I’m restoring my first bike, which had little use (original brake pads) when I purchased it 5 years ago. I pulled the BB out and it’s a Phil Wood! Very cool but my first thought was rather that I shouldn’t just replace it with a $40 Shimano. I plan to replace the cups but wanted y’all’s opinion: does this sound warrant service? If so, what?
Should I service my 50-year old Phil wood bottom bracket?
byu/runkelcorey inbikewrench
by runkelcorey
11 Comments
Heck yes. They’re $200 now and that one looks to be in great shape.
Put some new Phil Wood grease in it and it’ll be good for another 50 years.
why not? good chance it will run another couple decades if nothing is broken
You could always send it in to PhilWood for service. They’ll put in new bearings into the shell, and it’ll be better (most likely) than a $40 Shimano. You could even get a couple 6903 bearings and try the replacement yourself. Worst case, you end up with the Shimano BB, best case, Phil will be up and runnung again.
I’m no expert but that sounds like a problem. I personally would just but a Shimano and call it a day, don’t know what it would cost to open and service. I replaced an old BB on an old bike that I wanted to use with a Kickr about six months ago and it was the best decision I made. I bought a Shimano UN300 for $15 off Amazon.
Depending on the way it was made, the bearings might be easy to replace. This was particularly true of the earliest ones. For some reason, yours doesn’t look like one of those, but it’s hard to tell with the retainer parts still on. They are just pressed on.
Needs some love for sure. Give it a little TLC and I’m sure it’ll be better than new
at 50 years old i’d replace on general principles.
If you can get it serviced with new bearings, I would do that. It’s difficult or downright impossible to get square taper bottom brackets of similar quality anymore.
Sounds about 10 years over due.
I had no idea Phil Wood has been around that long.
Service it!
Oh my God, yes! It may need new bearings, but my bet is use some Phil Wood grease and you’ll end up with a better bottom bracket than any of the Shimano ones!