than a year, but I'm putting the same in again because the "compatible" ones are very expensive.

You could use these expensive BB's: Hope BB's using spacer, the 2010 Chris King GXP compatible BB and the enduro GXP compatible BB's.

You could also install the cheap enduro bearings, but that looks difficult and the tools to do this are expensive.

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Duration Product Used: 6 months

Similar Products Used: shimano

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Submitted by astro-head a Cross Country Rider from Philadelphia, PA, USA

Date Reviewed: September 13, 2009

Strengths:    Easy(?) to intall.

Weaknesses:    Bearings go bad quickly

Bottom Line:

My bike came with this BB from the dealer. It went bad after about a month. I pulled it and found that the bearing was toast. It was "clocking" as it rolled over a bad ball or something about every 12th of a turn. I got the dealer to send me a replacement. After talking with SRAM I figured it had just been installed badly (I removed the cup with my hand...no tool required). It went bad again about 15 months later (about 2000 miles on the bike). I suppose this is better, but I've *never* had a BB go bad like this. Like others, I kind of like the crank, so I just purchased the same BB again.

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Duration Product Used:   2 Years

Price Paid:    $30.00

Bike Setup:   Marin

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Submitted by Galibier a Racer from Manchester, UK

Date Reviewed: August 12, 2009

Strengths:    Cheap, cranks are nice.

Weaknesses:    GXP Bottom Bracket (what a surprise !) - oh and useless installation instructions.

Bottom Line:

Just thought I'd share my experiences with everyone.
I purchased a Stylo Team GXP Chainset/BB a year ago after realising it would cost the same to replace the chainrings on the original factory fitted Bontrager chainset. I found installing the BB cups quite easy (using a Shimano spanner). Knowing that my old Trek had a 73mm wide BB shell I knew I wouldn't need BB spacers (they're for 68mm wide BBs). Once assembled, I found the amount of torque required to force the non-drive side crank onto the GXP BB axle confusing. It seems that you have to keep tightening it right until the non-drive side crank is almost touching the bearing seal. Any less and there will be side to side movement in the BB axle. It's a fine balance. Luckily the crank bolt is so tight at this point that there's no chance of it loosening - no loctite required here, but don't be tempted to oil the captive crank bolt.
I don't quite agree with a previous comment that states that knocking the drive-side crank with a mallet will sufficiently seat the BB axle into the drive-side bearing, to the point where the non-drive side crank bolt tightness isn't required to keep it in place. If you do this, and haven't tightened the non-drive side crank far enough onto the BB axle, it won't be long before the BB axle has slid back out of the drive-side bearing, and side to side play will suffice.
If you tighten the non-drive crank hard enough, without it pushing against the bearing, then the BB axle will become fully seated into the drive-side bearing, although a swift tap with a mallet won't do it any harm.
I found that tightening the non-drive side crank to the point where it's almost touching the bearing seal is just the right amount of tightness to keep everything snug without any introducing any sideways pressure onto the bearings. However, it doesn't take much grime between the cranks and bearings before the seals end up spinning round with the cranks (which I'm sure shouldn't happen). And anything like straw can jam itself tight into this gap. So that leads me onto the issue of the bearings. My non-drive side bearing is very rough after only about 10 long rides, most of which were muddy. I think the constant turning of the bearing seal allowed moisture to get in when it probably wouldn't have done so had it remain stationary against the bearing. Overall the GXP BB is a poor design, and I think I'm actually quite lucky in that my BB shell is just the right width, and that I'm a very experienced mechanic. I'm not surprised that so may other riders have issues. I'm going to take a risk and replace the bearings with some very nice ones (St. Steel or even ceramic) and if these don't last, the whole lots is going on eBay for £1.00

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Favorite Trail:   Uncle Fester

Duration Product Used:   1 Year

Price Paid:    $130.00

Purchased At:   Merlin Cycle

Bike Setup:   Trek 8500

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Submitted by Cycledelic a Weekend Warrior from Fairfax, CA

Date Reviewed: July 1, 2009

Strengths:    none that I found

Weaknesses:    failed in 6 months, with maybe 500 miles of ride time.

