hahaha it felt great. we were surprised how smooth it was. it was on a new hub, so the races and cones were still in good shape. as marcus suggested, check the races and cones to see if they are in good shape. if you're re-building a hub, new bearings never hurt. unless you swallow them and poop them out into a frying pan and drop the pan on your foot. what a mess! either way, high quality chromium bearings will make a difference.