Just wondering which wheel bearings folks tend to use for replacement bearings?

I need some 6903 for my rear wheel on my Enduro (or 61903 depending on manufacturer) not doing silly miles but do like quality goods

Generally when Hope sell a bearing of a particular size, I buy that- they source good stuff and it’s usually well priced. £7.30 in this case which is good compared to, say, £12 ish for SKF.

Don’t know which of the cheaper bearings are good now, it’s all too easy to buy bad.

Hope here too, stainless so rust isn’t an issue, usually pack them with grease as well, the second (packed with grease) set in my front hub have probably lasted about 3 times longer than the originals.

SS can wear quicker. Non SS shouldn’t be a rust issue if there are good seals, well packed with good waterproof grease and good hub seals (and you don’t jetwash the hubs).

I just get my stuff from Simply Bearings, they have generic, Enduro, SKF etc.

Any double lip sealed. Whatever fits the spec for a reasonable price. So long as the same spec I don’t notice a difference in “quality”, they all wear out at the same rate.

Just pack with good waterproof grease and surround it with the stuff also. Good hub seals help far more than the bearing seals itself. That’s why I’m impressed by DT Swiss hubs. Serviced after a couple of years expecting to be cleaning out crud and replacing bearings and yet virtually spotless inside and grease still looking new. Very surprised.

Oh and Hope I believe are INA bearings (aka Schaeffler, who brand them both as INA and FAG).

Fwiw in my bb30 frames and hope xc hubs, I get the cheapest available on eBay, pop the seals and pack with grease. I then don’t touch them and get excellent life, even through winters of crappy cx racing and cleaning.

deadkenny – Member

Oh and Hope I believe are INA bearings (aka Schaeffler, who brand them both as INA and FAG).

They vary but the last couple I’ve bought were INA. Previous ones were Koyo.

What killed your last set? Wear or contamination?

If it was wear, I’ve found tighter tollerance ABEC are worth it and avoid stainless. If it’s contamination, get the hope and stuff it full of grease.

Thanks everyone for all the info, I have had a good look about and the best option I can see is an Ebay shop called Kinetic Bike bearings, they are selling Enduro 6903 LLB ABEC 3 for £4.44 each. they have over 1000 positive feedback so may give them a whirl.

I think it may have been water that did the damage to the original ones so will make sure they are full of grease.

Have you bought them? This seems a bit controversial but IME, enduro bearings are rubbish, I’d rather fit no-names.

No not bought them yet, have you had bad experiences with Enduro bearings?

They’re okay, but I’d say overrated vs generic mostly identical ones. The generic ones do the same seal design options too (LLU, LLB etc – there is supposedly a difference with application, though never noticed a difference).

I’d stick to SKF, Timken, FAG, NTN, Dodge, etc.
There isn’t a great deal to choose from the big industrial guys.
Personally I wouldn’t use stainless – precision bearings are tempered/hardened for maximum life – I’m not sure you’d get the same longevity out of stainless.
Corrosion shouldn’t be an issue if you have the correct seals.

Oh, and steer clear of ‘white box’ generic crap – Chinese monkey metal at its worst.

+1 SKF

Abec 3 is your boggo spec nothing special there.

tweedviper – Member

No not bought them yet, have you had bad experiences with Enduro bearings?

I’ve only used them once myself- I got their shimano BB bearing refit set and they lasted less well than deore- terrible. But I also put them in a rocky mountain I looked after for a mate and they were notchy after a handful of rides. I couldn’t say for sure why but that points to either soft races, or slack tolerancing. Either way, they’re pretty poor.

I’ve used enduro ABEC 5 in a front hub as an experiment and was very pleased with the results.

I know stainless isn’t as hard but it is more resistant to contamination and since switching, I don’t think I’ve had to replace a stainless hope hearing.

Wish I could say the same for the fsa bottom headset bearing.

Good hub seals help far more than the bearing seals itself.

After running Hope hubs for years, believing the hype that nothing apart from Chris King comes close to them, my new Spank Oozy hubs really surprised me. Inner workings of the freehub are bone dry apart from the grease after a fair few rides over the last few weeks. Used to love popping a Hope freehub off and trying to find the pawls amongst all the filth.

Bottom headset bearings are the ones that go the most in my experience, and even Hope bearings are shot fairly quickly. It’s down to the headset seals, but it’s tricky to seal against crud and water in that location.

Ok thanks again for all the info I think I may have to buy SKF so now searching for best price