500 Piece Assorted Loose Bicycle Bearing Balls 1/8", 5/32", 3/16" 7/32" & 1/4"
Why we love it?
As some home mechanics know, ball bearings come in many grades from 1000 all the way up to 3. (it is actually 2000 up to 3, but bearings below 1000 are never sold for use even in the cheapest of bikes) The grade refers to the ball’s sphericity, size and surface integrity (but critically, not how hard it is). A grade 300 bearing is a crap bearing (used in say, a mass produced Wal-mart bike), a grade 100 is mediocre (used in say a $150 bike), a grade 50 bearing is decent (you can use it for six months to a year in a $300 bike) and a grade 25 bearing is higher end (but not superior) (use it in a bike above $500 or a hub like the Shimano Dura-Ace, Ultrega, XTR or XT). If you want a truly superior grade of ball bearing you can order some grade 5 or 3 ceramic bearings to use in something like a Dura-Ace or a Campagnolo Record hub. Surprisingly, the grade does not indicate the hardness of the ball which is what most bike mechanics will tell you. Hardness is not a criteria of the grade of the ball and is measured on another scale called the Rockwell hardness measure (which for steel and ceramic ball bearings is the HRC spec). The question then is; Are these steel ball bearings actual Grade 25 and what is their hardness? I am happy to report that I tested them down the hall at another lab that adjoins ours and they are indeed Grade 25 bearings and their hardness is HRC 61, which is indeed correct for high grade steel bearings. And that is nice comfort to know that you are receiving what they claim to offer. And for only $12 for 500, which is a reasonable price for after market. I was looking forward to the 100 each of 1⁄8” etc balls, sorted into nice little bags (as many reviewers have indicated). Instead I received quite a different story. As you can see from the photo what arrived was a small plastic flip-top container with the balls all mixed together. I’m not saying I’m unhappy with the actual balls, but I really needed them separated into sizes. As a remedy I fired up my 3d printer and made a handful of incrementally bigger plastic “sieves” that I could use to sort the balls. Once separated I put them into a multi-section parts storage box. Also please note that the assortment also included 10x 1⁄2” balls (nice!). In my package I ended up with a lot more than 100 1⁄8” balls, just about 100 5⁄32 balls and I didn’t count the rest. I’d probably buy this again, but I thought future customers should know what they’re getting. I will put my sorting boxes up on ThingiVerse if anyone wants to make them.
Some comments about this we saw on the web:
* /u/hghmtn on /r/BurningMan This 500 pack of assorted ball bearings is a decent alternative as well, $7.45. It takes a bit more coordination–add enough grease to the bearing cups to hold the loose balls in place, and reassemble. https://www.amazon.com/Piece-Assorted-Loose-Bicycle-Bearing/dp/B018B7D05K/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1534373449&sr=1-1&keywords=bicycle+ball+bearings+assorted&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobile3-20&linkId=6030708d10ca5dd0b6c2e4e60b1ee0d6&language=en_USMore Beautiful and Useful Items:
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