Anyone know where to find Loose Ball Bearings in the UK?



Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Me

Guest
Hi, I want to replace the bearings in my XTR hubs and my wife's Deore hubs.

I need about

50 balls @ 3/16" and 40 balls @ 1/4"

Anyone know where to find these in the UK without paying an extortionate amount at my local bike
shop? Is there such a thing as a machine shop / supplier that sells nothing but ball bearings?

cheers,
 
Best price I can find so far is St John Cycles

26 grade 100 balls @ 3/16" for £4.99 and 24 grade 100 balls @ 1/4" for £4.99

These are the quality I want, but surely it wont cost me £20 to replace the bearings in my
two bikes?

Anyone else know of a cheaper supplier?

cheers,

"Me" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Hi, I want to replace the bearings in my XTR hubs and my wife's Deore
hubs.
>
> I need about
>
> 50 balls @ 3/16" and 40 balls @ 1/4"
>
> Anyone know where to find these in the UK without paying an extortionate amount at my local bike
> shop? Is there such a thing as a machine shop / supplier that sells nothing but ball bearings?
>
> cheers,
 
On Thu, 3 Jul 2003 10:45:23 +0100, "Me" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Best price I can find so far is St John Cycles
>
>26 grade 100 balls @ 3/16" for £4.99 and 24 grade 100 balls @ 1/4" for £4.99

Harris carries 25 grade 25 balls of both sizes for $2.95. Even with $10 or so shipping costs, it'd
probably be cheaper than that, plus you get better quality balls. I think my LBS has cheaper balls
than that (but of a lower grade), though.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/wheels.html#bearings

Jasper
 
Jasper Janssen wrote:
>
> On Thu, 3 Jul 2003 10:45:23 +0100, "Me" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Best price I can find so far is St John Cycles
> >
> >26 grade 100 balls @ 3/16" for £4.99 and 24 grade 100 balls @ 1/4" for £4.99

My LBS gave them to me free. It's a keeper.

Stergios
 
In message <[email protected]>, Me <[email protected]> writes
>Best price I can find so far is St John Cycles
>
>26 grade 100 balls @ 3/16" for £4.99 and 24 grade 100 balls @ 1/4" for £4.99
>
>These are the quality I want, but surely it wont cost me £20 to replace the bearings in my
>two bikes?
>
>Anyone else know of a cheaper supplier?
>
I got 100 grade from BSL, cheaper than SJS. (To be fair, at least SJS say what grade they are
selling, the local bike shops just have little bags of unspecified at higher prices.)

My local branch of BSL does not stock imperial sizes but got them in a couple of days. They didn't
offer 25 grade but I see that the BSL web site lists all grades so I suggest you start there and
home in on your nearest branch or order from the web. Their home page is:

http://www.bsl.co.uk

Martyn
--
Martyn Aldis
 
On Thu, 03 Jul 2003 22:37:31 +0100, Martyn. Aldis wrote:

> In message <[email protected]>, Me <[email protected]> writes
>>Best price I can find so far is St John Cycles
>>
>>26 grade 100 balls @ 3/16" for £4.99 and 24 grade 100 balls @ 1/4" for £4.99
>>
>>These are the quality I want, but surely it wont cost me £20 to replace the bearings in my
>>two bikes?

Those prices are outrageous. I know that ball-bearing plants were targeted by both sides during
WWII, but I would have thought the Brits would have re-built the factories by now.

I spend $5/100 and feel ripped off. You are spending 8 times as much.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | The lottery is a tax on those who fail to understand _`\(,_ | mathematics. (_)/ (_) |
 
>>> These are the quality I want, but surely it wont cost me £20 to replace the bearings in my two
>>> bikes?
>
> Those prices are outrageous. I know that ball-bearing plants were targeted by both sides during
> WWII, but I would have thought the Brits would have re-built the factories by now.
>
> I spend $5/100 and feel ripped off. You are spending 8 times as much.

The Bandits of Bridgwater (aka St John Street Cycles) do indeed charge well over the top for some
items. Parker International's (UK) price is only 5 pence per ball.

