How effective is the DA 7400 weather seal?

Hi,

I have a bike that had a 7400 DA bb which died last week when it became recalcitrant.

Eventually when I got around to opening it up I discovered the bearing cage had broken into pieces. It could have been just about to fall apart irrespective but I'm wondering if it was down to using it in UK conditions minus the seal? (The bike belonged to a USPS track rider hence the lack of the plastic seal thingy, I guess.)

I know I can use the unit minus the cages but how effective is the seal if you plan on using it on UK roads?

Any other advise?

I've run cup and cone bottom brackets for over 30 years and so long as you check them now and again (as in remove non drive cup, spindle, clean & regrease bearings) then they should last for many thousands of miles.
I never went out of my way to get a sleeve as none of my frames are slotted under the bottom bracket shell which some higher end racing frames were and hence why some of the higher end BBs had the sleeves to give extra protection.
if your frames' BB isn't slotted I wouldn't worry about it too much.
In fact I just fitted a NOS 105 cup and cone job to my newly updated 80s 30 speed audax bike and there's no plastic sleeve on that either

recalcitrant ?

recalcitrant ?

Very naughty!