..."balls to Campagnolo", eh? Well I say, balls to Shimano!, and while we're at it, Balls to You!! ;):)

Where does one find loose SKF ball bearings? If not available, what would you rocommend for non-Chinese ball bearings. They sell by the hundred for very cheap on the Bay.

I'm not sure SKF still supplies loose balls. I can't find them, anyway. A lot of balls are being made in India these days, it seems. How to find balls made in the USA? I haven't figured it out yet. Not that I'm looking to purchase. I'm pretty well set. But it would be good to know if any vendors are selling high quality balls these days.

Maybe this outfit?

They say "small orders welcome."

::..Welcome To Acra Ball..::

This company apparently still makes bearing balls in CT.


http://bandrb.com/precision-sizing-balls/

...Motion Industries has a local brick and mortar location here, and while they don't stock loose balls in the store any more, they are always happy to order them for me from their galactic HQ warehouse. They are high quality, but I couldn't tell you where they're made. They have many locations across the country.

...:)

I was told this on good authority as well. The same individual also told me that they purchased grade 25 bearings from SKF and then performed another process of discarding some percentage of those that did not pass a further grading process in house so they ended up a grade 25+.

I use grade 25 on most everything, grade 10 on parts with ground races, such as Campagnolo, Dura Ace, Higher end Suntour. To each his own. The grade is a quality and measurement of roundness. The lower number, the higher standard the ball is made. Using Ceramic, balls can be made to very higher tolerances. But there is a draw back, they have to be serviced more often. Again you can use what you want, this is how I do it for me.

This is where I order grade 10 Bearings.


https://www.bocabearings.com/default...ImsaArMm8P8HAQ

Thanks for all the links. I may be in the market for replacement balls again sometime, so I will refer to this thread, in that case. I got my last set from Loose Screws. Did that get mentioned above, or are they no longer in the business?

Campy had their own bearing sorters. While the balls they used may not have been grade 25, with the sorting process they were able to assemble individual components with balls that were within similar spec (actual numbers elude me ATM).
Taking 10 sets of hubs from various times and pouring the bearings into a pile could yield something closer to grade 100 potentially.

See page 3 lower right corner.

http://www.skfelink.com/skfelink_pdf..._Bro_Final.pdf

Thanks. I couldn't find them on the retail level, online, anywhere.
But it's obvious they still make them. Thx.