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Home | Product Reviews | Bottom Bracket | Race Face Deus X-Type BB | ||||
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Submitted by
Eric Foltz
a Cross Country Rider
from Lake Forest, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: 4/16/2008 5:57:33 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Gooseberry Mesa |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Purchased At: | Jenson |
| Strengths: | Light weight |
| Weaknesses: | Durability |
| Similar Products Tried: | Grafton Ti, Shimano XTR, Hope |
| Bike Setup: | BMC Trailfox 02, Pike, Race Face Deus XC, Hope BB, X9 Twist/RD, XT FD |
| Bottom Line: | Quite possibly the worst MTB product I have seen in 20 years of riding. Initially took about 300 miles of riding for the bearings to loosen up but then the BB failed completely with less than 700 miles. Seals on both sides failed letting in water and debris. Non-drive side bearings developed play. I replaced with a Hope BB and cranks spin smoother than they ever did with the Race Face BB. I wouldn't recommend this BB to anyone. Spend a little more and get something that is going to last. |
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Submitted by
Uncle_Mike
a Cross Country Rider
from Ottawa, Canada
Date Reviewed: 9/24/2007 8:21:37 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | pwrline |
| Duration Product Used: | 2 Years |
| Strengths: | Looks good, and comparitively inexpensive |
| Weaknesses: | Horrible durability |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano XT External (not good either), Shimano sq taper and Octalink, etc. |
| Bike Setup: | High end XC and Trailbikes with X-Type bb's |
| Bottom Line: | Last year I went through 3 of these, including one that lasted exactly one week (Transrockies). This year I installed one for a friend and it also lasted one week (BC bike race). They were actually seized when removed from the bike box. It must be in the design as Shimano has also let me down. I have a square taper XT on my Tracer that has lasted for 4 years, but have no expectations that the external ones will make it through more than a season. Always loved RF, but some of there products over the last few years have really disappointed. It is not an install issue and I've drilled frames to ensure drainage. |
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Submitted by
Eric
a Cross Country Rider
from Dayton, Ohio
Date Reviewed: 6/27/2007 10:12:38 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Caesar's Creek |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Price Paid: | $235 |
| Purchased At: | BeyondBikes |
| Strengths: | Lightweight, easy assembly/disassembly |
| Weaknesses: | Seal design, bearing quality |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano Cartidge |
| Bike Setup: | Trek STP300, Cane Creek Wheels, SID Race fork |
| Bottom Line: | This review is for the bottom bracket. Price shown was for bottom bracket and crankset. Crankset is great! Bottom bracket - not so much. Bearings were stiff from the start. Non-drive side failed after less than 1 year - seal failed and allowed water & mud in. Replaced with rebuild kit with ceramic bearing my LBS suggested. Seal design totally different with rebuild kit - hopeful that durability will be improved. Overall concept seems good, RaceFace just got cheap with the bearing and seal designs. If you're OK with a BB that has disposable bearings, go ahead & buy it. Once they fail, bite the bullet and go ahead and buy some quality bearings to replace them. |
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Submitted by
stefano BOR
a Weekend Warrior
from ITALY
Date Reviewed: 2/20/2007 9:52:22 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Purchased At: | my bike shop |
| Strengths: | NONE |
| Weaknesses: | The terrible bottom bracket |
| Similar Products Tried: | shimano hollowtec 2 |
| Bike Setup: | standard Kona Coilair |
| Bottom Line: | Terrible, failed after 3 months, the nondrive side bearig whas blocked, contaminated by water, non warranty fron italian distributor, they told that a high pressure water was used, false, I have other bikes with shimano hollowtec 2 bb and i never had any issue. Stay away from the RACE FACE X RType BB!!!! |
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Submitted by
Tony Cavill
a Weekend Warrior
from Welington, New Zealand
Date Reviewed: 2/19/2007 12:45:07 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Skippers Canyon |
| Duration Product Used: | 2 Years |
| Price Paid: | $60 |
| Purchased At: | Burkes |
| Strengths: | Easy to get crank on and off. |
