[Closed] What are the best suspension bearings?

Given that suspension bearings don't rotate, only oscillate and at best only about 90°, often a lot less, it's more about load capacity.

Enduro aren't the best bearings for lots of stuff, but the MAX type have bigger balls and no internal cage so they are well suited to that application.

Best suspension I ever had was journal bearings on an aluminium turner. Awesome things, little squirt of grease any they ran smooth for ever.

Enduro Max for my bigger frame bearing, then I got mid range Japanese bearings for the smaller pivots - Wych bearings.

Basically you just need stainless steel ones. Eventually the seals will give up and water gets in, so this causes rust and introduces dirt. More balls means less space for the dirt, so don't get sucked into the marketing that tells you more balls are better. Its a bearing under very little load that does not rotate fully. You are not buying bearings for a camshaft that redlines at 14k revs or a tractor camshaft.

They are not expensive, so just accept they will last 2-3 years and pay the £25-35 to change them.

They are not expensive, so just accept they will last 2-3 years and pay the £25-35 to change them.

Quite a lot of bikes out there nowadays have all kinds of funky pivots. My Process needs 10 bearings for the back end, for example, and that's a relatively simple linkage driven single pivot. I used to bigish miles on an Orange Five, and only needed to fit new bearings once in three years. Bigger balls in the Five's two bearings, mind - the Process ones are teeny, which may be where the problem lies. Anyhoo - £6.50 a pop for most of the bearings on the Kona. I think I topped out at about £60ish for the lot and felt I'd got a good deal. Notably: my LBS was cheaper or the same cost for the bearings than the online places.

I've noticed a notable increase in lifespan in using Enduro MAX bearings over the stock bearings that Giant used in my Reign. I tend to replace a full set every year at about £70, and some of them are still buttery smooth. I'm at the point were my next change wont be for all bearings.

If full complement is best for suspension but Enduro are not the best quality, is there a better full complement ball or angular contact bearing?

All the SKF, or FAG full complement bearings that I can find appear to be cylindrical which won't take side load

Only ever fitted Enduro (or alternative) MAX bearings in the frame, side loading isn't an issue, only ever used ACB for headsets and LLB for hubs.

Enduro aren't poor quality, they're pretty much same as the rest, but more widespread for biking and aim themselves at the biking market with a lot of their range.

Enduro bearings aren't great. Quality isn't up there with top manufacturers and
full compliment isn't really needed unless you're some supreme hucker who collapses bearings.

What kills bearings on a mtb isn't contact wear - where more balls would help to spread the load, but rather mud and water ingress. Max compliment bearings also have to have a groove in the inner race to fit all the balls in - this provides a natural weak point in the sealing for water to get in.

Personally, I like SKF or FAG bearings, packed full of marine grease (e.g. Mobil XHP 222)

what’s the most reliabale
Not sure but the most reliable are ones you clean out and regrease before and after winter. Run & Ride normally have a good stock from Kinetic Bearings (based in Dunston on the A449)which are usually Enduro.

What gets me is why are they not fitted with grease nipples? I do not have a full suss but if I did I would retrofit some. Take the inner shield off or use bearings with one sided shields, pump a bit of grease in and off you go

No bearing recommendations but avoid cheapo eBay ones. But I do swear by popping the seals off, clean and packing them full of new marine grease (still have a tube of Mobil XHP 222 that I bought years ago). Done this with every bike and easily get over 3 years without changing the bearings and then running smooth. I tend to do it before and after winter.

Shit I get nearly agreed with @tjagain until I read the post and user 🤣

Totally right though tj is almost like they want riders to be charging bearings perpetually instead of fitting some zerks

"Notably: my LBS was cheaper or the same cost for the bearings than the online places."

'kin 'ell, that's got to be a first...

On a mountain bike frame zerks would create more problems than they solved.

they would increase stress in the area they are added which would require additional material to be added to the frame. additional machining adds cost and additional potential quality issues. <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Parts are moving so would have to design around them to maintain clearances. They add another potential path for dirt to enter. </span>

Zerks worked perfectly on my Turner 6-Pack. They were journal bearings though. Not that it made any difference to clearance and structural integrity.

I have an Intense Recluse that has zerk needle fittings, the box junction is shielded by old inner tube so v little gets in and it gets regularly greased with marine grease. 1st set of bearings lasted me 4 years, this set, less that a year. I get that I have got unlucky but i can't be arsed with changing bearings every year on top of greasing them every couple of months.
I've ordered some Max's, lets see if the do better than the std enduro's that are in there now

The Enduro MAX ones I fitted to my Anthem (all 10 or 12 of them) don't seem to want to die any time soon. The originals that came with the bike rusted and a few seized up after a year of wet and gritty South Dales riding. I'm into my third year / 2,000 miles on the Enduros and only recently has one of the lower link ones gone a bit gritty.

tjagain
Full Member

What gets me is why are they not fitted with grease nipples? I do not have a full suss but if I did I would retrofit some. Take the inner shield off or use bearings with one sided shields, pump a bit of grease in and off you go

Getting the grease to go where you actually want it isn't so simple if it wasn't designed into the frame in the first place, just smacking a nipple into most frames is basically going to allow you to put grease sort of near the bearing.

I've found Enduro max have always out performed the original frame bearings on every bike I've had, Nukeproof now spec them as standard and it's a vast improvement on the ones from a few years back.

What kills bearings on a mtb isn’t contact wear – where more balls would help to spread the load, but rather mud and water ingress.

Depends. I have both modes of failure on my FS.

Hub bearings, BB bearings - for sure. My pivot bearings on my last 3 FS's (which covers from 2012) wore baggy through out and out wear.

Zerks worked perfectly on my Turner 6-Pack.

They worked great on my HL 5 spot too, but once they shifted to the DW bikes with short, stiff linkages, they couldn't take the loads and higher rotation and wore quickly.

You must have much better sealed frame bearings than I've ever had! All my full suss frames have bearings that end up with more mud than grease in them after a winters riding.

Doesn't matter what ones you fit if the frame bearing mounts are badly designed and/or out of tolerance and alignment, same as external/press fit bottom brackets.

My 1999 Marin Eastpeak is still running smoothly on only its 2nd set of bearings which were fitted under warranty in 2009.

The old Bronson had grease ports on the lower pivot that squeezes grease through bearings (must have no seal) don't know if current models have it. My preference is to buy stainless bearings I have a couple of trusted suppliers on eBay etc get pretty good service from stainless.

You must have much better sealed frame bearings than I’ve ever had! All my full suss frames have bearings that end up with more mud than grease in them after a winters riding.

Doubt it, but mine do get packed to the gunnels with something stodgy before I install them!

the liteville i had had zerk fittings to the inside of the bolts (and i made some at work). this was great on designs where it had something to press up against (like on a horst pivot) useless elsewhere. easy and lightweight to incorporate but not cheap.

@fooman all the current SC frames use the same idea on the lower linkage.

Of course, with a SC you get free frame bearings for life too which is useful!