C-Bear vs. Kogel - bottom brackets

[vinuneuro]

Any feedback on C-Bear vs. Kogel? These are the only two that I'm aware of that make BB30 to BB386 conversion bottom brackets. The Kogel is $40 more than C-Bear.

[nemeseri]

I've been using a kogel PF30A-24 conversion BB for more than a year now. No problems at all.

Regarding customer support, they answered my emails and the mechanic guy (who put together my bike) called them and bought the required bearing drifts from them directly. So my impression is that they have very good support in the US. Also their blog posts seems like they do know what makes a BB good. Also they were the first one to support BB30A / PF30A when it came out years ago.

My only problem with them is that they do not offer steel bearings and I find the BBs very expensive. I do not believe in ceramic bearings in general. Based on my experience I'd buy from them again, but only until there is no decent other option with steel bearings.

Regarding C-bear, I only heard good things about them, but they are close to the price of kogel and kogel seemed to be better supported in the US.

[vinuneuro]

I've been using a kogel PF30A-24 conversion BB for more than a year now. No problems at all.

Regarding customer support, they answered my emails and the mechanic guy (who put together my bike) called them and bought the required bearing drifts from them directly. So my impression is that they have very good support in the US. Also their blog posts seems like they do know what makes a BB good. Also they were the first one to support BB30A / PF30A when it came out years ago.

My only problem with them is that they do not offer steel bearings and I find the BBs very expensive. I do not believe in ceramic bearings in general. Based on my experience I'd buy from them again, but only until there is no decent other option with steel bearings.

Regarding C-bear, I only heard good things about them, but they are close to the price of kogel and kogel seemed to be better supported in the US.

Thanks. My preference is steel bearings as well. The main appeal with either of these is the machined cup and sleeve. Are the bearings separately replaceable rather than the entire BB when they reach end of life.

[Mr.Gib]

Not sure if they have exactly what you are after but I have had fantastic experience with VCRC. Check them out. More competitive pricing and top quality.

[Wookski]

I’ve had very good experience with Kogel- bottom brackets, wheel bearings, pulley wheels etc. perform very well and are exceptionally smooth. Never tried C Bear.

[vinuneuro]

With Kogel, C-Bear, VCRC, etc is it possible to replace the bearings separately when they wear out rather than replacing the entire BB?

I've heard good about VCRC but it seems the only coversion BB's they do are to Shimano and Sram

[Stueys]

Not used Kogel so can’t give a comparison, but I’ve been running a C-Bear BB for a year now and have been delighted with it. Very, very smooth and very well constructed.

[nemeseri]

With Kogel, C-Bear, VCRC, etc is it possible to replace the bearings separately when they wear out rather than replacing the entire BB?

Kogel in this article says that sometimes it's better to remove just the bearings and they have a manual how you can do it. Although I haven't find any replacement bearings available, but asked them.

Article (at the end): https://www.kogel.cc/blogs/kbba/removin ... ike-a-boss
Manual with required tools: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1473/ ... 3701735546

[PinaF8]

With Kogel, C-Bear, VCRC, etc is it possible to replace the bearings separately when they wear out rather than replacing the entire BB?

Kogel in this article says that sometimes it's better to remove just the bearings and they have a manual how you can do it. Although I haven't find any replacement bearings available, but asked them.

Article (at the end): https://www.kogel.cc/blogs/kbba/removin ... ike-a-boss
Manual with required tools: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1473/ ... 3701735546

If you need replacement bearing kogel will sell individual bearings.

[nemeseri]

So they wrote back that you can use the BB90 bearings in any 24mm BBs to replace the old ones. Neat!
Probably it's the same with the BB30 bearings in 30mm axle BBs.

[MichaelB]

I found some listed here in this thread

Ended up having to get a different BB, because shortly after, found a crack in the frame and needed a different one.


Here is the summary :
Thanks to those that have replied. A fair bit more googling and chasing, I have found the following ;

C-Bear : do a BB-BB30-386-R (ceramic bearings) for RRP of Euro 129, but haven't found a supplier yet
HSC - No options
Praxis Works - No Options
Wheels Mfg - No Options
Tri peak - do a Steel bearing (BB30-386-PKSBTF12) for A$178 delivered & a Ceramic (BB30-386-PKCBTF12) for A$225 delivered via eBay
Wishbone - do a Ceramic (BB30386) for A$178 delivered via eBay
FSA - Spacers for ~ $10
Token - Spacers for ~ $10
F1 Ceramics - No Options
Torq Tite (Enduro Bearings) - Euro250 + tools + shipping from Bike 24
Kohler is USD $199 + shipping,
B.B.Infinite is out of stock of the one I need, and list price is US $205.

Cheers

[vinuneuro]

Michael, thanks for the other options I missed. This is seller is selling the wishbone for usd $140. But what is the quality of those BB's? I believe Wishbone is a chinese company?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/mr-ride-Cerami ... SwEK9TxeJQ

You can get the C-Bear BB directly from C-Bear for 129eur shipped to US and Bike24 carries it as well. When I emailed C-Bear about bearing replacement down the road, they gave a rude answer which didn't impress me and also recommended replacing the entire bottom bracket. Wouldn't give me a straight answer on whether the bearings are bonded in place or can be replaced, but did say they are standard size bearings.

I am leaning towards getting the Kogel even though it is USD $200 (!!!!) vs. $160 for the C-bear. The person I talked to on the phone today was I believe the owner and was very friendly and helpful. Additionally, as nemesri and PianF8 wrote, he confirmed that the bearings are standard size can be replaced separately down the road instead replacing the whole BB; the cost is $110 for replacement ceramic bearings. I'd probably replace with steel down the road if I had to, but I've heard the stock Kogel bearings are quite long lasting.

Will be replacing the BB30 bearings during Di2 install anyway and the cost would around $35-40 for ABEC-5 bearings + $10 for the FSA spacer. So incremental cost would be around $150 for the Kogel. I can live with that since the customer service is good, they are supposed to last much longer and (hopefully) get rid of the normal BB30 creaking.

I have read that using spacers rather than a conversion BB accelerates bearing wear. Is there any truth to this?

[MichaelB]

Hi vinuneuro,

From the feedback that I got in my thread, people were happy with the Wishbone BB's. They are from Taiwan, so a little different than China.

There is some good feedback from others in my thread.

[itsacarr]

I have had great luck with Kogel - they also have a good selection of conversion options.