The humble bottom bracket is a source of great frustration for mountain bikers. If your frame is emitting an annoying creak, it is probably from the bottom bracket.
When bearings fail at the point where your cadence spins, it is hugely annoying.
Due to your bottom bracket being exposed to a lot of trail contaminants when riding, and moisture when you are washing your bike afterwards, rust and bearing wear is a given.
But what if there was a way to seal the bottom bracket’s bearing and make it authentically waterproof, without compromising its packaging or increasing mechanical drag?
American component supplier, Cane Creek, believes it has the solution in a new bottom bracket named the Hellbender.
Available in all the popular bottom bracket sizes and configurations (BSA threaded, PF41, PF30 and BB30), the Hellsender promises unrivalled all-weather riding durability.
The secret to its claimed durability is a collaboration with Swedish bearing specialist, SKF. Encasing the bearing innards in an oil-filled polymer medium, ensures that there is a moisture impenetrable environment for your bottom bracket’s mechanical bits to function within.
How do the bearings remain lubricated? Simple. The oil-polymer encasement features a collection of micro-pores, which constantly disperse and cycle oil as the bearings cycle through their motion.
Cane Creek has established a strong reputation for quality headsets and its first venture into bottom brackets would appear an ideal solution, assuaging anxiety about bottom bracket wear when power washing a mountain bike.
If you are wondering about the name, it sources from an Appalachian salamander, called the Hellbender, which thrives in muddy and moist conditions – the kind of conditions which usually ruin bottom brackets.
The Hellbender will start shipping by October and is set to retail for $120-150, depending on your exact bottom bracket specification.
