Originally Posted by
prathmann
They wouldn't be if the two wheels had the same mass. But, if other things are equal, the smaller diameter wheel will also be lighter and will therefore have less inertia.
No need to use a microscope. The tiny chips and pits will show up by making the damaged balls look dull in comparison to shiny new ones. If they still look nice and shiny when you wipe off the grease then they should be good.
I do all my own tuneups on my bikes but about every 8 years or so I'll take a bike in to have a pro go over it to make sure I haven't missed anything. The last time I took that Trek 660 with the Superbe components on it was about 7 or 8 years ago and the mechanic said all the bearings looked really good. I haven't ridden the bike much in the last 3 years so I'm sure the bearings are still good. Suntour supposedly had the best bearings on the market at the time, not sure it that's true, but with over 160,000 miles on the hub bearings they must be pretty darn good.