Originally Posted by
Dave Mayer
And if you are considering cartridge-bearing hubs, apart from the sub-optimal design relative to Shimano, consider the misery you'll have to go to find and replace some obscure cartridge bearings down the road. Or a rare and expensive freehub.
I fail to see why a pressed in cartridge bearing is a "sub-optimal" designed compared to cup and cone for the reasons detailed above. There are very few ways of binding a cartridge bearing since the force of the end caps is on the inner ring of the bearing rather than on the bearing surface itself.
The bearings used in cartridge bearing hubs are hardly obscure. All of the ones that I've used are readily available from automotive supply stores or from bearing distrubutors. They are standard sizes. Finding the right bearing is simply a case of measuring the bearing and getting the proper size. Most of the cartridge bearings I've seen are even marked with a part number on the seal which is easy to cross reference.
Even Shimano hubs are hardly standard. Shimano changed the diameter of their cones when they went from 130mm OLD to 135mm OLD on mountain bike hubs. The cones are almost the same size and the newer cones will thread onto the axle of the 130mm axle but it is too large. I found this out the hard way when I went to replace a pitted cone. The old cones are very difficult to find.
Cones are also not standard between brands. Finding a cone for an obscure brand could be extremely difficult.