| Weaknesses: | Lasts about 3 months maximum before bearings (normally drive side) allow water ingress and fail. This is generally noticed by stiffness in the crank by which time it is waayyy tooo late. Almost impossible to remove bearing to replace. What may help is to remove the crank and cup regularly and push grease into the area behind the bearing - but why should you have to do this. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano Deore |
| Bottom Line: | Don't know how they have the nerve to put this product on the market. Apparently the Shimano Hollowtech are compatible so will be looking to put this in next. |
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Submitted by
JAMES
a Cross Country Rider
from ENGLAND
Date Reviewed: 12/12/2006 2:14:04 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Purchased At: | RUTLAND WATER |
| Strengths: | None |
| Weaknesses: | Allows dirt and water into the bearings causing premature failure of the product |
| Bottom Line: | 3 of these required in 1 years cycling. Need I say more. |
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Submitted by
Rob
a Cross Country Rider
from Boulder, CO, USA
Date Reviewed: 9/28/2006 10:30:40 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Strengths: | Not to expensive |
| Weaknesses: | Noisy from the start, very low durability |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano XT |
| Bike Setup: | Dean 29r, XT, White Bros. Fork |
| Bottom Line: | I decided to try a RaceFace bottom bracket after less than satisfactory results with the standard Shimano XT external bottom bracket (two toasted brackets in 8000 miles). The RaceFace bottom bracket managed to last all of 4000 miles. In addition, the bearings were noisy from the start - at least the Shimano BBs were quiet until they failed. My take on this product is that if someone offers it to you, turn and walk away - fast! Anyway, I am now going to have Phil Wood bearings installed in a Shimano shell and see how they work out. The Wood bearings are about 50% bigger than the Shimano or RaceFace bearings, so hopefully they will last longer. For an interesting discussion on bottom brackets, try the following link: http://www.peterverdonedesigns.com/bikebottombrackets.htm |
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Submitted by
Rob West
a Racer
from Plymouth, Mi. USA
Date Reviewed: 9/20/2006 10:57:01 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Poto |
| Duration Product Used: | 2 Years |
| Price Paid: | $225 |
| Purchased At: | QBP |
| Strengths: | Crankset and rings are great. Stiff, shifts smooth after 2 yrs. |
| Weaknesses: | Bottom Bracket. Have replaced 2 so far |
| Bike Setup: | 04 Yeti ASR Sram X0 |
| Bottom Line: | I love Race Face cranks and have been using them for years. Only replaced the middle chainring on this set. The BB system is terrible however. I am on my third ones, and customers are having the same problem. They foul easily from the weather, and seize up. And this is in Mi. Race Face did replace one set for free. Good customer service, and gave me some extra seals so I can service them myself in the future. I have ordered the Phil Wood replacemnt tool and bearings to correct the problem long term. Still, I recommend the Deus X. |
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Submitted by
ptc
from Scotland
Date Reviewed: 8/27/2006 9:39:57 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | The ones nobody else knows about :o) |
| Duration Product Used: | 2 Years |
| Strengths: | Does it's job. |
| Weaknesses: | No tolerance for shoddy fitting by your LBS. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano, FSA. |
| Bike Setup: | 5" F/S done up nice |
| Bottom Line: | I ride in constantly in mud, salt water sand, dirt, rain (It's Scotland, you get the picture). My first BB was wrecked after 9 months due to a cracked outer seal, which the bike shop had done when they swapped frames when I bought the bike, I should have noticed I know. I swapped it over myself and continued on regardless. A couple of weeks ago I stripped it out and checked it over and there was no water/dirt ingress at all and the unit is looking good and running well. This might be helped by the fact I used a good grease when I installed it, Motorex, which helps to keep the crap out of the delicate innards. But I'm not wiping it completely clean to test the theory :o) It's a good unit and easy to install. One thing though there seems to be two sets of spacers that come with the BB, an alloy set and a plastic set. Try to get the alloy set, it would be too easy to overtighten the plastic ones when installing the cups and wreck something. |
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Submitted by
Terrell Thruston
a Weekend Warrior
from Roseville
Date Reviewed: 8/25/2006 5:18:22 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Foresthill Divide Loop |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Strengths: | None |
| Weaknesses: | Poor design, poor spec bearings |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano |
