Threadless headsets and hubs that use "loose ball bearings" require steel bearing seats. These tracks must remain smooth and free from pits or cracks for the balls to run smoothly. 

Get a magnetised screwdriver blade to make life easier for yourself when removing loose ball bearings from a hub – the balls will stick to the magnetic tip without the need for more sticky grease. Either buy one or magnetise your own screwdriver by dragging its blade over a fridge magnet several times in the same direction.

Loose ball bearings are generally utilized to maintain space inside the moving parts of a rotating object, for example a wheel or gear. They're typically found in bicycle and car tires. The best place to shop for loose fag bearings is through the Internet, in which a wide various products are offered.

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.

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 iko bearings . For example: with a Sugino XD500 (XD2) triple crank set on a Surly Long Haul Trucker, a 116mm to 118mm spindle length works well.

NSK LH LA 35L

NSK LH LA 30L

STAR H15