Hambini BSA BB worth the money?

[Lewn777]

Hambini has a new video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7PANRqY0oU&t=3s on how to install his new £247 BSA BB, https://www.hambini.com/product-categor ... ke-frames/especially for dullards that can't figure it out for themselves. Is this worth the money in your opinion? Or are these swearing videos and 'reaming' of the bike industry just an attempt to gain followers and make money? Maybe the prices are simply aimed at people that will happily pay $5000 dollars for a made in China SL7 frameset? Or maybe somehow there is something special about his NTN bearings and machined alloy?

BSA bottom brackets have been around forever, so I can't understand what he is offering that is substantially better than these products:
https://www.hopetech.com/products/drive ... -threaded/
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-dura-a ... om-bracket

[ms6073]

Wonder if we will ever make a T45 variant for Colnagos?

Or are these swearing videos and 'reaming' of the bike industry just an attempt to gain followers and make money?

Are you trying to say Hambini is not to be counted amongst the haute crowd of 'social influencers?

[AJS914]

I'm not sure a better BSA mousetrap was needed but Hambini sells in small numbers so I'm sure he'll get takers.

[jfranci3]

Diminishing returns. Value of returns goes down logrithmically on BBs.

[Sammutd88]

Can't really see alignment issues with a well fitted BSA bottom bracket that would require a Hambini bottom bracket. My take is that unless you have a pressfit BB shell that is well out of tolerance, a hambini BB is overkill. It's probably worth it in very few cases where a custom bb is needed. Plus......I installed a Wheels MFG BB86 bb in my Canyon and it went in a hell of a lot easier than the install videos for his pressfit bottom brackets. They make scary sounds going in.....I'm not saying they aren't a decent piece of engineering, but I don't anything being forced into my carbon frame like that.

[PLEASEpleasePlease]

I see value in Hambini and his BB's. Shimano is the standard and I stand by my opinion that Shimano makes the most efficient equipment. But, whats wrong with having critical opinion of a product and improving on the design? Flawed or not. We should always be striving for improvment. Shimano outboard BB's are getting to be an old design, even to shimano standards. Hambini has a different approach and it might actually be better in some degree.

I might wince at his words sometime, but lets be honest that cycling media is littered with "schucksters" always selling to the consumer a lot of hot air. But i'm going off point. Yes! I think his BSA BB will be better then Shimano's current offering. Serviceable too, which means less waste (ideally).

[MaxPower]

Can't really see alignment issues with a well fitted BSA bottom bracket that would require a Hambini bottom bracket. My take is that unless you have a pressfit BB shell that is well out of tolerance, a hambini BB is overkill. It's probably worth it in very few cases where a custom bb is needed. Plus......I installed a Wheels MFG BB86 bb in my Canyon and it went in a hell of a lot easier than the install videos for his pressfit bottom brackets. They make scary sounds going in.....I'm not saying they aren't a decent piece of engineering, but I don't anything being forced into my carbon frame like that.

He makes a point about that this BB will only work if you have "good" tolerances/alingment/outer edge interface. Originally he made a one off for his own "budget build", but some people requested that it will be made available to buy - and why not do it then?

I had WMfg BB86 and Hambini BB86. Yes installation for WMfg is a lot easier than Hambini pressfit. Espaccially removal of a one-piece BB is hard and feels "wrong"/forcefull. I made the switch as i wanted ISO size bearings and a design with 25mm to 24mm reducers (as i had problems with Shimano crank axle and 24x37 bearing interface being noisy, no matter what i did.

are they better? I think he gives the necessary information himself - differences in bearingdrag etc. are minimal, but measurable. If 2 watts gains is your game...

But they are beautifully made prodcuts. Both BB, the tools he makes etc. No matter your opinion on his "youtube" personality, his support is very very good. products are niche product, but very good made.

Is >200£ BB worth it? for you, maybe. For me, yes. For the next fellow - maybe no

I would not use them for MTB/cross though. The delrin reducers have no seals to mitigate contamination risk. Bearing seals are the only thing between the elements and the bearing internals. the fit between the reducer and the BB edge (at least for BB86) is small though.