| Bike Setup: | 2005 Giant Reign |
| Bottom Line: | This review is for the Race Face Evolve XC X type. I purchased my bike new 3 months ago and noticed my cranks had some resistance after 2 months. The bearings are already full of grime and need to me replaced. An absolutely lousy product. Now I've got to deal with the hassle of warranty issues. Ughh! |
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Submitted by
josh
a Weekend Warrior
from slc, ut
Date Reviewed: 8/20/2006 11:22:43 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 2 Years |
| Price Paid: | $35 |
| Purchased At: | pricepoint |
| Strengths: | Farily cheap but not if your'e buying 3 sets a year. |
| Weaknesses: | I've gone through three sets of these in less than two years. I can't believe Race Face put this out as it's best external bb. The design is laughable. It says on the bb not to disassemble these and it's because you will see how cheap these were made. The dust/grime/water seal it a joke. It's a 25-cent brittle plastic cover and that's it! Water has no problem getting past this thing. I’ve always been happy with Race Face products so I hope they are reading these poor reviews. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Everything under the big bright yellow sun |
| Bike Setup: | Intense 5.5 |
| Bottom Line: | Oh Race Face, these are pathetic. I can't believe you put these out. |
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Submitted by
Mike robinson
a Cross Country Rider
from Victoria, BC, Canada
Date Reviewed: 7/24/2006 2:02:28 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | two sheiks |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Purchased At: | came with my Dawg Delux |
| Strengths: | light weight |
| Weaknesses: | no durability, easy water contamination |
| Bottom Line: | This BB sucks. I have never had so many BB's fail me. In one year I have had 4 of these BB's replaced under warranty. Race face is good when it comes to warranty but some of these BB's have lasted only 4-6 weeks. It is a hassle always having to deal with this BB issue. I think I will put in an x type shimano xt BB next. |
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Submitted by
Giancarlo Pelosi
a Weekend Warrior
from Miramar, FL, USA
Date Reviewed: 7/13/2006 2:16:23 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Markham Park |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Purchased At: | Bell's Bikes |
| Strengths: | So far so good. No troubles. Purchased based on reputation alone. |
| Weaknesses: | None so far. |
| Similar Products Tried: | XTR BB, Truvativ and XT BB. |
| Bike Setup: | 06 Giant Trance 1, 06 XTR Rear der, 06 XT front der, XT rotors, chain, and shifters. Race Face Dues XC bars, stem, seatbost and crankset (X-type BB). Chris King headset, Mavic Crossmax SL disc, WTB Rocket V Stealth saddle, Kenda Nevagal UST's, 06 FOX F100RL and 06 Float RP3. |
| Bottom Line: | Great bang for your buck. Get it. |
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Submitted by
Chris
a Cross Country Rider
from wisconsin
Date Reviewed: 7/10/2006 10:13:46 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | singletrack |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Strengths: | Is there any? |
| Weaknesses: | Bearing life. Axel corrosion. Overall design of outboard bearings in general. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Never tried outboard bearings before this. Ran ISIS for years. |
| Bike Setup: | SS XtC |
| Bottom Line: | I ran ISIS bottom brackets for years. I figured I'd try some of these new "outboard bearings" and see if all the hype was real. Well let me tell you: they suck. The bearings are supposed to be preloaded from the side by the use of little rubber spacers: lame. With an ISIS drive, the bearing preload can't be screwed up; the axel is part of the system. Anyway, after less than one month of use, the cranks developed alot of play in them. I removed the whole setup only to find that the right side bearing was almost completely shot (grinding, shaking back and forth); the crank axel that contacts the bearings was all corroded and no longer round. Even if I get new bearings, the axel is shot, and the axel is part of the cranks. I'm going back to ISIS for sure. Just the idea of having the bearings outside the protection to the BB shell is not something I like. |
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Submitted by
Ben Dawson
a Racer
from Peterborough, ON, CAN
Date Reviewed: 6/2/2006 10:22:17 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Race Track |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Purchased At: | Impala Bicycles |
| Strengths: | None |
| Weaknesses: | The entire product |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano external BB's |
| Bike Setup: | Stock 2006 Anthem 1 |
