Kogel's Ball Bearing Adventures
All the components in a bicycle ball bearing (how they interact with each other)
Radial ball bearings, the most common type in bicycle applications, have five components to them: balls, races, cages, seals, and lubrication. The quality of the ball bearing is determined by any single one of them. Ultimately, any one of these 5 components in your bicycle's radial ball bearings not optimized can lead to lower performance and have to purchase new ones sooner than expected. Especially if you don't use the right kind of lubricant for race day. The lesson here is whether you ride mountain, road, gravel, or a triathlon, take care of your bearings - and they'll take care of you.
Ceramic Ball bearing warranty. A market analysis.
I spoke about ball bearing warranty in a previous post but we still explain every day how Kogel is different from Enduro Bearings, Ceramicspeed or Boca Bearings. These are brands...
Four ways Kogel Bearings takes care of your needs
When I started Kogel Bearings, I thought long and hard about what drives a customer to a business. Just a good product is no guarantee for a consumer to slide...
Ceramic bearings for mountain bikes
Ceramic bearings on mountain bikes are a controversial topic, a surefire way to start a heated discussion over an after ride pint. Some riders feel high quality bearings bring no...
5 ways to reduce drivetrain friction and why it is important
You can install all the fancy ceramic bearings in the world, but the effort is quickly lost if you do not pay attention to ALL parts of your drivetrain and how...
Fixing bottom bracket creaks
Following up on last week's blog post which covered bottom bracket creaks that are actually not coming from the bottom bracket, this article will look at a smart work flow...
The best bottom bracket tools for installation
Installing bottom brackets can be challenging, some press tools are great, others cause the cups to go in crooked or put a lot of stress on the bearings. We use...
The lowest friction from ceramic bearings
Or: why we are not obsessed with building the lightest running bearings Reading any post about bearings in the cycling media, it seems that the quality of bearings is only...
Problems with ceramic bearings, part two
In part one of this article, we covered the cost and lifespan of ceramic bearings. Part 2 will look at the maintenance and performance benefits. Ceramic bearings require a lot...
Problems with ceramic bearings, part one
Ever since we started Kogel Bearings, I have had the feeling we were fighting an uphill battle. Selling a high quality product, which has a very bad reputation. Just like...
T47: the good, the bad and the availability.
Last year at NAHBS, a new bottom bracket standard was introduced. Dubbed T47, the parameters were set through a collaboration between White Industries and custom bike builder Argonaut Bicycles. Chris...
Removing bottom brackets like a boss
Since our post on Installing bottom brackets like a boss, it only seems fair that we write up instruction on how to safely remove a pressed in bottom bracket. The...