HT2 Bottom brackets

Equipment
1

Semi rant, semi-open to advice.

My gravel bike has a BBR60 bottom bracket which in a flash of inspiration I decided the weird clunk/clink prob isn’t my freehub but more likely a well-worn BB. I have a relatively unridden bb-52 on my (currently out of commission due to space) single-speed bike so decided to pull that off. After getting very greasy it’s free, I then got the cranks off the gravel bike and went to remove the BB, only the cups are different sizes! Why oh why Shimano do you make different size cups for something that hasn’t changed for years? (that’s the rant bit).

So, advice time, clearly I need a tool to remove this BB. Shimano do an adaptor ( TL-FC25) which is plastic(?) and will do for now. Once I’ve got it (old unhappy BB) free:

  • Are there any better options than Ultegra?
  • Or go for an XT/Saint one since this bike does get muddy and thrashed in all weathers? Never bothered with aftermarket BBs since I live in the UK and rain is an ever-present threat so there is always mud so £100 BBs seem silly.
  • I plan run the bb52 until that dies as well but wasn’t sure it’d work with GRX (but I don’t think there’s any real difference between mtb and road BBs)
2

External cup BBs are fundamentally flawed, because it is so unlikely that the 2 cups will ever be in proper alignment. Treat them as a consumable( buy cheap, because you’re going to be buying more then once) item like a chain, although with waxing a chain will probably last a lot longer.