Selling point of sealed bearings?

This summer I was looking at buying a new MTB.  When I visited several different shops to see what was available, one thing that came up over and over was that the bike had "sealed bearings".  I didn't tell the shops what I do for a living, so I kind of chuckled to myself.  It seems that a "sealed bearing" is an upgrade over what, a non sealed bearing I guess?  Hint, nobody sells non sealed bearings on their bikes.

I read about bike specs online, most make a point to say "sealed bearings".  Why is that?  I think they are taking advantage of a un-informed buyer who hears "sealed bearing" and thinks this is an upgrade.

The greatest system created for hubs has to be Shimano's loose ball design.  They last for 200,000 miles or so with an occasional greasing, are adjustable and virtually indestructible.

Somewhere along the way hub makers thought they could save some money and switched to cartridge bearings.  These are fine, I have no problem with them and some of my wheels use them.  But they are inferior to loose ball hubs in both performance and longevity.

Referencing a cartridge bearing as a "sealed bearing" is taking advantage of the customer.  A "sealed bearing" just means that the cartridge bearing uses rubber seals, as opposed to metal shields.  It does not mean the bearing is sealed.  Actually sealing a bearing would make it impossible for the bearing to spin.

But by saying a bike has "sealed bearings" it gives the customer a false sense of security, as in "don't worry about the bearings... they are sealed so they'll last forever riding in any condition you can think of".

A cartridge bearing by default has a limited lifespan.  Each size is rated for a specific static load.  Many hub makers use undersized bearings to save weight.  This makes the static load inadequate.  This leads to shortened bearing life.  Ceramic bearings help you get around this problem but will eventually succumb to it too.

The biggest advantage to "sealed bearings" is that they are easy to replace when the day comes you realize your "sealed bearings" weren't really a selling point after all.

Updated pulley, now shipping. Here's a peek

7 years ago I released our first Delrin (that's a type of plastic) ceramic pulley.  Before that we have offered aluminum and titanium ceramic pulleys.  Here's a look at one of our alloy body, ceramic pulleys.

The new design was great for the time and in the 7 years that followed, I never felt the need to change the pulley design.  Sure the bearings were tweaked on a yearly basis to improve them, but the same pulley body was used each year.

The old pulley was made by a process called injection molding.  This meant we'd have an outer bearing race put into the mold and then the plastic pulley body would be injected around the race.  This process created a consistent Delrin quality and was cost effective.  Here is the first Delrin body, ceramic pulley.

Noticed how our VCRC logo was not only laser etched onto the alloy dustcaps but it was also applied to the pulley body itself.

Later we tweaked it a little and removed the extra logo.  Here is that version.

This model worked well but over time we found with lots of use the injection molding process was not ideal for the longevity of the Delrin.  Most customers had no issues but a few would find the body would wear out quicker than we'd like.

So we studied how other companies like Shimano did their pulleys.  One common feature found among really long wearing pulleys was that instead of injection molding, they would machine their pulley bodies from blocks of Delrin.  This method is more expensive but offers a much stronger, durable and pretty result.  Here is the new version:

Also, here is our new Titanium version, complete with ceramic bearings installed.

We are currently in the process of updating our website with pictures of the new version.  The new machined Delrin version is currently shipping for all pulley orders placed at our website,

October Surprise? Take 10% off team kit orders during October plus a bonus!

Avoid the Winter rush, start your order early! Orders placed in October will receive a 10% discount. Paid in full orders started in October will receive a 15% discount (5% paid in full discount + 10% October discount)!!  

​In order to qualify, an order deposit or a paid in full order must be placed by October 31st.

What are the differences in our lubricants?

Keep your bearings spinning smoothly mile after mile! We offer four different types of lubricants. Please read below for information on each.

First is our VCRC Speed Cream Grease. It is our original grease and long stood as our premium lubricant. It is still very advanced and has been used for over 10 years to make our bearings. It has been recently surpassed by our VCRC Racing Cream but that doesn't mean it is being phased out. On the contrary, this lube will still make a fast bearing and it is much more affordable. Unlike our Racing Cream, which is a thin, long wearing lube, we designed this grease to start sticky and then with use, it turns very smooth and fast! VCRC Speed Cream Grease is blue. This grease is available as an option when ordering our bearings.

