Our Bearings

RAD BEARINGS are our inhouse line of standard headset bearings. We also stock headset and wheel bearings from other manufacturers.

 

 

Our Bearing Specification
We have gained in depth knowledge on bicycle bearings, and have built relationships with our selected manufacturers to source the best quality and value bearings. We ensure all bearings meet our set of requirements, including manufacturers having ISO 9001 certification. 

 

Material, Milling and Finishes
All bearing cups go through a precision milling process, and a 2nd face grinding process, which ensures a smoother finish to the surfaces that make contact with the bicycle cups and steerer

Our bearing cups and balls are made from GCr15 chromium steel, which are more resistant to corrosion than standard steel. Where available, we specify black oxide coating on the cups, which further improves anti-corrosion.The rubber seals are NBR material, providing tight seals to stop ingress of dirt and water. 

 

ABEC Rating
We specify ABEC 3 for both headset and wheel bearings. 

ABEC rating is often used to highlight the quality of the bearing, and often what customers know about, which can be problematic.  The ABEC scale starts at ABEC -1, and goes up in increments of two -  3,5,7,9.The higher the ABEC rating, the tighter the tolerances are, making the bearing a more precise part.

The difference between 1 and 9 is less than a hair width, which all headsets can tolerate easily. Small tolerances are only required for bearings to function at very high RPM, in products like high speed routers / machinery, that must spin at 20 to 30,000 RPM. If you think, a headset bearing never actually completes a full turn ( Unless you do bar spins perhaps) as it turns the handlebar. The ABEC rating does not take into account other considerations such as Seal Type, Material Type, Grease and noise.

So, the problem is, there are many more specification details to a bearing, thus buying purely on the ABEC scale can result in a poor bearing from a material, seal and grease perspective. Yes, most bad quality bearings are ABEC-1, but the ABEC rating is not what makes them bad, it is all  the other factors, and likewise, getting ABEC-9 does not mean a bearing will be better in your headset.

We believe ABEC-1 and ABEC-3 is suitable for any headset application, and going beyond this does not provide any benefits.

 

Grease
Some cheap bearings contain as little as 20% grease, and that grease being an unknown type/source of grease,which puts bearings at risk of early corrosion and rain and dirt ingress. We ensure our bearings have 30-50% grease across our whole range and must be a branded wash resistant lithium grease - Mobil XHP or  Sinopec HTHS and Great Wall