ENDURO ABEC 5 STEEL BEARINGS

What Does ABEC 5 Mean? ABEC 5 is a standard which requires each bearing to pass many tests in order to meet the scheduled requirements. This includes 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. This is a much higher standard than ABEC 3, even though only differing by 2 digits in rating.

THE BALLS are made from chromium steel. These high precision Grade 5 balls are 5/1,000,000” from exactly round in sphericity. For comparison, Shimano and Campagnolo use grade 25 balls in their top-level components. When talking ball grade, the smaller the number, the "rounder" the ball.

THE RACES are vacuum de-gassed 52100 high carbon chromium alloy steel, hardened to Rockwell C-62.

THE RETAINERS are nylon with Graphite and are virtually frictionless while providing constant lubrication.

THE SEALS are "SRS" (Snap Ring Seals) or "LLB" (light contact, dual-lipped labyrinth). Both are effective at sealing while keeping drag to a minium.