Originally Posted by
beng1
I don't think wearing ball bearings out is enough of a problem on any bike to proactively take old ones out and put in sealed bearings. There are lots of bikes fifty to a hundred years old running around with all of their original bearings. I like adjustable cones and cups because they are adjustable, they are classic, and they are mechanical things for mechanics to work on and are not dumbed down for consumerism.
The technology is as much about the seals as it it the bearings. I haven't had to do any maintenance on the hubs or bottom bracket in over 40 years.
In my opinion, it isn't "dumbed down", it is a genuine improvement.
There are many other technologies I have tried and rejected but this one stuck. I can offer a few examples - Ultra-6 freewheels, slant-parallelogram rear derailleurs, cyclometers and others all of which I have subsequently removed from the bike.
I'd forgotten, I also installed sealed bearing pulleys in my Nuovo Record derailleur.