Second is our VCRC Advanced Speed Cream. Building upon our original Speed Cream, Advanced Speed Cream introduces a friction reducing ingredient that when paired with our ceramic bearings, reduces friction even more! This grease is useful in maintaining older bearings in particular as the friction reducing agent can help to repair races that are starting to wear out. We designed this grease to start sticky and then with use, it turns very smooth and fast! Use less of this (compared to our Speed Cream) as it is thicker and more advanced. If your bearings are wearing out and new grease doesn't help, please consider our factory rebuild program where we take apart your bearings, replace worn parts and send back a like new bearing.

Third is our VCRC Racing Cream. Our mad lubrication guru has done it again! Our newest grease is called VCRC Racing Cream. VCRC Racing Cream is the pinnacle of grease and is designed to be thinner and faster than our Speed Cream yet also more long lasting with better performance.. VCRC Racing Cream is a premium lubrication that provides the BEST performance for all ceramic bearings. VCRC Racing Cream works very well in both cold weather and hot weather. VCRC Racing Cream is white. This grease is available as an option when ordering our bearings.

Our fourth and final option (available on select items) is our VCRC Liquid Lube. We upgrade the races and use a special liquid lube that provides a very fast bearing, ideal for race situations. It is slightly faster than our Racing Cream, with the downside being since it is liquid, you have to re-apply the lube more often.This grease is available as an option when ordering our bearings. We do not sell this grease by itself, it is supplied when ordering our Liquid bearings.

All of our lubricants have excellent water resistance & rust protective properties and provide superior oxidation stability, rust and corrosion protection & resistance to water contamination.

More proof that handbuilt bearings are better

We read the following post recently at a message board:

FSA installs the bearing cartridge the wrong way in one of the two the plastic cups for all their ceramic PF30 bottom brackets.

background:

The FSA ceramic PF30 bearing come with pretty thin grease that doesn't last too long. Of course it is easy to re-grease them with thicker grease, but that has to be done with them in the bike since you can't remove PF30 without destroying the plastic cup or bearing. 

After removing the bearing seals, I was able to re-grease one side without difficulty, but I found that the bearings were not exposed on the other side. Instead, the plastic ring that holds the bearing was facing out, which made getting grease into the bearings next to impossible. 

When I called FSA about this, they said that is the way they make them because it would cost them $100K to retool the machine to insert the cartridge the correct way. When I asked how to re-grease the bearing, he didn't have an answer.

What's frustrating, beyond the fact these cost $150, is that FSA includes a srynge with grease and instructions on re-greasing, but you can only do that on one side.

----------------

FSA builds there bearing by machine and is so disconnected, they install the bearings backwards making greasing hard, if not impossible.  

Too bad the customer didn't purchase our PF BB30 BB with bearings that we build by hand and press into the cups with a simple bearing press.  We make sure our bearings face the right way so you can grease them when needed.

Stem Shootout... 2013!

We thought we'd do a little comparison post taking a look at our VCRC Pro stem compared to the competition.  We are comparing their "flagship" alloy stems to our "flagship" alloy stem.  There are many brands that we didn't include simply because we didn't have the space.  We tried to include what most people look at when considering an upgrade (3T, Deda, Ritchey, Zipp and FSA).  Max weight for a stem to make our list is 140g.  Many heavier stems are much cheaper and cost much less per gram, but you are taking a step backwards with a heavier stem.

All stems compared are alloy.  We'll compare weight and price.  Prices will be taken from VCRCBIKE.com and UniversalCycles.com. We listed the weight for our stem for each size we offer.  Unfortunately most manufacturers only weigh the shortest stem and publish those weights.  That's OK though, we'll base things on our 120mm stem and give everyone else a head-start.

We will then calculate the cost per gram for each stem.  Lower is better.  We divide the price by how many grams the stem weighs, to calculate the cost per gram.

