I can't disagree with that philosophy. It should be stated, however, that the replacement balls should be of equivalent quality to the retired ones. I'd rather keep using good balls with life left in them than new ones of questionable quality. And, speaking for myself here (don't do this at home kids ), if my assessment of a particular bearing assembly (based on the known or presumed history of the bike, as well as absence of any negative visual indicators with the bearings in the teardown and inspection process) is that it is early in life and gently used, I have no problem returning the balls to service for another innings.