| Bottom Line: | Man Race Face has the worst damn design, they are soooo stupid. First of all the 8mm plug was next to impossible to remove, next the "puller cap" 10mm cap designed to separate the crank arm from the spindle is made of aluminum??? so it stripped before it could do it's job. I wouldn't have to go through all this if the cheap ass bearings hadn't failed in 2 months of riding. Race Face is on my black list. Always nice when this happens the night before you're leaving for a race too, I'm going to be busy tomorrow. I just wanted to get the damn cranks off, the longer it takes me to do this the less likely they will be going back on. Don't even get me started on the retarded shims. I will never buy another product from this incompetent company. -sorry there was no "zero flamin' chili" option, 1 chili is more than this POS deserves. |
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Submitted by
Jeep_Nut
a Cross Country Rider
from MD
Date Reviewed: 5/1/2006 10:00:09 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Strengths: | Adjustable chainline on install, last longer than ISIS |
| Weaknesses: | Doesn't last as long a old square tapers |
| Similar Products Tried: | My first external bearing BB, went through plenty of ISIS BBs (FSA, RF and TruVativ) |
| Bike Setup: | Blur, XO, RP3 and Minute 3 |
| Bottom Line: | The BB lasted about a year of regular East Coast use with multiple creek crossings each ride. No play ever noticed. The drive-side bearings started to get a bit of grind, and since it is pretty much impossible to clean/regrease the bearings without tearing up the BB, I ordered another for 35 bucks. I give these 5 for a value rating because they aren't expensive and 4 for overall because while a huge improvement over ISIS they still do not last as long as the old square tapers did. |
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Submitted by
William Hannigan
a Weekend Warrior
from Tiverton RI
Date Reviewed: 3/30/2006 6:24:03 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | Tested or demo'ed only |
| Strengths: | This review is for the external X-Type BB Cups only. Strengths? Cool color I suppose (black). Readily available via mail order. |
| Weaknesses: | Isn't compatable with Shimano XT Hollowtech as advertised. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano FC-M760 BB Cups (bearings). |
| Bike Setup: | SC Nomad, Fox 36TALAS, Blah, Blah, Blah...... |
| Bottom Line: | Tried to use them with my FC-M760 cranks. ID of bearing sleeve was too tight. When I tried to tap in the crank as described in the instructions, it cracked and partially ejected the left sleeve/dust cover. Stuff just doesn't fit right. Either it is NOT compatable with Shimano, or Race Face doesn't know jack about mechanical tolerancing. Too bad. So I bought the replacement Shimano for ten dollars more. Slid right together. Stick with Shimano, friends. |
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Submitted by
peter johns
from Manchester UK
Date Reviewed: 3/24/2006 5:47:40 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 2 Years |
| Strengths: | Lightweight and reliable and good value |
| Weaknesses: | None |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano, Truvativ |
| Bike Setup: | All mountain Rocky Mountain Slayer (old style) |
| Bottom Line: | Mixed reviews here. Some guys below obviously had bad experiences, but been using these two years now, probably done about 5000 miles on and only now are the bearings starting to wear out. For £30 I'd say that was pretty good value, and they have performed flawlessly for the whole time I've had them. Will definitely replace them with the same in a couple months time. |
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Submitted by
Goatman
a Cross Country Rider
from South Africa
Date Reviewed: 2/27/2006 12:02:43 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Strengths: | Stiff, easy to install and uninstall |
| Weaknesses: | Only lasted for about 3 months of XC riding and developed play and ominous clunks. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano Deore & LX square spline |
| Bike Setup: | Titus Motolite |
| Bottom Line: | This review is for the Evolve XC X-type external bb as there is no category for it on mtbr.com Do not believe all the marketing hype that stands behind this product. It does not last. The bearings were contaminated when I pried off the seals with hardly any grease left in there...that lot did not spin happily. Back to Shimano I go for a compatible external bb, my old-fashioned square splined Shimano bb cheapies outlasted this hyped product by far, with the same riding conditions...so don't waste your hard earned money on this product before Raceface does some more R&D to improve it and amaybe hust a little less hype. You could try www.enduroforkseals.com for a bb bearing rebuild kit, a great company to deal with! |
