Nice New Wheels Delivered!

Sealed bearing wheels. © Eugene Brennan

It took me forever last week to source these. The engineering aspect and excuse to post about them is that they have sealed ball bearings, so somewhat better than the cup and cone bearings used in traditional mountain bike wheels. The latter are a pain in the arse to maintain and water gets into the ones on the back wheel when hosing the sprockets after they get covered with muck. So they have to be dismantled, cleaned and degreased (see photo below). Several local bike shops hadn't heard of these wheels or said they didn't exist. Anyway 360cycles.ie will be getting a good review because they were really helpful and gave lots of updates on the progress of sourcing them for me.

Sealed bearing image public domain, courtesy 4volvos.

Components of a rear cup and cone bearing. © Eugene Brennan