rsbob 

Bought an Orebea off a friend for cheap and it came with Mavic wheels, and I added light butyl tubes and GP 5000s, and this bike seems to want to coast forever.
Compared to my newer bike (with GP 5Ks) this bike just wants to go and figure it must be the bearings. Who knows what in these things?

Koyote

Those are cheapie wheels, and so they most likely do not have any special bearings. What you’re feeling is the result of something else.

And at any rate, the real world difference between cheap bearings and high-end (for example, ceramic) bearings is pretty slight.

PromptCritical 

Tires make a huge difference. Your tires have pretty good rolling resistance. Check out https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/

big john

Here is a video showing standard looking sealed bearings on an Askium QR hub.

Iride01 

Is there much of a weight difference between the two bikes? On level or downhill, then the heavy bike will go faster for longer when coasting.

Yan 

Everybody and their grandma had Mavic Aksium wheels back in the day.

Is it Aksium or Askium? I could never without looking it up.

genejockey 

Bearing preload? I once bought a pair of Fulcrums off of Craigs List, barely used. They would slow to a stop really quickly, would stay at whatever angle you turned them to, etc. I loosened the preload just a bit, and they were fine. So, maybe the bearing preload on the Aksiums is just set right?

rsbob 

A distinct possibility.

Troul 

didja Aski sumone?

cyclezen

Would have to agree with others about preload... Very important.
Last year, about this time, Enduro Bearings gave a great seminar, in SB, on 'BEARINGS' , covering all of the bearing usage on bikes (relating to high performance bikes).
Learned a bunch of stuff... Also enlightened about bearings, design, maintenance and lifespan. Enduro does supply many major bike companies with bearings for their bikes (though I expect that stuff from China is the 800 lb gorilla in the bearing business...) Enduro may be the top tier supplier in that business...
Couple of things were a take away...
Bearings are not just about balls, but also surface load expectations/use, design and maintenance.
Sealed bearing DO need maintenance - as in clean and relube - was shocked to find out how short that interval should be..
I do remember complete disassembly of my old bikes, wheels, BBs, headsets, hubs, at least 2x a year to clean and regrease - on multiple wheelsets (5-6 sets all told) as an almost daily rider with many miles, back east.
Aksium was the basic wheelset from Mavic - but still a pretty good wheel - and yes, preload could vary widely...
My guess is the wheels you now have, have very little mileage, and prolly most optimum preload.
But bearings are more than balls and preload...
Here's a link to Enduro Bearings and some basics info
https://cycling.endurobearings.com/p...aring-basics-1
sadly, I didn;t take great notes during the seminar, but did take some pics of each presentation slide - which I still cant find...
...all reminding me my HED Kermesse wheels really are well past due wheel and cassette cartridge bearing clean and relube... ugh... (my daily riders)
will wait until after these frequent heavy rains out here, stop.
Ride On
Yuri

tomato coupe

My Nana had Meilensteins.