Bearing Technology

Bicycles, in terms of distance traveled per calories burned, are the most efficient form of locomotion on the planet. This incredible return on energy investment is usually defined by wheels, cranks and chain, but none of this efficiency would be possible without the presence of bearings.

Road cyclists are held up and kept in motion by as many as twenty of these invisible heroes, and as mountain bike suspension pivots enter the mix that count rises to approach thirty. The demands of bearings when applied to bicycles are different than found in many other use scenarios; uneven loading, relatively low rpm, and a wide range of potential contaminants.

Enduro Bearings rolled onto the scene in 1996 with the introduction of our full-complement MAX^® bearing; a product specifically designed to meet the load and strength demands of cycling. We continue to engineer and manufacture solutions that are bicycle specific, from the lifetime guaranteed XD-15 ceramic-hybrid bearing line to our newest, patent-pending, Maxhit™ bottom brackets and headsets. Our cycling focus and manufacturing experience means that there is an Enduro bearing for just about any bicycle related application – our catalog goes deep! Every one of the 1000+ bearings and components Enduro offers is designed with “best-use” principles that guide everything from material selection to ball size and race shape, then meticulously engineered and manufactured to meet the unique but diverse demands of road, gravel and mountain bike riders and racers.

Manufacturing a bearing involves a whole lot more than laser etching a logo on the outside of someone else’s race. There’s a lot of hype surrounding bearings, and plenty of buzzword jargon that does not always signify “best-use” application. In addition to dedicating ourselves to manufacturing the best cycling-specific bearings possible, we are committed to spreading a greater understanding of bearings, and openly speaking about what works, and why. In order better understand what’s involved in creating dependable, high performance bicycle bearings, our Bearing Basics page digs deeper into bearing terminology. Then let’s talk about Enduro’s bearing design and manufacturing practices by jumping over to the Enduro Innovations page. To complete the bicycle bearing trilogy, we share hub bearing fatigue data for two Enduro options as well as two from the competition on our Product Testing page.