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Submitted by
dirtdirt223
a Cross Country Rider
from Dallas, Texas, US
Date Reviewed: 1/30/2006 12:06:09 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | any |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $350 |
| Purchased At: | speedgoat |
| Strengths: | none |
| Weaknesses: | durability, reliability |
| Similar Products Tried: | xtr cups |
| Bike Setup: | rigid steel ss |
| Bottom Line: | purchased the cranks and bb as a set. after less that 200 miles, the cranks developed some play in them. took the cranks off of the bike and discovered that the plastic dust and water cover on the non-driveside cup broken in several pieces. the plastic piece, which looks as if it costs about a nickle, cannot be purchased separetly. purchased an xtr cup as a replacement. tried on several ocassions to contact raceface via their website without success. will never purchase another raceface product. had a buddy who's bb cups went bad on his bike after about the same lenght of time. |
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Submitted by
Emery
from MntBrook, AL
Date Reviewed: 12/11/2005 6:37:02 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Strengths: | External bearings, seems very stiff and fairly lite. EASY to remove cranks. |
| Weaknesses: | cost |
| Similar Products Tried: | xtr sealed cartridge |
| Bike Setup: | blur, pushed fox rp3 06', minute 3, xtr/xt/raceface, mavic/highrollers, salsa/thompson, EA 70 monkeylite, flite |
| Bottom Line: | External bearings are manditory on SantaCruz Blurs unless you drain the water out of the bottom bracket after every ride. Could have just drilled a hole down there but time for new crankset anyway. These have worked flawlessly since I put them on. Did here some squeeks but turned out to be my candy pedals, cleaned and lubed them up for silent running. |
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Submitted by
John
a Racer
from NJ
Date Reviewed: 10/12/2005 9:24:47 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Strengths: | Easy to set up, Stiff Crank Arms |
| Weaknesses: | After 20 rides BB Bearings seized in left cup. Had to buy a whole new X-Type BB. Dealer told me that I had to buy a whole new bb. Race Face won’t even give me a new bearing. They don’t even want to talk to their customers, will only deal with shops. The worst customer support I have ever seen. I have tried just about every high end BB and crank set and this is far the worst product out there. They need to use higher end bearing, especially if this is going to be their top of the line BB. Also 1st week having Deus cranks tried to tighten the crank ring bolts and broke 2. Again no help from Race Face. Allot of chain suck when new. |
| Bike Setup: | Intense Spider, Fox F100X Sram XO |
| Bottom Line: | Would be a easy thing to fix if Race Face stood behind their products. Need more R&D before releasing products. This is their top of the line cranks and BB, they should use top of the line parts. |
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Submitted by
Brian Hughes
a Racer
from Los Gatos, CA
Date Reviewed: 10/4/2005 11:55:31 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | StS |
| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Price Paid: | $40 |
| Purchased At: | TrailHead Cyclery |
| Strengths: | Light weight, easy to install with the right tool. |
| Weaknesses: | The bearings suck. After only a few rides it's a creaky I've had this BB on my bike since I built in in February and I've had to replace it three times already. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Shimano |
| Bike Setup: | Rocky Vertex TSC |
| Bottom Line: | It's a great idea, but I don't think that the technology is there yet for off-road riding yet. Overall I'm unhappy with my setup. I have always had problems with RF BBs, and this is the last straw for me. No Mas. |
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Submitted by
saddlesore
a Weekend Warrior
from Calgary Alberta Canada
Date Reviewed: 1/22/2005 11:25:34 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $245 |
| Purchased At: | supergo |
| Strengths: | stiff and reliable, set it and forget it |
| Weaknesses: | adjustment bolt is awkward and can loosen if you dont tighten it right |
| Similar Products Tried: | ISIS and spined |
| Bike Setup: | Santa cruz blur, mostly XT bits on hit |
| Bottom Line: | They are a good design, they work, but are a bit more tempramental than my ISIS stuff from before, granted, my ISIS was factory installed and I did this stuff myself. nevertheless, Raceface has a great price on these babies and the seals are fine and hold up to alot of goopy roadsalt and mud and all that lovely canadian winter so far with 1000 km it is great. prive is better than Shimano XT if you hunt around. |
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