Cane Creek Hellbender Bottom Bracket

Mostly known for their excellent headsets, Cane Creek has finally taken the plunge into the world of bottom brackets with the Hellbender. This isn’t just any bottom bracket either as it uses a brand new type of bearing that has been developed by the Swedish bearing giant SKF to cater to the world of commercial food production of all things. The problem the food industry was facing was that they needed a bearing that could withstand being regularly pressure washed during cleaning procedures. The solution to this is their MTRX (pronounced “Matrix”) bearing technology, a self-lubricating, oil-filled, solid polymer. This solid lubricant can’t be washed out (did somebody say pressure washer?), doesn’t allow for the ingress of dirt or contaminants, and lasts much longer than grease. Sounds like a pretty ideal bearing for use on a MTB!

The Hellbender BB is available for 30mm spindle cranksets only, and is available in variants to fit most bottom bracket standards. The press-fit varieties (BB30, PF30) use a thread-together system where one cup is pressed in and the other one threads into it to lock things down, ensuring perfect alignment without any annoying creeks. The BB92 style press-fit does not have room for any cups due to the lack of space created by the 30mm bearings so these use a lipped bearing that presses into the BB shell directly.

Style: Available in BSA 68/73 threaded, PF30, BB30, and BB92 (PF41) variants.

Spindle size (diameter): 30mm only

Bearing Style: Cane Creek Hellbender Neo – Solid lube technology (developed by SKF) is impervious to jet washing and does not allow for the ingress of dirt, water, or other contaminants. They will last much longer than a standard bearing

Bearing Cup/shell material: 6061 T6 machined aluminium cups with dual-stage anodised black and gold finish. (BB92/PF41 variant does not come with cups).

Installation tools: BSA Threaded and PF30/BB30 Threadfit models require a 12 notch, 46mm OD BB tool (same as Raceface Cinch/SRAM DUB).

What’s in the box:

• BSA/PF30/BB30: Bearings, BB cups, spacers
• BB92/PF41: Lipped bearings (no cups), spacers

Pros: Ultra-durable solid lube bearings will last much longer than standard bearings and will resist contamination from water and dirt. Lubrication cannot be flushed out by pressure washing. Threadfit system on BB30/PF30 ensures perfect alignment and will banish creaks.

Cons: The solid lube technology will create slightly more drag than a regular bearing, especially on the first couple of rides. This will loosen up slightly after an initial break-in period but then it will always feel the same over the (long!) lifetime of the bearing and will not degrade further. A standard bearing will feel much smoother at first but will degrade much more over time as the grease breaks down and dirt/water ingress occurs. 

• If you are the kind of rider that obsesses over tiny percentile efficiency losses/gains, then this may not be the BB for you. 
• If you are a rider that wants a reliable bottom bracket that quietly does its job for years on end then this may be the BB you’ve been looking for.