Wheel Bearings - Quality...

What are the forums thought on wheel bearings?

AllBalls seems to be out front and in your face. Are there better bearings for sale or due these measure up?

I have herd some rumblings about cheap quality bearings....lasting just 10,000 miles or less.

Thanks

i can't tell by looking what brand of bearings all balls is selling.

i like to go with brand names i know when it comes to bearings.

koyo,timken,skf,torrington etc.

thats my .02 .

leon

531blackbanshee wrote: i can't tell by looking what brand of bearings all balls is selling.

i like to go with brand names i know when it comes to bearings.

koyo,timken,skf,torrington etc.

thats my .02 .

leon

+1

Agree with Leon and Ed - personally I go with SKF bearings, they're readily available over here and are good quality.

No need to go to a bike shop though, with a few exceptions (such as steering stem bearings and a few engine bearings) most of the bearings used in the KZs are industry standard and can usually be found much cheaper at your local hardware store.

Ceramic bearings, for ~$300-$350 for both wheels, said to be a noticeable difference in coast down.

There's a company that sells bearing they call Micro Blue, they claim to be one step below ceramic.

Or you could go with higher class bearings, like ABEC 5 or maybe even ABEC 7 (ABEC is a bearing standard), more $$ though.

A number of racers are using the ceramic bearings.


I always thought torrington was just another name for thrust bearings, not a company, so when I read the above post I googled torrington. Turns out they are a company that specializes in thrust and needle bearings, and a subsidiary of Timken.

Cool!! I learned something!

I hope all balls wheel bearing and steering stem bearings are good, I just bought some a month ago. Havent installed yet to see how they re gonna act.

ive used all balls a few times and i will again, ceramics are gucci but man thats big money

Powerstroke_fan wrote: I hope all balls wheel bearing and steering stem bearings are good, I just bought some a month ago. Havent installed yet to see how they re gonna act.

They're probably just as good as any similar type of bearing. According to the All-Balls-Racing site, their bearings are precision high speed ABEC3. You can do some searches, but I'd guess they're good bearings. I installed them on my 81 KZ650. Something I like about the kits is that they include the oil seals that you would have to otherwise purchase separately from the dealer or something. I probably wouldn't have serviced the speedo drive if not for the seals.

I personally don't like the rattle from the allballs steering head bearings. I use them but I don't like the rattle. I guess when they are compressed they don't rattle. Roy

Powerstroke_fan wrote: I hope all balls wheel bearing and steering stem bearings are good, I just bought some a month ago. Havent installed yet to see how they re gonna act.

I can't comment on AllBalls wheel bearings; I used Koyo (Kawasaki NOS) bearings when I replaced mine. However, I did use AllBalls tapered roller steering stem bearings in my bike and they are great. Ed

Have All Balls in my Seca Turbo steering stem, no issues.

roy-b-boy-b wrote: I personally don't like the rattle from the allballs steering head bearings. I use them but I don't like the rattle. I guess when they are compressed they don't rattle. Roy

Mine don't rattle at all. What torque spec did you use when you installed them? Ed