Been looking for a new rear hub and i like he look of the Suzue bmx ones (i ride freewheel) bu he open bearing ones are available in far nicer colours han the sealed ones, does anyone use the open bearing Suzues? Iv had open bearing hubs before, Shimano etc and they never really caused me much trouble.

Open bearing are fine, thats what the majority of BMXers used back in the day. They are still widely used on many expensive mtbs, only on the hubs not the BB's. I think most oldschool track stuff, and a lot of keirin stuff is open bearing too.

Looseball bearings are a lot stronger and more durable than cartidge ones, you just have to be weary of running dried out hubs full of grit, remember to service and they will spin smooth for many many years.

Older 'sealed' hubs are not the cartridge bearings we see today, they are looseball hubs with a better rubber seal.

I happen to have a couple rear hi-flange gold SR BMX hubs for sale. They are identical to the Suzues

Based on what? All bearing are different.

Cartridge / industrial bearings are simply loose bearings in their own races with lube, and sealed up with side walls, so are not inherently weaker or stronger simply because of this. You do talk a lot of rubbish.

+1

non-sealed bbs and hubs are fine. It just means that you need to service them. It's cheaper to replace bearings and buy cone spanners then to buy new components in the long run.
I've never heard a good word about suzue though.
The messengers I know who were running them used to say that pulling them apart and repacking them was the first step to using them at all. But I've never run them.

+2

buy the best components you can afford. Good equipment pays you back. Stripping and repacking hubs isn't my idea of an afternoon's entertainment...

Size for size the balls inside a loose ball hub would be larger than the balls inside the equivalent catridge bearing hub. The cartridge bearing also has a cage/retainer and a shell which is much weaker than the balls themselves. So cartriddge bearing can get beat up more easily than equivalent looseball. (not saying thats easy, or anything to worry about.)

This is the reason why quality entry level MTB, trials and similar hubs have loose ball bearings even though for the price, putting in a cartirdge bearing would be possible and more 'convenient' for the user to maintain. The fact is that they are stronger. If your comparing similar sized/priced hubs/bearings.

I run a Suzue track hub on the rear, in my opinion the quality is very good. ive also used many old school BMX hubs like what the OP was on about (I think) and I also have DMR revolver hubs on my mtb, (yes looseball again)

On my current BMX I do have sealed cartridge bearings, but they are HUGE ones that fit over a 20mm hollow thru axle. I think they need to be of a hefty size to be of notably better performance and longer durability.

mechanical_vandal, I can get stuff anodised for FREE if you are interested. I'm in Glasgow too, you would need to strip the hub and just give me the aluminium parts you want anodised. I'm getting a batch of black done soon and maybe some red.

U running g sports or sumthin?

im looking for white stff actuallly, got a black mavic wheel on the front to go with forks n want the rear wheel to be mainly white to go with the frame. Was about to buy open bearing suzues but then realised they come in 36h n the halo rims r only available in 32h in white. Anyone now of a white rim - pref no barking surface - thats available in 36h?

yes :D

The negative comments made me actually go look this up (although I know I am right)

some quotes of this 'Ben Escoto' chap on the sheldon brown website:

The article is from 1998, cartridge bearings are easier to get hold of now, but you can get the idea that they are not as durable/robust just as I have described.

i have a chrome susue 36 hole bmx hub, its old and flakey, its 10 pounds, also note, there are 2 rims, out the front of me house in fulham, that i just cut the campag hubs from
0774 858 2044

oh its a sealed bearing one
note, early sealed bearing hubs use, if you like by definition of a 10mm axle, small bearings, if you want a bigger sealed bearing, file your drop outs to 14mm, and run the later style 14mm hubs-bmx, plus as the spindle is 14mm, simply fit a hollow axle, tap it m10, fit an allen bolt to it

are you going to ripley swap meet 2 morrow as i'll bring it along
-i have 3

Sadly not as i live in glasgow. Iv been looking at the Suzues as they r available in pink n green etc and look the tits.

fancy gold? £10 posted.