Was wondering if hambini bb are as good as everyone says. Thinking of getting one in the future or is there other options that are better
Iāve got them on both my āgoodā bikes, and Iāve been impressed with them so far.
Both are external (replacing 1x BSA BBR60 and 1xT47 Praxis Works) and fitted easily, no issues at all on that front and compared to the originals they were noticeably freer moving, compared to the BBR60 in particular it was absolutely noticeable on the road.
Do I have data to compare them to other high end BB models? No, but I was not left wanting. Yes, some of that will be down to the unsealed bearings which will wear quicker, but that brings me on to the main reason for getting Hambini specifically, rather than being tied to one of the other brands, the use of standard bearing sizes with no fluff means I can swap for sealed or go higher or lower spec, Iāve got a small stack of spare bearings (and they seem to be easier to come by than many one use BBs), my winter/endurance bike will go onto sealed when the current lot wear, Iām not tied to one source and I like that.
So Iām short, very happy with them and loving the freedom to tweak to my needs, havenāt had that long on them (about 2 month after I got them I had an accident thatās had me off for 5 months so far), but I see no reason to doubt my choices so far.
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I found his YouTube channel and watched it purely for entertainment.
When I sent a link to my team mates so that they could also have a ālaughā, it turns out that several of them are running his BBs. Not one of them has had a single issue.
Have to admit, the more of his content I watch, the more Iām tempted to invest.
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@PusherMan I am somewhat in the same boat, and very curious about his BBās. But, to be honest, I find his YouTube channel so hostile that Iām not sure Iāll ever proceed. Itās one thing to advertise the quality of your own products, but quite another to promote your product by actively bashing everything else ever created by mankind. (And doing so with a gigantic amount of profanity and āspeaking downā to 99.9% of the audience.)
Itās a style that probably works well for him. Not so much for me.
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Sameā¦ I think he can be a bit of a jerk and Iām not sure heās quite as clever as he thinks he isā¦ but Iāve no reason to believe his bottom brackets are anything other than brilliant.
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I have to disagree I love his YouTube channel heās not scared to say stuff like them other big cycling channel. I love the way he says the truth about bikes unlike other channel as their Afraid of losing their sponsorships.
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I donāt think he is criticizing so much the design of other BBs, more the fact that in the bike industry, not so much frame producer seems to care about tolerances: a round being round, and concentric being concentric. This leads to issues with BB deisgns, and his design seems to help compensate this. For sure, his style isā¦ wellā¦
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Thereās little doubt Hambiniās YouTube output can be polarising. There is variation within that content where some videos he seems to take things very seriously and others where he is using language and presentation that risks alienating audiences. I donāt think itās quite fair to say that he āactively bash[es] everything else ever created by mankindā, but certainly some stuff seems to particularly wind him up. These can probably be summarised as: poor manufacturing standards, poor quality control and false/misleading marketing. Within recent memory he has been full of praise for a TriFox frame, an ICAN frame, and Farsports wheels, whilst giving an above average but balanced review of KPS wheels. He has said some things that I think are out of line and unnecessary, particularly when it involves individuals, and the ācritique the idea not the personā idiom might be worth him bearing in mind. On the other hand, he believes he has been the victim of racism within the cycling industry.
With how polarising he is Iāll admit Iām not totally sure how his business model works in terms of the YouTube channel acting as the shop front, and he certainly seems to enjoy getting into head-to-head duels with people/companies (AbsoluteBlack and OPEN spring to mind) that have probably resulted in him having to engage professional legal services. His products are by all accounts outstanding and I have had very good customer service in terms of knowledge and response time when making an inquiry for a build project.
I believe it is important to have alternate voices like his in the cycling industry, and he seems to happily act in the role of disruptor or court jester depending on what mood he is in. Iāll keep watching but Iām also happy to stop a video halfway through if I donāt like it.
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I bought one of his BB90 kits and it has worked for me. One of the issues with BB90 is that fitting a BB properly seems to be quite a time consuming process, since you need to wait some time between steps if you want it to go well. If you get the bike back the same day from the shop, they havenāt taken this level of care. On my other bike with BB90 Iāve had the BB bearings replaced twice and theyāve failed quickly. I am going to order another of his kits when I get around to it.