[madik]

New BSA hambini BB makes a lot of sense for a frame which have a slight missaligment (the crank doesnt spin freely) which is probably at least 50% of frames I would expect. If the missalighment is bigger this BB could at least make the bike usable as it would straighten the oposing holes to some degree.. Second good reason is an easy bearing swap. High quality SKF or NTN bearings can be bough in these small sizes very cheaply, like 8 euro a piece. Most other BB like Shimano ones must be replaced as whole + they have a big bearing drag. Hambini BB could also increse the frame overall stiffness a bit so that probably doesnt hurt anyone right?
Its high quality product for a performance oriented use case which will certainly work better than some also expensive BBs like from Ceramic speed. So for a well informed people ist certainly a better product for reasonably affordable price. Like everyone is buing Silca pumps right?

[Ypuh]

I'm very pleased with my Hambini BB for a BBRight. It solved the issue of creaking, but BSA is not known to creak. That doesn't mean BSA can't have alignment issues, but then you're talking about performance and stiffness gains, rather than solving an annoying creak. Even though I did notice a performance benefit (stiffness/smoothness) with my Hambini BB, that isn't what I would splash €250 for.

From what I understood Hambini himself didn't see a point in making a BSA BB for long, but people requested it, he got to work, made some effort and teh expected limited sales might explain the price.

Unfortunately he upped all his prices x2 earlier this year making his products a lot less desirable. At €130 or so for the pressfit solutions, pricing seemed very reasonable considering it can solve noise problems, allows using stock bearings, having a quality product and service, but doubling that price and it feels more like a business. There are some competitors and there will be more, but let's keep it at quality vs. quantity for now.

[madik]

Even though I did notice a performance benefit (stiffness/smoothness) with my Hambini BB, that isn't what I would splash €250 for.

Well smoothness and stiffness of BB might be one of the best upgrades that you could do. After I've installed hambini BB the smoothness of pedaling (due to increased stiffness with sorting of possible alignment issues) surpriced me quite a bit and bike felt much better while just driving along. Was totaly worth the money

[kgt]

Maybe the prices are simply aimed at people that will happily pay $5000 dollars for a made in China SL7 frameset?

Certainly hambini's handmade in UK products are of a much higher quality than outsourced in China carbon frameset.
And I prefer someone who is cursing but is honest in his reviews and honors his labor than all the 100% politically correct marketing departments that promote poor manufacturing and QC at the price of gold.

[Ypuh]

Well smoothness and stiffness of BB might be one of the best upgrades that you could do. After I've installed hambini BB the smoothness of pedaling (due to increased stiffness with sorting of possible alignment issues) surpriced me quite a bit and bike felt much better while just driving along. Was totaly worth the money

In hindsight, maybe. I bought the Hambini hoping it would solve a problem (creak) and it did. The performance benefit/smooth feeling was much bigger than expected and a really nice bonus, but for me wouldn't be a reason to splash €250.

That said, I spend like half of that amount and for that price it would be a no-brainer for my next bike. That makes it unfortunate he doubled his prices (from what I think was due to corona and/or the success of his channel). Would I purchase it again if let's say I bought a 2nd Cervelo as a climbers bike? Probably yes, because the support I got the first time was greatly appreciated.

[SachinHambini]

Banned user attempting to post under different name - post deleted

[TQ1]

Two and a half times the price of a C-Bear. Taking the pee with the cost imo, maybe that's what they cost to manufacture in the UK (I doubt it but Hambini is free to bill his time at whatever he likes) if people will pay it then asking that much is OK......?

For me any BSA BB with a metal threaded cup has worked just fine.

The higher quality on a PF I can see the value in to avoid creaking or issues, not something you want to be removing and refitting frequently.

[kode54]

Even though I did notice a performance benefit (stiffness/smoothness) with my Hambini BB, that isn't what I would splash €250 for.

Well smoothness and stiffness of BB might be one of the best upgrades that you could do. After I've installed hambini BB the smoothness of pedaling (due to increased stiffness with sorting of possible alignment issues) surpriced me quite a bit and bike felt much better while just driving along. Was totaly worth the money

Same here. I replaced the CeramicSpeed BB in my Factor with his BBright BB. Installation was cleaner, simple and smooth. Came with Delrin install drifts that were extremely accurate. The CeramicSpeed BBright pressfit BB may not have been aligned properly by me even though I used a Park Tool BB press kit with correct drifts. Two separate cups. One could have been misaligned. With the Hambini BBright piece, no issues with alignment. Totally worth the extra dollars for me as well. One of the better upgrades I have done.