Everything you need to know about wheel bearings

<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/ueditor/php/upload/image/20221221/1671610197517844.png" title="1671610197517844.png" alt="4.png"/></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Are cup-and-cone systems old-fashioned? Do you really need sealed cartridges? The ins and outs of wheel bearings examined.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br/></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Bearings allow one part of your bike to rotate relative to another, and as such they play an integral part in creating a bicycle. Almost every component that moves on your bike, from the wheels to the pedals to the fork, is facilitated by the use of bearings.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br/></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Unsurprisingly, therefore, bearings get put under a lot of strain and can get a bad rap for causing all sorts of creaking and clicking whilst riding. We’ve all got that one friend whose bike sounds like an ominous opening door in a horror movie, right?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br/></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Bearings, like any component, require regular maintenance and correct handling to ensure they can function properly and with the appropriate lifespan, but that is not all.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br/></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">There are two main styles of bearings used in bicycle wheels: cartridge bearings, also known as sealed bearings, and cup and cone bearings, also known as loose <a href="https://www.freerunbearing.com/products/Ball-Bearing/79.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192); text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 112, 192);"><strong>ball bearings</strong></span></a>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br/></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Cup-and-cone bearings have been used throughout history to enable mechanical movement, with cartridge bearings a comparatively recent innovation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br/></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Both have their benefits, and both require different types of servicing and maintenance to get the best out of each.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br/></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">It is important to note that bearing types are not cross-compatible and a cartridge bearing cannot be used in a cup-and-cone bearing wheel and vice versa so when we talk about bearing types, we are also talking about the products that are built to support them.</span></p><p><br/></p>