Originally Posted by
Dannihilator
It's the reason I won't run a truvativ/sram crank.
You have one size bearing in one cup, a different size bearing in the opposite cup, on a fixed application if you are a bit of an animal on the cranks the gxp setup will last 1/2 as long as a good quality square tapered setup. If you are lighter on the cranks it will last the same amount of time as a comparable setup, sugino 75/DA Track/Record Track.
It's only a 2mm difference in I.D. I think the balls inside the separate cartridge bearings are the same. I've never thrashed a set of cartridge bearings. The benefit of loose ball stuff is that you can repack them with fresh balls periodically, but I have had great luck with simply removing the seals on many "worn" cartridge bearings and thoroughly cleaning and regreasing them to bring them back to life. And if you are patient enough you can repack cartridge bearings by removing the bearing retainer and pushing all the balls to one side to remove the inner race. I guess what I am trying to say is I am a "maximizer."