First up, our Pro stem:

VCRC Pro Stem

Regular Price, $69- On Sale for $59
Weight, 90mm (125g) 100mm (128g) 110mm (132g) 120mm (138g) 130mm (141g)
Cost per gram, $0.43
Ti bolt upgrade saves another 8g for $20
Cost per gram w/Ti bolt upgrade, $0.60




3T Arx Team



Regular Price, $117
Weight, 120g (unknown size)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.98

Deda Elementi Zero 100 Pista Stem

Regular Price, $136
Weight, 140g (unknown size)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.97

Ritchey WCS 4-Axis 44 Stem

Regular Price, $99
Weight, 132g (unknown size)
Comes with steel bolts
Cost per gram, $0.75

Zipp Service Course SL Stem

Regular Price, $109
Weight, 120g (80mm)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.91


FSA OS-99



Regular Price, $109
Weight, 98g (unkown size)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.76


------ There are some surprising stems too that come in more in our price range of $0.4x per gram.  The Zipp Service Course, the 3T Arx Pro and the Pro PLT come to mind.  There are certainly others too, but it seems roughly $0.43 - $0.45 are about the best price per gram you can find right now for a sub 140g stem.  Some notable bank breakers like the carbon Ritchey Superlogic C-260 just blow the mind at $2.18 per gram.

How we build our bearings by hand

As many of you know, we don't sell pre-built, machine made bearings.  A lot of our competitors are sourcing bearings from the far east, buying them as completed bearings and marketing them as a high quality ceramic bearing.  On the other hand, we select what we feel are the best components, (races, seals, retainer, balls, etc.) from our partners in Europe, Taiwan and the USA and then build them by hand when you place your order.

In this post we thought showing you how we build each bearing by hand might shed some light on why our bearings are highly regarded and have a good track record of longevity.

Below we are building our Ceramic BB for Shimano 10/11 speed cranks.  The process is the same for all of our bearings, but this will show more in depth what we do to a full BB, rather than just wheel bearings.

Step one is to select the parts.  For this build we need an inner and outer race, a retainer, two seals (shown a few steps down) and a bunch of our shiny perfect ceramic balls.

Next we take the ceramic balls and place them into the outer race, making sure they are all on the bottom half:

Now we install the inner race being careful not to drop any of the ceramic balls.  Right now there is nothing holding them in place.

Now we have to spread all the balls evenly so that the retainer will snap into place.  Once we have spread the balls around, they hold the two races together well enough that we no longer have to worry that the balls might fall out.

Now that the balls are spread out, we snap the retainer into place.  The retainer has little plastic "arms" that hold each ball.  Here you see the back of the retainer and a seal next to the bearing.

Now we snap the rubber seal onto the backside of the bearing (the backside is the retainer side) and also the side we laser our logo onto (look at the inner race).

Now we are ready to press the bearing into the cup.  Here is the bearing next to the cup.  We will flip the bearing and press the laser logo side in first, so that the ceramic balls will face outward (making it easier for you to grease them in the future):

Here are both cups with the bearings pressed in.  You can see the retainer and how each ceramic ball is evenly spread by the retainer.  The retainer will hold the balls in place so they rotate easily:

Next we add some grease.  We differ from every other maker of ceramic bearings in that we apply as much grease as we can into the bearing.  A lot of companies will go really light on the grease knowing that the first thing you will do when you get the bearing is spin it in your hand.  So they use a low grease fill to make you think the bearing is really fast since it turns so easily.  We think that is a marketing gimmick and also a sure fire way to have early bearing failure.  So we load up on the grease, knowing that it's the ceramic balls that are what makes a ceramic bearing so fast.  The grease will break in over the first few hundred miles of riding and our bearings will loosen up quite a bit.

Now we snap the outer seal in place.  If chosen, we would've installed our orange cyclocross seals in this step but this customer chose regular seals.

Now, we apply some grease to the outside of the seal.  This will help protect the bearing from contamination and also keep the dustcap quiet since it won't rub.

Now we are getting close to a finished BB.  We then install our dustcaps.  Note the dry ID of the dustcap.

Now we apply some grease to the ID of the dustcap.  This is to help eliminate spindle wear on your crank and also to keep things quiet.  Note the grease on the ID of the dustcap.

Now we flip the bearing over so we can access the inside.  You can see the backside seal here, the one we installed before we pressed the bearing into the cup.

And then we add more grease, this time over the backside seal so that no water enters the bearing from inside your frame.

That is pretty much how we build our bearings.  We left out a few secret things we do, but in a nutshell, this is the correct way to build a bearing and ensure it not only is fast, but also lasts.

Remember that grease is the best thing for a bearing, so it is very important you follow our maintenance guide and grease your bearings periodically.

Thanks for reading!