Best replacement bearings for Hope hubs?

Doing a service on my Pro 2 Evo SS rear hub, and one of the hub bearings is a bit gritty.
Not seen a massive amount of use, so hoping to replace with something which will last a bit longer.
Was thinking about Enduro angular contact bearings like these.
Are these any better than stock?
Any other suggestions?
Are SKF significantly better?
The SS hub takes 17x30x7 sized bearings.

KaTec bearings ebay

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/KaTec-Bikes

I carefully knocked mine out flushed the old grease out, applied some fresh grease and put them back in.

I’ll be interested to know what bearings to replace them with.

Can we make this a sticky?

I remember some history with this KaTec guy. Is this a joke or are his bearings good?

No joke. It’s really not worth looking elsewhere.

Need to buy a set of bearings for my rear evo 2, the Hope kit is only a £8 odd more.

Are the KaTec bearings allegedly better than the Hope stuff?

I believe that the original bearings would be stainless steel (double check the kit you’re looking at).

The KaTec ones are just rust-in-waiting.

If you can keep the water and dirt out, non-stainless bearings should last longer.

If.

Guitarhero, angular contact bearings are a great idea in a hub but only if the hub is designed around their use. If it claims play can be adjusted out of the bearings, then on a hope hub, there’s no way to control the preload so the bearings would be too tight. To avoid this, you’d have to design the edges of the bearings in such a way that you couldn’t adjust out any play.

? care to back that up? I’ve used his bearings many times without issue.

Local bearing services for me ……food industry grade ..so stainless.

KaTec bearings are second to none.
All my spicy frame bearings
All my Trance X frame bearings.
Three full hope wheelsest including the free hubs.They last and last and last.
Only ever had one free hub bearing fail after three years which he replaced anyway.
tillydog…Utter bull crap.
Get your facts right before opening your trap….

bruneep – Member
? care to back that up?

KsTec’s info page Link

ProRider is my companies name for the competition level performance MTB bearings we supply.

[…]

ProRider bearings are made from superior quality 52100 chromium steel.

SAE52100 Chrome Steel

[…]

• Lower cost to produce compared to stainless or ceramic materials, with equivalent benefits.

i.e. “normal” bearings.

They claim a special weatherproofing process to counteract internal rusting. I’ve never used them, so I’ve no idea how effective it is, but they’re *not* stainless, based on that description.

I make no comment about their quality.

I’ve never used them, so I’ve no idea how effective it is

so you are commenting on a product you’ve never used.

well done 🙄

granted he’s as mad as a box of frogs.

Parcel scanner thread anyone

robhughes – Member
tillydog…Utter bull crap.
Get your facts right before opening your trap….

bruneep – Member
so you are commenting on a product you’ve never used.

Pointing out that they are a different material [edit] to the original Hopes [/edit], that is all.

KaTec fan here – He knows his stuff IMO. Bought loads from him. Quick delivery too.

No you said they are rust in waiting to happen, not they are different. A slight difference

Katec user here too, no problems and much better bearings.

Is this a joke or are his bearings good?

Nope, get all mine from Katec now and they do outlast stock Hopes and Enduro or std bearings. Whatever he does to them works. When I popped new bearings in to do the GDMTBR summer ’13 I used Katecs based on how they’d been smooth in both wheelsets (Hope rear, Paul front) over the preceding 18 months. They’re still in that wheelset with 4,500 miles or more on them now, probably didn’t need to swap them out before starting that ride. The singlespeed has done 2 winters on them. Hope stock bearings lasted ~6 months and my Shimano BBs never go more than 5-6 months, as a guide. If he had a BB I’d buy one of those too.

bruneep – Member

No, you said they are rust in waiting to happen, not they are different. A slight difference

Sorry, ‘rust waiting to happen’ is just a flippant reference to non-stainless steel. I should have said ‘made from …’ (which would apply to any non-stainless steel bearing).

can’t say I’ve ever been impressed with the bearing life of Hope’s original bearings?

I’ve always used a local bearing supplier (engineering firm) who supplied good quality SKF or NMB bearings at reasonable price (typically £4-6 each depending on size)

I used the same supplier when I worked for Freeborn, as many of the suspension frames started coming with short lived, super cheap unbranded bearings, as manufacturers tried to cut money, including Ellsworth whose frames were not exactly cheap at retail price!

if the bearings are not stainless steel don’t buy them in my opinion. Having worked with steel all my life no matter what its coated in if its not stainless steel it will eventually rust. In saying that even cheap grades of stainless will rust so pay the coin and get a higher grade stainless bearing when you can.

