Thread: Oh, BALLS!!
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Old 11-17-14 | 07:09 PM
  #4  
FBinNY
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Joined: Apr 2009
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From: New Rochelle, NY

Bikes: too many bikes from 1967 10s (5x2)Frejus to a Sumitomo Ti/Chorus aluminum 10s (10x2), plus one non-susp mtn bike I use as my commuter

Go to any bearing house (search bearing balls) and shop for grade 25 balls. These are better than you need, but the cost difference between those and grade 100 (the lowest I use for bicycles) is very small, so you can afford to treat yourself to Champagne in lieu of beer on this one. Pass on the grade 1,000 which is OK for roller skates and Huffy's, but not for quality bike parts.

Since you're in Hawaii, check shipping policies. You need a seller willing to use Priority (or 1st class) Mail Flat rate to keep the cost down. Many sellers simply won't and whatever you save will disappear in shipping cost.

BTW- here's a link to an explanation of the ball grading system. But in a few words the grade number is equal to the LOT tolerance in millionths of an inch. So all the balls in th same lot of grade 25 balls will be within .000025" of each other. Note that the batch to batch to batch tolerance is 5 times the lot tolerance (in all common grades), which is why you don't mix balls from different lots.

I store balls either in plastic condiment bottles or ZipLok baggies. Either way, I add some machine oil, shake well to coat them all and have never had issues.
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