silver_ghost

Which do you folks prefer for long haul cycling? I appreciate the low maintenace aspect of cartridge hubs on my trail and city bikes but I can imagine having some difficulty finding replacement units if one's bearings crapped out nowhere near a major city/experienced bike shop. Also, I can see myself overhauling a cup and cone hub on the side of the highway if it came down to it, swapping cartridge bearings, I'm not so sure about.

cyccommute 

If they crap out, it's a gradual thing. But they don't crap out that much (cup and cone usually don't either). I've had to replace 3 sets of bearings on 8 or 9 sets of cartridge bearing hubs I've owned over several years of use.

Phil's (if you can afford them...I have 2 sets) come apart with a 5 mm allen wrench and can be replaced in seconds. Other's require more effort. But they are all really smoooooth.

Lake_Tom

I bought two new "cartridge bottom bracket bearings" and they both seemed to have a lot of friction in them. They were not fun to twirl around with my fingers. I am going to have to visit the LBS and handle a Phil Wood BB. Even if I am not a serious buyer.
"Solo without Pie " is a hoot, Stuart. I just got to the first pie.

BikeManDan

The finger test, however tempting, is not at all accurate. Properly adjusted bearings shouldn't really be that easy to move with your fingers. Its the rotating mass that accurately tests the bearings. A hub axle or BB spindle unladen turned by hand may seem like too much friction but once you get crank arms on or the wheel on the bike and give it a spin, you'll see it spins quite well.

TheBrick

Having said that where performance is a must unsealed cup and cones are king. Dura ace track hubs are unsealed cup and they roll and roll and roll, but of course they are made for indoor use only for short rides, with lots of mechanical attention, for pure speed e.t.c. It's the seals that add the extra resistance but I would not worry about it like BikemanDan says once build up I am sure it will roll super smooooth.

I can't speak from experience of long distance fully loaded as my "tours" are usually a long weekend collection of rides between friends houses making up some rough circle or to a train station on the last day so minimum equipment needed but the bike I use for that does see alot of use in all weathers (not far off 7000 miles p.a with rough calculations) and the front hub is cup and cone which get overhauled every year or so, balls tested with a bic biro, and the rear is sealed. Neither give me problems. Of course the added strain of the extra weight of touring will increase wear rates but these wheels have done two years without problems so at least 12000 miles (I rode a little less last year) and I have had no problems. (touch wood)

ricohman

I like sealed cones and bearings for the wheels and sealed cartridge for the BB.
Best of both worlds.

cyccommute 

Thank you. Watch for my wife and my adventure along the Katy.

supersport

My wife is the mechanic in the house, but she prefers loose bearings (with no carrier) for a couple reasons. Like you say they are maintainable, but you can carry spare cartidges. Loose ones can also be adjusted better. Many cartridges can't be adjusted at all. Also, if you use loose bearings you can usually get 2 more bearings in the race than you can with a carrier. She likes to fiddle with them and repack them once a year. I don't really. It's personal thing. When you buy them loose you can also get higher quality (lower eccentricity) bearings. With a cartridge you usually can't even find out what quality the bearings are.

Edit: With the caveat that we haven't done any long-haul cycling yet.

Halthane

An advantage of cartridge over loose ball on that i could see being quite valuable on a long tour is that if for some reason you have a bearing go bad, you can ride on a bad cartridge bearing for some time, replace it and suffer no loss. If you ride a bad cup and cone bearing for any significant time you can (probably will) permanently damage or destroy the cup, which is usually part of the hub, thus damaging/destroying the hub.

zed4130

I love old campag unseeled BB , but due to no time to tinker these days i use shimano sealed units, they dont spin as nice but dont need any lookoing after, my only gripe is when removing them, the tool doesnt seem to go in far enough, could be just me though,

paul

Richbiker

I prefer loose ball hubs. The last set of cartridge bearing hubs I owned (2 sets actually) constantly had play in them.

For BB's, I've never had a cartridge bearing BB go south on me. They seem really durable, even the inexpensive ones.

tacomee

As far as quality-- both sealed and the older style cup/bearings/cone units come in different quality levels. Buy good ones-- the type isn't that important if you get quality stuff.

Replacement bearings are easy to get, for both types of units. Go to a commercial bearing shop and they'll hook you up with what you need (ball bearings or new sealed units) Both kinds are easy to service, although you might need a press to do certain sealed bearing hubs. (your local machine shop can help)

Don't believe any hype about one brand of part.... good headsets all use a few types of basic bearings! There's nothing fancy about a Campy 1 inch threaded headset...it really hasn't changed much in 40 years, but it's still really high quality. Those new fancy Chris King, FSA, Crane Creek sealed bearing headsets? Most have the same identical sealed bearings inside you can get a bearing shop.

swduncan

I'm with Halthane and tacomee. I'd rather have cartridges than loose or caged balls. The absolute rolling resistance might be slightly higher (depending on the seals) but the lack of maintenance and damage if you ride on a bad one are key. Those cartridges are made in standard sizes, and in almost endless quality levels and seal configurations. I gotta believe that if there is almost any industry whatsoever where you are you can get replacements of some kind. They may not be "Phil Spec'd" but they'd work just fine.

Though, if a press is required to install them it would be a deal killer for me.