Bottom Line:

Worst performing piece of equipment I have ever used. Unfortunately if you get a Truvativ crank you're stuck with this lame performing BB.

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Duration Product Used:   6 months

Purchased At:   Installed on SC Blur

Similar Products Used:   Shimano

Bike Setup:   2008 Blur LT2 kit

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Submitted by wazzer a Weekend Warrior from Preston, Lancashire, UK

Date Reviewed: November 12, 2008

Strengths:    Looks great

Weaknesses:    Only lasted 6 months

Bottom Line:

The Truvative crankset has been faultless (still is), but the BB dropped to bits after 6 months of very hard work. I was recommended to replace the Stylo cranks at the same time as the BB and fit Shimano instead. I choose to replace the BB only and keep the Stylo cranks because they change gear perfectly, they never suck the chain, and the chain keeps firmly in place.

Fitting the new BB was strange because the shaft appears to just touch the none drive bearing and I kept messing with the spacers to try and get the optimal fit. Then I read the instructions and fitted the BB cups with no spacers and all seems well.

I have only done 60 - 70 km with the new set up, but all seems well. The weather in the UK is miserable at the moment and the mud is ankle deep, so I will report back if they fail.

The original BB lasted 6 months, the replacement was only £19.00, which is very cheap for a BB, if it lasts another 6 months I will be quite happy, if it lasts a full year I will be back here praising Truvativ.

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Favorite Trail:   Glentress

Duration Product Used:   6 months

Price Paid:    $30.00

Purchased At:   Wiggle.com

Similar Products Used:   Deore XT, Race Face

Bike Setup:   Orange 5 S

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Submitted by Rewi a Cross Country Rider from NZ

Date Reviewed: November 11, 2008

Strengths:    Psychological - let's your competition know your on their tail

Weaknesses:    Let's your competition know your on their tail
Truvativ test lab must consist of dust proof vacuum sealed zero gravity chamber

Bottom Line:

I wish I'd read these reviews before I bought - For reasons that I won't go into here I went with Truvativ to have something other than Shimano but had no idea the Stylo crank mates for life with GXP b/b.

After 4 rides my bike sounded like a garbage compactor. I cleaned the offending non-drive side out but still have to wear ear plugs after about an hour of riding when the creaking returns.

Based on the reviews below I guess I have worse to look forward to. I will try Darin's advice but have to say it doesn't look like Truvativ have fixed anything since the first review.

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Favorite Trail:   RotoVegas

Duration Product Used:   Less than 1 month

Similar Products Used:   XT/XTR

Bike Setup:   Maverick Durance; SRAM XO; DT Swiss

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Submitted by MarkMTB a Cross Country Rider from Durham, NC

Date Reviewed: July 3, 2008

Strengths:    Started off smooth

Weaknesses:    Drag when new; poor bearing seals

Bottom Line:

Smooth BB when new, though it appeared to drag more than my other bikes. Truvativ manual has a blurb about this getting better as the BB breaks in... well, as soon as that broke in, the drive-side bearing was gritty and no longer smooth. ~700 miles on it - didn't ride in bad conditions - definitely disappointed with the longevity of this BB. Unfortunately the Stylo is restricted to using a GXP BB - might switch over to an Enduro BB or swap out the whole crankset.

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Favorite Trail:   Anything in Pisgah

Duration Product Used:   1 Year

Price Paid:    $30.00

Purchased At:   LBS

Similar Products Used:   Bontrager ISIS

Bike Setup:   Salsa El Mariachi; Truvativ Stylo 1.1 Crankset; 1x9 Drivetrain

Reviews 1 - 15 (29 Reviews Total)

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Truvativ GXP Bottom Bracket

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