Where do they lose points to sealed bearing hubs? Cup and cone systems often require more maintenance and can be prone to loosening up under hard riders, especially from sideways landings. This can be an especially big issue because the hub's outer bearing race - the cup - and the inner race - the cone - can be easily damaged when ridden lose. The cup itself is pressed into the hub shell and is not replaceable, meaning that the entire hub can quickly be turned to scrap metal if it becomes pitted, whereas it is quite rare to damage a sealed bearing hub's bearing bore from riding it loose. Worn out and lose sealed bearings? Simply pop them out, press in news ones and call it a day.

Always use the smallest cone wrenches the fit. Most front hubs will accept either 13, 15 or 17mm sizes, while rear hubs often take 15, 17 and 19mm size wrenches. A crescent wrench can be used on the outer locknut. 

? Turning the axle with your fingers will give you much better indication of if it is too tight than spinning it in the frame or fork. But rocking the wheel laterally while it is still in the bike will allow you to easily feel if it is too loose.

? It is important to note that adjusting the hub nsk bearings tighter than required will not in any way keep them from coming loose sooner, but will actually increase wear on all components. A loose ball hub that has been ridden with too much bearing tension will likely have damaged both the cone and cup, possibly requiring the hub to be replaced. The same will result from riding a hub that is too loose. Your goal should be to adjust the hub so that it has the least amount of bearing tension without being loose.

At the risk of talking down to some readers and over the head of others I feel the need to explain the term “bottom bracket”. According to Sheldon Brown’s Bicycle Glossary a bottom bracket is:The part of the frame around which the pedal cranks revolve, also the bearings and axle assembly that runs through the bottom bracket shell of the frame. 

Looking at the late Mr. Brown’s page I realized I am opening a bona fide can of worms. There are several bottom bracket “standards”, and bottom bracket/crankset interfaces. We won’t even get into “outboard bearing” and “BB30″ and other new standards which are mostly calculated to keep the buying public buying, while claiming to add some performance advantage…not performance related to the durability or ntn bearing function of the piece… but of the rider/bike. 

The taper on Italian (Campagnolo) cranks and bottom brackets are different from the taper on cranks and bottom brackets made anyplace else in the known Universe, which actually is typical of Campy parts. And bottom brackets come with different spindle lengths. The correct spindle length for a given bicycle will be a function of the width of the bottom bracket shell, the shape of the chain stays and of the shape of the crank. For example: with a Sugino XD500 (XD2) triple crank set on a Surly Long Haul Trucker [loose ball bearings] , a 116mm to 118mm spindle length works well.

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