Sunlite Bicycle Loose Ball Bearings 3/16" Bag of 144

If you do hub maintenance, you'll find that when you remove the lock nut and cone race, you'll find the ball bearings. Now, some people are cheap and wash the ones they have and put them back in. That makes NO sense to clean everything up and use old parts. They will have small pits and scratches, and no lube will fix that. So, why not replace the 20 3/16th bearings in the front hub with new bearings? You do this once a year, so the $1 is not a huge expense when you consider that it makes your wheels spin like new. These are hardened steel and hold up very well. When I replaced them last time, I looked with a magnifying glass and found only superficial scratches, meaning they worked as expected. Of course, use lube generously when installing them.For the rear hub, you'll likely need 18 of the ¼" bearings, so be sure to use the proper size for the correct hub. Always count the # that come out and replace it with the same #. While it may LOOK like you can fit one more bearing in, do NOT do that. It's almost universally true that front hubs use 10 per side, while rear hubs use 9 per side (of the ¼", that is).If you're not into servicing hubs yourself, be sure to tell you local bike shop you want them to service them and replace the bearings. Otherwise, they'll save money by cleaning up the old ones and reinstalling them, and that just is not good enough for serious cyclists.

What is there to say beyond that these are grade 300 (or thereabout) cheap cost-effective good-enough bearing balls for general-purpose bicycle applications?I'll give it a try: I wouldn't use them in a turbine engine or something like that but for a typical non-racing ordinary commuting or pleasure bicycle they are plenty fine for the limited RPMs and loadings. Better ball bearings would shave a little bit of friction off and if you are a racer and want those last few watts of power then you will spend the big money on grade 5 ceramics. And by big money I mean BIG MONEY. This is totally wasted unless you are that top level where a tiny fraction of an advantage is going to make the difference of winning or losing by a few feet over miles of racing. But there are slightly better bearings than these for a bit more money but the cost/benefit ratio gets pretty steep and rather quickly.For this price a home mechanic can afford to buy a couple bags of each common size and always have some on hand for the next project. When I pull apart bearings I just throw the old balls away rather than messing around cleaning and inspecting them. That's the beauty of cheap bearings and these bearings are beautiful. Just don't look at them under 30x magnification or you might be shocked. Under magnification they aren't so beautiful :-D But they work fine. This is bicycle mechanics, not rocket science. Good enough for your mother-in-law's bike. And if you want nicer bearings you can always pay more for them. But for most applications on normal bicycles these are just right.

I have an old bike that I have used to commute to school with for the past 5 years, and before that was pulled out of a trash heap. Needless to say just about every part that could need some repair did. I wasn't sure what size bearings I would need before I started refurbishing it so I picked up one bag of each size. These 3/16" balls are what I needed for refurbishing the front hub, the difference between these new bearings and the old rusty ones is night and day. Replace/repack your bearings regularly and the contact surfaces will last longer (ie, you wont need to buy new wheels or bottom brackets as often)FYI, for those unsure, google 'Sheldon Brown Bearings' and he has some good info on what sizes are needed for what parts. The most important ones are 1/4" for most bottom brackets and rear hubs, and 3/16" for most front hubs.

Received in good condition and working really well.Thanks

It's a bag of loose bearings. I have replaced the bearing in a few wheels already. They work as they should. I'm not using them for a high-dollar racing bike, so don't know their real impact on rolling. The wheels that got them most certainly roll more smoothly than they did, but the old bearings were nasty, so that's no great surprise. They came very quickly though, which is nice.

Not shiny. But they're ball bearings, and that's what I ordered. Did a hub overhaul on my front wheel and everything runs like it should, so this product obviously works well.

These are exactly what they say they are: lots of shiny metal balls that can be used for all kinds of things. I use them as ballast in box miniatures for an air combat game I play - and they work really great for that.

While Shimano refuses to admit it, they use these same bearings in their Dura Ace equipment. Sure it may have come in a different package, or been made with a 1% better load capacity, but seriously, a bearing is a bearing. These are decent grade, they made my front hub roll smoothly, and they were cheap. I ordered each size from the same company (CyclingdealUSA, I love them now. Seriously.) and it cost maybe $20 with shipping for all the bearings i'll need for the next year. Add some cone wrenches to that for $15 and that's still cheaper than a shop charges for a SINGLE wheel rebuild. Basically, they're cheap and good enough for the average bike application. (Lets be honest, if you're changing your own bearings, then you probably aren't riding a flash bike which costs more than my car). Bottom line: If you need bearings, and you have $6, these will cover you quite well. They aren't grade 0 ceramic bearings, but they also aren't $50 a pack.

Restored my hubs to like new condition. Put about 500km on them so far and they should last many thousand more km and I have tons of extras for the next time I rebuild my hubs.

perfect replacement!

good product