I thought the Pro Evo 2s amongst others used custom sized bearings?

I’ve not stripped my hub down yet but coming from an oily background I can pick up quality stainless bearings through work for nothing for peanuts.

Can anyone confirm if they are regular sized bearings?

BAF, check the Hope website for the parts lists, to show bearing sizes.

SKF or FAG & must be stainless steel balls because anything else is just a short life substitute & a waste of money.
Oh & ceramic… yeah right the great British winter loves them.

If your crafty & like getting your hands dirty pop the seals out carefully then wash the crud out with solvent or a bit of petrol etc blow dry with air line re pack with fresh grease after re fitting one seal, pop tother seal in & bingo saved a few quid & extended the life of your bearings.

The standard Hope spec bearing is made by INA and is full stainless steel. Easily a match for SKF or FAG. Infact Hope are INA’s biggest European customer.

How embarrasing that whatever kael does to his bearing seems to outlast INA stainless in the real world then.

Fwiw INA and FAG are both parts/brands of the schaeffler parent group. My brother was a design/evelopment engineer for schaeffler group too but moved on to more racing-car-shaped things recently. I am not sure if such things are below his radar (last bearings he designed were for turbochargers so different shape, cleaner environment and massively higher rotating speed, but longevity and reliability critical if you have ever seen the inside of a failed turbo…) but i will ask him next time i see him. I would imagine it will be something to do with the hardness of both materials, grade of ball bearing used as well as the lube and sealing, i do wonder whether whatever Kael does could be done to stainless bearings too and whether that would be a help or hindrance.

Given the size of individial unit and relatively low cost, i can see hope being a big customer to INA but the way the industry works it is unlikely that in terms of money they are the biggest customer to the factories that produce bearings for schaeffler that end up with INA written on the box. Schaeffler as a whole sell bearings to industry that cost hundreds of pounds each!

to put another slant on it, in the world of fancy pants c&c hubs eg dura ace/xtr, its definitely about the grade and matched sizes as well as the material.

If you put a poorly matched set of balls in a cartridge bearing will the biggest ones wear prematurely, speeding up the failure of the whole lot? This is certainly the case for using cheap (100 grade) balls in a posh c&c hub. All other things being equal a set of 25 grade or even 10’s will last longer. Perhaps kael’s bearings use better matched balls?

When I first bought bearings from him I asked what was ‘better’ about his bearings. I think it’s safe to say he doesn’t believe in throw-away junk in general and sources the better-spec bearings as far as load rating and higher grade materials / tolerance etc go. He then cleans them out and repacks with a grease that seems to keep them going well, even in a hub like the Hope that’s not particularly well-sealed on the drive side – or my front Paul hub that’s ‘100% Californian’ in design. I guess it’s a few details that add up to make them more suitable for bike use than standard industrial bearings.

The difference in longevity might be down to the fact that stainless ones are wearing faster than the std hard steel balls.

There is quite a bit of difference in the loading a stainless ball will take – whether this is enough to be seen in a typical bike hub is not something I know right now.

The Katec bearings will be low cost far eastern – which doesn’t make them rubbish by any means – just low cost.

If they were put into a turbine with huge loadings at high speed then maybe not the best choice, but a bike maybe not much of an issue.

On the rust issue, as they are moving parts packed in grease won’t their ability to rust be limited as they won’t be exposed to oxygen and me moving past each other to wear any rust?

In my experience twonks, oil & gas all my working life & currently on board Polvo A Platform Campos basin Brasil (home next week) I have never seen or installed anything but stainless steel bearings (low Speed Applications) & usually from FAG or SKF, check out SKF’s web site, pretty much the biggest manufacturer in the world, you mention Turbines, Rolls Royce use white metal bearings which run on a Oil Wedge(as most GT manufacturers do) internal to the Hot bearings (they’re fed fully synthetic lube oil) and Rollers on the cold bearings & Solar Gas Turbines & many other manufacturers have been using floating magnetic bearings non contact also a three piece tilt pad on the CT rotor, Axial loadings are controlled by either back to back rollers virtually locking the shaft in place or Kingsbury tilt pad white metal bearings at both sides of a thrust collar, controlling axial displacement but allowing for thermal growth internal to the Compressor & Power Turbine section of the engine.

Another vote for Kael and KaTech. He has been extremely helpful with my bike and pedal rebuilds. He has his own workshop at home so its not just a repackaging and selling job he does.

He does have a different take on life from the threads he posted on here but the bearing kits he does are very good indeed.

Got a KG 6902 2 rs if you want it? My bike with hope ss wheel was stolen 🙁