Grade 5 Chromium Steel Balls: These high precision balls are 5/1,000,000” from exactly round round in sphericity. How round is that? Five times as round as the balls Shimano or Campagnolo use in their top componments.

52100 High Carbon Chromium Alloy Races: Vacuum de-gassed process for the purest alloy steel, hardened to R-62 and still tough and durable.

Retainers are Nylon with Graphite the smoothest running: These retainers are virtually frictionless while providing constant lubrication.

What is ABEC 5? ABEC 5 is a standard to which each bearing must pass many tests in order to meet the scheduled requirements including noise testing at high RPM, extremely tight tolerances for the internal diameter, outer diameter, roundness of ball, trueness of races, and surface finish of
all of the above. A much higher standard than ABEC 3, even though only 2 digits difference in name.

What is C-3? How about C-N? C-3 refers to the internal clearance of a bearing and is the standard clearance in the U.S. This is the play between the ball and the races before the bearing is installed. Our C-3 clearance is a tighter tolerance than most other manufacturers. This changes depending on the size, but for a 10-18 mm ID bearing, our standard is 11-21 um where most manufacturers use 11-25 um (0.011-0.025 mm). C-N is commonly used in Europe and in this series we offer both internal clearances for most sizes. C-N is tighter and is 3-12 um (0.003-0.012 mm).

SRS and LLB type seals: SRS refers to Snap Ring Seals and are a special
seal we use in our ABEC 5 series for the least rolling resistance possible
while still providing protection for the bearing. This sealing mechanism is
called an axial face seal design. Different from most seals which seal perpendicular to the mating surface, these seal in a parallel conditionwhere the inner flat part of the sealing lip mates up against a machined metal “shelf “ on the inner race of the bearing. Water or foreign matter forces the seal closed when it is pushed on, repelling them back outwards,while under normal conditions, it rolls along with extremely low resistance.