52100 High Carbon Chromium Alloy Races with Cryogenic Treatment: Starting with vacuum de-gassed alloy and hardened to Rockwell C-64, these super high precision races are cryogenically treated not once, but three times during the final super polishing phase. Cryogenic treatement means taking the races down to minus 300º Farenheit to nomalize the crystalline structure of the material so that the races will resist the hardness of the ceramic balls and get the maximum wear potential. This critical treatement to the races is left out by many manufacturers, but not by Enduro.

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

Grease: The grease we use for out SI3N4 ceramic hybrid bearings is a special engineered grease made to be very sticky and has tiny particles of PTFE in it, (Dupont calls it Teflon). The grease is Rock & Roll Super Web. Two things about this grease: if you take off a seal and turn the bearing, notice how it pulls itself pack into the rotating balls. This is the "webbing" action of the grease where it is sticky and adheres to the area where it needs to work; in the ball path. Many other greases get pushed out of the way and if you look inside the bearing, you will notice it sitting next to the ball path as more and more of the grease gets pushed out of the critical area.

The second thing to know is that when you initially turn the bearings with Super Web grease in it before they have been loaded, you can sometimes feel a particle of the PTFE. This will go away as soon as the wheel or component is under load and spinning. What happens is the PTFE will get smashed onto the ball and/or race and make a coating between the two that will make the bearings last a lot longer. The next time you spin the wheel or BB after loading and spinning, it will roll as smooth as glass.

There are a lot of misconceptions about how a wheel or BB can spin in your hand. If you remember an old metal roller skate wheel with no seals or grease in it and you spin it, it will go for a long time before it slows down. Then later, cartridge bearings came out for polyurethane wheels and the grease and seals would not allow the bearing to "hand spin" like that. Once under load however, this is an entirely different situation; the grease is allowing the balls and wheels to spin with less work and the seals are keeping the grease clean to allow this preferred state of motion to continue. But we do not make bearings for "hand wheels", we make bearings professional bicycle racing wheels.