Originally Posted by cyccommute

I've heard lots of people make that complaint as well as complaining about Shimano Octalink and ISIS bottom brackets (not those guys but the International Spline Interface Standard). I've never had a problem with any cartridge bearing bottom bracket and seldom see a bad one at my local co-op. I see roughly 1500 bikes a year with all kinds of problems.
Bad bartridge bearing bottom brackets show up only a few times per year. They are so rare, in fact, that it's something to take note of.

I've had no end of wear issues with bottom brackets back before cartridge bearing bottom brackets. In the early days of mountain biking, I had to replace the bottom bracket very often and had to rebuild on a roughly 6 month schedule. Modern bikes...new ones from HelMart...that have loose bearing bottom brackets are a total waste of time and effort. The bearings wear to dust in about 200 miles. I see hemispherical bearings in those on a regular basis. The "steel" (SLO? steel like object) that is used for the cups is often so poorly constructed that the cup pulls apart as it's being extracted. I've had to tell several people that their bike is irreparable because the bottom bracket has started to separate and we can't get the cup out of the frame.

Nope. Got no love for loose bearing bottom brackets.