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yāall said it much better than my original postā¦ thank you.
I suppose if I only heard of his BB and its quality, but without the background of his YT channel, I would have been an instant buyer.
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Excellent Bottom Brackets, although he had a price hike a couple of years ago which is preventing me from installing them in my other bikes just now. I too have some difficulty with his manner on YouTube, heād probably get more followers (and sales) if he dropped the swearing etc, which Iām sure prevents many from sharing his content. His engineering is outstanding, let that do the talking. Hambini is entirely professional when you speak to him 1 to 1, seems like a different person!
The tools he manufactures and sells are also 1st class, no hammers required. If you can afford his stuff buy it. His insistence on using quality bearings makes a big difference also, bear that in mind when they need replacing.
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Itās a bit of a high-wire act, positioning yourself as an independent technological reviewer while selling related products yourself - as if @dcrainmaker or @GPLama had their own power meter product line. He can be very good at both his review and his BB businesses, but both businesses will always cast doubts on each other.
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I love his channel bc the dude just says what he thinks of products and usually has engineering to back it up. Itās not like every other media outlet that just praises every high end product bc theyāre scared of what the industry might do to them. Too many outlets have completely lost touch with reality. I saw a review of a new Scott bike where the guy called a $9500 bike āreasonably priced and a great valueā. We get itā¦ weāve all spent too much on bike partsā¦
I thought hambiniās absolute black OSPW bashing to be pure gold!
I know 2 people that have his BB. One made it 2 seasons of cx on the same set of bearings. Iād call that a success. The other simply said āit works like a BBā. I suppose itās kinda like internetā¦ if you donāt have to think about it, itās doing itās job
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To add to my earlier comment, Iām buying for the engineering quality, not whether I ālikeā his Youtube persona or not, his BB sadly doesnāt come with speakers and when I pedal it doesnāt scream āHello Hambini fans!ā whilst screaming abuse at Cervelo bikes. But in his defence, whilst his potty mouth may not be entirely my āthingā, heās clear and remarkably open about the engineering basis for his reviews, in comparison to pretty much any other Youtuber or cycling press outlet he is massively into showing his working. Iām not really seeing (anywhere, not here specifically) any substantive criticism of his engineering logic, so 
No point settling for a second rate BB because I wouldnāt show his videos to my kidsā¦
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I must admit that there is a limit to how impressed I can be regarding machined metal tubes that you plonk bearings in.
His designs are not revolutionary or complicated - but they are good. His unique selling point is that he appears to use (or is?) a manufacturer that is accustomed to the higher tollerances required by aerospace or similar industries - so yeah the variations in manufacture are minimal and accuracy to drawings excellent - might be a little overkill but there is obviously a market for it so good luck to him.
Iām also of the view that the effect of friction in the bottom bracket itself is not huge in the grand scheme of things. My winter bike ended up with two completely seazed up bearings after 6 years of neglect - the crank was just rotating within the ID of the bearing and there were visible steps where material had worn away from the spindle - and that was still only losing me a handful of watts. Iād be very surprised if the difference between the best and worst fully functioning BBs available was more than 0.5-1w.
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Grifters gonna grift, ya know?
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I have never seen the guy, only barely know the name. I have never had issues with bottom brackets, so I donāt know what the issue is there anyway.
But when I read stuff like āhe tells it like it isā a certain group of people who wear red hats comes to mind.
I have access to plenty of information that is factual and accurate without a ātelling it like it isā gimmick.
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100% disagree with you just because you have access to plenty of information that is factual and accurate your just a small percentile that does in the cycling Industry many people go by what these big company are saying.especially people that are new to cycling(Iām guessing your not)
Yes they are great and he has a sick engineering sense of humor.
His bottom brackets fix a lot of short comings to poor frame manufacturing design and QC issues.
You can consider BB infinite also, thats what is in all of my bikes. I choose them simply because they are local USA made, great customer service and arrive super quick.
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I watched one Hambini video. He pretty much said every frame manufacturer except one is selling ticking time bombs. That was when I decided his style wasnāt for me.
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