If I order a 61900 2RS bearing from an industrial bearing specialist they charge £2.80 plus VAT per bearing...

If I order the same bearing code from a bike supplier they charge £7 per bearing...

Is it likley that given they have the same code, the bearings will be identicall...or are the more expensive bearings going to be a better quality?

(they are small deep groove roller bearings with rubber seals if it makes and difference)

The identification number should mean they are the same part. If you buy from the bearing supplier you're avoiding the bike manufacturer and bike shop's mark-up on the real price of the bearing.

I had the same experience when replacing the sealed cartridge bearings in my pedals ~£3 a pair from BSL or ~£10 pair from a local bike shop.

Hi

I work for Brammer ( old bsl ) basically the mark up on the bearings from the bike dealer is massive. Go to a bearing stockist like brammer and they will be a better quality bearing and alot cheaper.

hope this helps

Gary

Chears...Thats good to know... Looks like im going up to B-Ham to pick up some nice cheap bearings

When I am seating new bearings into ali housings, should I fit copperslip, or liquid gasket or something between the casting and the bearing housing?

a small smear of normal grease will help the bearings go in, but that should be all you need.

2.5 hour round trip and I now have 10 little bearings sat infront of me...

Now begins the task of dismantling the swinagrm and putting all the bearings in

The numbers you quote relate to the basic size of the bearing, 2RS being 2 rubber seals. It is very possible that bearings from different sources could be to very different quality levels. As an example the process and controls in place for automotive OE quality are far far higher than for aftermarket quality bearings.

Yes the markup will play a part and make it hard to decide but there are a lot of differences between the various manufacturers.

Interestingly enough, the new bearings I have are made by exactly the same company that made the origionals....I only just noticed that they have the same manufacturors stamp on them...


Only managed to fit four of the new bearings in the end....the four smaller ones sont come out of the frame....think I need to make a puller...and the two larger ones are the wrong size...but luckily the ones with the most play in them have been replaced

NSK by any chance?

Hopefully they will be NSK / FAG / SKF / QC / NTN / Timken etc.

Even the better known makes buy rings etc from far east but they insist on good process control before buying so you will be fine. Im sure most manufacturers do OE and Aftermarket quality bearings. I could bore you with the details but for most of our applications the aftermarket quality will be OK.

quote:

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Originally posted by DarrenW
Hopefully they will be NSK / FAG / SKF / QC / NTN / Timken etc.

Even the better known makes buy rings etc from far east but they insist on good process control before buying so you will be fine. Im sure most manufacturers do OE and Aftermarket quality bearings. I could bore you with the details but for most of our applications the aftermarket quality will be OK.

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That is certainly true of the main runners (ie main part numbers / models) that run and run for years in high volume. Some of the aftermarket production may still be on the auto equipment but to keep cost down they can relax the tolerancing on the ring grinding and ball matching etc. Still excellent quality and not many would know the difference but it helps to reduce the scrap rate at end of line. Its also possible that the final noise test limits can be relaxed to increase throughput. Again this would not be detectable to most users. It is the main OEM's that enforce strict process control, and in the main they will have their own specs and part numbers so as to differentiate the products rather than the better known numbering system that we would use.

There is also a different std in use for motor quality bearings. I have been involved in development projects for TRW and others on their electric steering systems where they spend 000's on NVH testing before signing off a process for their bearing designs. This all adds to the final cost of each unit.To the naked eye these bearings will appear identical to the std bearing type but believe me they are made to far greater tolerances.
I have done a study on the rejects from a line making bearings to these stds and they are often better than the normal grade bearings.

[Edited on 21/8/07 by DarrenW]

Timken never even changed the tolerances - the only difference with aftermarket bearings was that they went into individual boxes rahter than bulk pack before being despatched to customers. There were times when due to shortages OE customers were supplied from aftermarket stock so having a different standard for that would have made that impossible.