BeantownFixed

I can;t seem to get ny BB back together with it spinning smoothly. Dumb Question when you put the bearings in and they are in a retainer. Does the flat side of the retainer face in towards the middle or out towards the sides of the bike. Help, I'm going crazy!!!

jwa

Short answer: flat side probably faces out.

Long answer (from Barnett's): " Forget any rule of thumb about which way ball retainers face in relation to the cups & spindle. There is only one way to get ball retainers in correctly and that is to test mate them both ways to the spindle and both ways to the cup...."

moxfyre

It depends on the particular model, unfortunately, but usually the flat side of the retainer faces inward.

The better solution is not to use retainers at all. Manufacturers use them on cheap cup-and-cone BBs to save a few balls and thus save a few pennies. With a bottom bracket, they typically use 7 balls in a retainer, whereas you can fit 11 balls if you don't use a retainer. To hold the balls in place when installing them, just use a thick layer of grease.

You'd be amazed how much smoother a bottom bracket or headset can be if you junk the retainer and use more ball bearings. More balls will distribute the wear more evenly too, and so they'll last longer. It will only cost a buck or two, and it's a very worthwhile upgrade.

Noam Zane

The flat sides of the retainers face each other towards the center of the spindle. If you have extra balls pop them out and use them loose.

HillRider

True, discarding the retainers is a good idea. However, manufacturers don't use them to save bearing costs, they use them to speed assembly and save labor cost. A bb with retainer bearings can be assembled in a few seconds. Individually placing loose balls in both sides of the bb takes much longer and time definitely is money.

Grand Bois

Throw the retainers away and use all new balls from the same batch.

thomson

The open side of the reatainer always goes toward the cone.

jordanb

It's a little bit of both. A little peice of pressed sheetmetal costs less than the bearings it replaces.

Personally I like the cages. It really does make it a lot easier to repack the hub and makes it more likely that I'll do it.

If you do remove the cage to add more bearings though be sure to replace all the bearings with a new set that were all produced in the same lot. Otherwise you can end up with bearings with slightly different sizes.

BeantownFixed

I put it together with the flat side of the retainer facing eachother (towards the center of the bike). everything seems to be working fine. Next go I will def. try w/o the retainer though.

moxfyre

A rough-running bottom bracket or hub doesn't usually affect your ride too much, since you apply enough force to overwhelm the resistance of the bearing, though it will cause the hub or BB to wear out faster. But a rough-running headset can have a very negative impact on the bike's steering. So, if you don't mind the one-time hassle of getting loose balls to stay in place on a headset, it can make a big improvement.

JunkYardBike

Damn. I just overhauled a few headsets, reusing the retainer rings. LBS was no help, as I asked them about reusing retainer rings, and they had nothing really helpful to say. I'd add, though, that it isn't really that difficult if you use a thick enough grease, and a lot of it. It sticks like playdough. Of course, I guess I've read elsewhere that not everyone likes the extra friction caused by thick grease.

moxfyre

That's a pity that the LBS wasn't more helpful. I'm pretty skeptical that you could really feel the extra friction of thick grease. Friction in a headset is always in my experience caused by worn, dirty, or badly adjusted bearings, not by thick grease. I'd much prefer a well-adjusted bearing with molasses-thick grease over a badly-adjusted one with $10-per-ounce fancy-pants grese.

The easiest way to pack a headset without using bearing retainers:

- Flip the frame upside down and put a layer of thick grease in the lower head CUP (not TOO thick or you'll get your hands all gummed up while putting the bearings in, and this will cause you to fumble and drop them)
- Put ball bearings all around the circumference of the cup, and the grease will hold them in place.
- Put more grease on the fork crown race and stick the fork steerer into the frame.
- Holding the fork firmly against the frame, flip it right side up.
- The top half of the headset is easy, since there's nowhere for bearings to go if they roll loose. Actually, you may as well use the retainers for the top of the headset. The upper bearings of a headset are not under nearly as much stress as the lower bearings.