Needing new bearings for external type BB & Hope XC hubs. Do i go for expensive SKF bearings or the cheaper unbranded ?

Just spoken to bearing supplier who says go cheap as unbranded virtually as good and for the price can be replaced more often !

What are your thoughts ?

bollox, skf or fag not cheap and nasty chinese rubbish.

Cheap and replace them more often, except put some grease into the bearing before you fit it.

I’ve sourced high quality bearings for my mtb for a few years and I’ve drawn the same conclusion.

The decent bearings don’t last that much longer – certainly not twice as long or more, as the up-lift in price would suggest. You’re better off going the cheap and many route. They don’t go that much earlier.

i would normally suggest buy cheap buy twice.

but bearing (no pun intended) in mind that every time you change the bearings, you need to tap them in and out of the hub and every time you do it you risk damaging something.
less of a problem in hubs, but something i would rather do as little as possible in frame for instance.

then again, hubs are better sealed anyway.
ive only changed bearings on two occasions i think, in a fleet of a rear bulb, a rear XC, and pair of pro2s :s

What price are they quoting you for each type?

whichever you get, pull the seals off carefully, clean them out and fill with a decent waterproof grease. They’re designed to do 1000’s rpm. You’ll be lucky if you do 100. It’s normally the ingress of cr4p that gets them rather than wear.

Someone will be along shortly to tell you not to do what I do because they’re sealed for a reason or that you’ll cause bearing slip. All I can say is that it works for me. Even tested it by only doing one side of a front hub.

Interesting comments

You can get SKF XC hub bearings for about £3.5o each whereas you can buy 10 unbranded for about £1 each. Likewise, SKF BB bearings are over £12 each, unbranded considerably cheaper.

Thought about ceramic bearings but have read that they are not that much better than ordinary ones and its just hype as they don’t roll that much better and their value only comes when very RPM is involved i.e. turbines, rotors etc ……….. not bicycles !

The only prob with cheaper bearings is that the exact dimensions may not be as accurate as a more expensive one. I fitted a very cheap one to a hope bulb and the bore wouldnt take the 20mm bolt thru. I had the correct number bearing too!!

I got my last HT2 bearings for £6.92ea (I get good discounts for buying quantities) for SKFs – I’ve got plenty spare after buying a load for my LBS – if anyone wants any £15/pair posted.

I’m here to call BS on Onzadogs comments, as he predicted 😆 , pulling the seal (no matter how carefully) risks screwing it up and over-packing of bearings is a surefire way of screwing with their operation. They’re designed for a MAX RPM and load, not minimum. Their sealing does not become less effective at lower speeds. You may consider tighter tolerance bearings (C2) as you wont be heating the metalwork up and causing expansion, which some of the radial play is there to negate.

The main reasons bearings tend to fail on bikes is seal failure, not such a bright idea to start faffing with the seals!

I think over packing will matter at speeds many times higher than you’ll get on a bike so extra grease would be better in this application as long as you’re careful.

I don’t agree coffeeking. The seals on these are flexible rubber. They have plenty of tolerance.

You’re right, their sealing does not become any less effective at lower speeds, its just that the sealing is inadequate for most mtber expectations because that tiny rubber flexible rubber membrane has to resist substantial external water pressure trying to get past it, not just from over zealous pressure washing, but from crashing through puddles, river crossings, etc, all at speed.

These bearings have been co-opted from industrial uses. The use at low or high speed rotation is irrelevant. Irrespective of their seals, they’re not designed for specific use in an mtb application and then we’re surprised that that sometimes don’t last very long.