Industrial Technology Transferred to the Bicycle
Beginning of the 20th century: Sven Wingquist is annoyed about downtimes in his textile factory in Gothenburg and develops the innovative self-aligning deep grove ball bearing and thereby created the foundation for SKF as leading bearing manufacturer.
Some 100 years after Winqguists stroke of genius Benjamin Michael is annoyed as well about various bearing failures in his bike during his cross-country-marathons. The SKF application engineer knows exactly what reasons lead to his bearing failure: enormous amounts of water, dirt and dust, which the bearings are exposed to. Additionally the high pressure water cleaning of the bike have an high impact on the bearing life of “common” bearings: the seals get pushed in, due to that water and other contaminants can enter the bearing and lubricants will be washed out and can no longer protect the steel surfaces sufficiently. To resolve this problem, Benjamin Michael, an enthusiastic semi-professional mountain biker, took care of a new transfer of technology within SKF: The engineer was in charge of tailoring the “Solid Oil” technology of his company from challenging industries to the MTB segment.
Furthermore, mountain bike enthusiasts and well-known suspension manufacturers rely on fork seal kits and internal seals from SKF. And if your bike's wheels, headset, or the bottom bracket should ever get stuck, you will find a suitable low-friction bearing as a replacement at SKF.
SKF MTRX Groove Ball Bearings for MTB ‘s
Solid Oil is an oil-saturated polymer matrix, which is injection molded into the bearing, forming a narrow gap around the rolling elements and raceways, protecting the bearing against dirt. At the same time the polymer filling is supporting the seals physically, reinforcing their effectiveness while the bike is undergoing high-pressure cleaning. This extremely robust result for your mountain bike is named "MTRX".
With MTRX bearings you have the possibility to decrease the costs and effort for maintaining your mountain bike, fat bike, e-bike etc. MTRX bearings base on SKF’s industrial “Solid Oil” solution, filling almost all the free space of the bearing with the polymer and therefore contain two to four times more oil than conventional bearings with grease filling.
The bearings had to withstand demanding tests before we launched them in the market. Result of these tests: the oil-saturated polymer matrix can minimize the risk of corrosion and condensate formation significantly. Additionally, the tests revealed the polymer matrix’ optimal suitability as protection against ingress of dirt and water into the bearing. Moreover, there was no need of relubrication during the test phase. Even initial doubts regarding a possibly increased internal friction could be straightened out: compared to conventional wheels, those equipped with MTRX bearings showed no noticeable differences in their running behavior.
Therefore, the MTRX portfolio is representing a revolutionary solution for the mountain bike industry – a solution, which has been developed by SKF engineers who are also bikers. According to our philosophy: Do not worry. Just bike.