~PB
 
David L. Johnson wrote:

> On Thu, 03 Jul 2003 22:37:31 +0100, Martyn. Aldis wrote:
>
>> In message <[email protected]>, Me <[email protected]> writes
>>>Best price I can find so far is St John Cycles
>>>
>>>26 grade 100 balls @ 3/16" for £4.99 and 24 grade 100 balls @ 1/4" for £4.99
>>>
>>>These are the quality I want, but surely it wont cost me £20 to replace the bearings in my
>>>two bikes?
>
> Those prices are outrageous. I know that ball-bearing plants were targeted by both sides during
> WWII, but I would have thought the Brits would have re-built the factories by now.
>
> I spend $5/100 and feel ripped off. You are spending 8 times as much.
>

Brügelmann in Germany sells 144 balls for 4.00 ¤ in standard quality. Their price for 'hi-tech'
quality is 8.15 ¤ for 100 balls.

Their website is at http://www.bruegelmann.de but it is quite poor so you really need a printed
catalogue to order anything.

Peter P
 
Peter Portin <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> David L. Johnson wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 03 Jul 2003 22:37:31 +0100, Martyn. Aldis wrote:
> >
> >> In message <[email protected]>, Me <[email protected]> writes
> >>>Best price I can find so far is St John Cycles
> >>>
> >>>26 grade 100 balls @ 3/16" for £4.99 and 24 grade 100 balls @ 1/4" for £4.99
> >>>
> >>>These are the quality I want, but surely it wont cost me £20 to replace the bearings in my two
> >>>bikes?
> >
> > Those prices are outrageous. I know that ball-bearing plants were targeted by both sides during
> > WWII, but I would have thought the Brits would have re-built the factories by now.
> >
> > I spend $5/100 and feel ripped off. You are spending 8 times as much.
> >
>
> Brügelmann in Germany sells 144 balls for 4.00 ¤ in standard quality. Their price for 'hi-tech'
> quality is 8.15 ¤ for 100 balls.
>
> Their website is at http://www.bruegelmann.de but it is quite poor so you really need a printed
> catalogue to order anything.
>
> Peter P

The story is the same in scotland, low quality unknown grade at real world price at local L.B.S
(Probably leftovers and spares from repairs), or graded in fancy packets at house loan prices!!

I would think sjs are selling at a fair price compared to what they are buying in at. If you do a UK
web search it only seems to come up with mass producers with minimum order quantities.!!!
 
On 5 Jul 2003 09:43:20 -0700, [email protected] (Andy wilson) wrote:

>The story is the same in scotland, low quality unknown grade at real world price at local L.B.S
>(Probably leftovers and spares from repairs), or graded in fancy packets at house loan prices!!

I *really* hope your LBS isn't enough of a moron to sell you secondhand balls of unknown origin. You
can't really afford to use balls from different production run batches in one bearing. New cones,
let alone buying and lacing new hubs because the cups are deceased, are much more expensive than
whatever you pay for the balls.

Jasper
 
snip
>
>
>The story is the same in scotland, low quality unknown grade at real world price at local L.B.S
>(Probably leftovers and spares from repairs), or graded in fancy packets at house loan prices!!
>
>I would think sjs are selling at a fair price compared to what they are buying in at. If you do a
>UK web search it only seems to come up with mass producers with minimum order quantities.!!!

The minimum at BSL, who distribute for many of the manufacturer's, is 100 and the price for 100grade
6mm just over £6 plus vat per 100 at my local branch. They have ten sales branches in Scotland. (See
link in my previous posting.)

I know houses are a bit cheaper in parts of Scotland but :)

I got 250 of 1/4" and 250 of 3/16" (100grade) for something like £16 from BSL late last year so it's
clear that you if you can decide what you might want over a longer period and get them in a bigger
quantity it's worth it but.....

Note well that BSL supply the balls clean.

You will need to put a bit of oil on them and roll them about to protect them. I've discovered this
the hard way as most of my 250 3/16" balls are now rusty and will have to be discarded. I should
have got on and serviced my old Sturmey hubs all at once. : (

When you think this through it may explain bike shop pricing. Dried beans are cheaper by the tonne
too but go mouldy piled in the coal shed.

May be some of the best US bike shops are treating 25grade balls a bit like ASDA's and Tesco's 9p
cans of baked beans? Softens us up for the cost of a bottle or a new XTR or Record.

Martyn

Martyn Aldis
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads