Originally Posted by
JohnDThompson
The Stronglight rollers are cylindrical, not tapered.
That's too bad - tapered roller bearings would seem to be the perfect setup. None of the sliding issues that your note mentions. Another issue with the design is the spacer - one could make the roller spacing smaller.
On edit, I spoke to an expert at SKF bearing about this. He mentioned that standard taper bearings have a radial thrust that has to be resisted by a lip. So my idea of a tapered roller thrust bearing would have some impracticalities. He mentioned that the cylindrical roller bearings, while they have some "rub", do not have the issue where the bearings are forced out. In his words, the Stronglight design is probably the best design possible. And had a bike with these bearings installed (and had built unicycles, recumbents, mountain bikes, and road bikes - a real bikie!) so I trust his expertise. At least, I was impressed.
He did mention that Harley and I think BMW use tapered rollers on their motorcycle headsets. Had a great conversation with the guy - a real expert.