Just ordered and had delivered some replacement ‘budget'(still 2 quid a pop) 6001 2RS bearings from Bearing King, brand new, to replace the ones in my novatec hubs that have started to implode.

Now, some of the bearings if i hold the central ring I can rock them from side to side and feel play in them, but not radially. I’ve never come across this before in bearings- am i silly in thinking this is defective?

Your thoughts please….;-)

2 quid bearings… Sounds about right.

Go to your local bearing factor and get some decent quality ones.

I’ve had this with expensive replacement bearings on a WTB hub. Pretty rare size and the originals in the hub came with play in them.

Do they have an extra ‘C3’ designation?. These are for high temperature applications and designed to expand a bit to take up the play in service.

Or for 2 quid, what pine tree says, probably just a bit shit.

Just put them in. You wont notice any play when in the wheel as you won’t be just rocking one bearing. I bought cheap ones for full suss pivots and they had more play than I expected. When all re assembled there was no play at all.
I tend to buy mid priced/quality ones as on a bike twice the price doesn’t mean they last twice as long.

I have the same. Cheap bearings in novatec hubs have lasted one ride – I will keep them till they get graunchy then replace with decent bearings.

Ok, have had a play with my rear hub. I had play and it has turned out to be the dust shield nut things were unscrewed a bit. There is one on each side of the hub (it’s the first thing you unscrew when you take the rear hub apart) and they can only be done up fingertight. It seems they work loose even when clamped in the frame. Have a look at your hub, the problem may well be easily fixed without a bearing swap. This seems to be a unique thing with novatec hubs.

Why get cheap tat when SKFs are only a couple of quid more?

large418 – I have an On-One Fatty, and some owners complained that the threaded axle locknuts were coming loose. Some blue loctite was the easy fix. I like Loctite 248

They are meant to be used in pairs as in a hub, when both are installed with the axle most of the play will disappear. The only way to completely remove play is to preload the bearings but that rarely happens on hubs.
Edit:-the dust covers may preload the bearings if they bear on the smaller bearing diameter but don’t Overdo it as the bearings will fail prematurely.

Typical cart bearings for bicycle applications are designed for radial loads only, but with allowance to take some angular misalignment, hence the movement you feel. This means it is a well designed and well constructed bearing. If there was no angular play then they would wear out very fast indeed. If there is no radial movement there is no problem. The bearings sound fine.

Google bearing misalignment this was first hit.
Or look in Shigley who has a couple of pages on this.
http://www.rbcbearings.com/ballbearings/misalignment.htm
http://www.astbearings.com/ball-bearings-radial-play.html