There are three major considerations regarding seals - friction, protection and serviceability.įriction is a major point of contention for cartridge bearings, and while less is better, a little friction can be an indication of protection. They may sound like a dry and boring topic (pun intended), but they have a big bearing (eyyy) on the overall performance of a bearing. Thomas McDaniel / Immediate MediaĬartridge bearings are usually sealed with two rubber seals on either face of the bearing. Seals on cartridge bearings can be carefully removed to clean and inject fresh grease, but be warned – this can lead to a ruined bearing if done incorrectly. The folks at Enduro Bearings argue that, for bicycles, the materials are far more important than ABEC ratings and that for most applications, ABEC 3 and 5 are appropriate for all things bicycle.Īs for the 7 and 9 ratings, that level of precision is for equipment that sees rotations in the thousands or hundreds of thousands per minute - a tad overkill for cycling. What the ABEC standard qualifies is bore diameter (an acceptable variation of the size of the inner bearing hole), parallelism (width variation), and the radial raceway run-out (variations in the groove in which the balls sit).īut Panaccione made it clear that the ABEC system forgoes load handling, ball precision or Rockwell Hardness (material hardness). It serves as a rough ‘good, better, best sort’ of metric, but Chuck Panaccione from Enduro Bearings says this standard is lacking. In brief, the higher the number, the higher quality of the bearing. You will commonly see bearings referred to as ‘ABEC’ followed by a number (Eg, ABEC 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9). This precision is where brands such as Industry 9, Chris King, White Industries, Phil Wood and Alchemy Wheel Works get their reputation. However, many hubs and frames don’t posses the mating bore to complement the precision of the angular cartridge. They complement the radial and side-force loads exerted with the rotating components of a bike, but require extreme tolerances in mating bores to accomplish a precise fit and rolling performance.įor the most part, angular contact is the most appropriate application for hubs, cranks and suspension. There is an inside and outside component, and they can be compared to the old-style cup-and-cone systems in terms of design. Angular contact bearingsĬonversely, angular contact bearings require tight tolerances because they are directional. As such, they don’t have any directional application - there is no inside or outside.Īs a benefit, because they are slightly less tolerance-dependent, they can be used in applications that aren’t quite as expensive. In short, there’s less precision associated with radial cartridge systems. As a result, they have to compensate with decreased tolerances. Subsequently, they sacrifice a small amount of performance because forces within these moving parts usually have a non-radial vector associated. They attempt to carry the load in a truly radial direction, which is vertical in terms of hubs, cranks, suspension pivots or derailleur pulleys. Radial bearings are the most common as they are cheaper. Two types of cartridge bearings are commonly used in bikes: radial and angular contact. A few examples of cartridge bearing systems - an angled headset on the left and a tiny front hub bearing in the middle and on the right Thomas McDaniel / Immediate Media
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