Fianly got round to getting the bearings out of my spare rear wheel (The tips everyone gave me helped-thanks) Went to the local ‘bearings and seals’ shop and bought new set (3 bearings) for £20. Does any one else think this is a little expensive? I wonder how muck the LBS would’ve charged?

Depends entirely on the quality, you can buy bearings for peanuts but in my experience getting a quality bearing pays off. Cheap bearings in my motorbike’s front wheel lasted 2 months, SKF bearings lasted 2 and a half years and still going strong.

Sounds cheap, my local bearing shop sell me named (INA) bearings for around £8 each, (eg: for a Hope Pro II freehub). If there no name chinese rubbish then yes, overly expensive.

It depends on the bearings quality really, if you still have the bearings post up a picture, I have good quality japanese bearings in quite a few sizes, I also have SKF and INA at good prices as well.

The bearings I provide have about an 80% grease fill so they will not rust quickly.

Let’s see the bearings if you can and I’ll tell you what I think.

Before I forget, what where the codes on the bearings, I’m testing my bearing range just now in hubs. I just did 3 months of testing them in pivot point, that went really well 😀 . Although I only have 3 sizes for the test bearings / prototypes. I might have your sizes, did the bearings come in any packaging?

2 Sizes. 2 of 6901-ZRS STD (12x24x6)
Not sure of other size as I’m getting it tomorrow, but the old one says GTB JOYTECH 6001RS1.
The new ones are made in Japan and have EZO written down the sides.
I dont know enough about bearings to comment but we use the company at work and I’ve not had any problems with their industriasl bearings.

Hey. EZO are a good brand they should last a while, as in years, the 6001 2rs you can buy in SKF on ebay for a £3 to £3.50.

I stock all of those bearings you would have paid £5 each for the 6901 2rs with weather proofing and about £3.50 for the 6001 2rs in SKF. Including the postage the cost would have come in at about £15.85.

Still I buy my bearings in bulk and don’t have very high over heads. For the 6901 2rs you’ll be looking at about £7 to £8 where ever you go and £3.50 to £4 for the 6001 2rs in SKF or FAG/INA. £20 isn’t all that bad, I run a long lasting grease in mine, it’s not so thick that it slows down rotation, but it is very water resistant.

Let me know the actual individual prices you’ve paid for the bearings if you can and what kind the 6001 2rs bearing is. That said I would estimate 3 to 4 years use on those bearings, so not bad for £20

kaesae do you have 4x 6805rs SKF units in stock? for a DT swiss 240s oversize hub front.

cheers

Hey, no SKF and INA are £11 each, even with my contacts and at trade prices, I can’t get them all that cheaply.

SKF
about £13

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=6805+2rs+skf&_sacat=See-All-Categories

INA
£12.80

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=6805+2rs+INA&_sacat=0&_dmpt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&_odkw=6805+2rs+skf&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

I stock a very good Jap brand though, SAE 52100 chromium and great tolerances. The seals are also superb.

There is almost no difference to the bearings I stock and INA bearings and they are only £6.50 each including £2.35 post and packaging. I run them in my wheels and all of my friends wheels as well.

With the grease I run in them you can expect them to outlast the SKF INA bearings as they will not rust internally.

If you buy SKF or INA all you are paying for is the packaging, for MTB applications there is no real benefit.

Try my bearings and see how you get on, if they are not what I claim, just buy else where in the future.

Why not send me over an email and we’ll have a chat!

Thanks for the reply Kaesae, at least I know they are quality items now, The smaller bearings were (approx) £5 each and £7 for the larger one, +VAT and then rounded down to £20 for the 3.

The £7 for the larger bearings is a bit much, but not unusual http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6001-2RS-SKF-Sealed-Ball-Bearing-6001-2RS-12x28x8mm-/220455975448?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3354333a18

However all in, the price is still fair, the 6001 2rs is a very common size.

Normally you will pay more for the 6901 2rs bearings. £6 is OK though, and they will last for years. Don’t run the cheapo bearings it’s just pointless.

In my experience prices from bearing shops are very quantity dependent.

A few years ago some of the local kids coming in my shop asked if I could get them bearings for their skateboards. When I first enquired at a local bearing wholesaler I was quoted £8 per bearing. After I explained that I would be needing to retail them at £15 for a set of 8 and would be ordering 100 plus they eventually got down to a price that made it worth me buying them.