Bearings Eliminate Headset Failure

Bearings Eliminate Headset Failure By switching from inferior quality bearings to custom-designed sealed bearings from Schaeffler, UK-based mountain bike manufacturer Hope Technology has eliminated bearing failures on its headsets. 'After switching to custom-made, deep groove bearings from Schaeffler for all our hubs and headset assemblies, we've not had a single bearing failure', says Ian Weatherill, co-founder of Hope Technology. Weatherill continues: 'We started using INA [Schaeffler] bearings around three years ago because we were having quality problems with our supplier from the Far East'. 'We even began to manufacture our own bearings for a short period to try to overcome the problem, but after switching to INA bearings, our quality, reliability and availablity of bearings has improved dramatically'. The company actually manufactures more than 90% of the bike components itself, which is quite unusual for a UK manufacturing firm these days.Hope Technology employs around 60 staff, most of them engineers and skilled machinists who are also mountain bike enthusiasts themselves.The staff - and the directors - are also fiercely proud of their heritage and the fact that they manufacture most of the components themselves in the UK. As Weatherill points out: 'Like so many other British manufacturers over the past decade, we could have bowed down to overseas competition and started purchasing parts from China, India and Eastern Europe, but instead we've invested huge amounts of money in new machine tools and our people'. 'We buy in raw materials, mainly aluminium, but manufacture most of the components ourselves here at Barnoldswick'.'Hope Technology doesn't manufacture complete bikes, but makes thousands of different variations of bike component, including wheel hubs, disc brakes, brake calipers, hand finished wheel sets, lighting, stems, seat pins and clamps - even its own screws, nuts and spacers. 'The idea is that bike enthusiasts purchase a complete bike from another supplier, then look to upgrade and enhance their experience by spending some money on a high end supplier such as Hope'. 'It means buyers of mountain bikes can customise their bike to suit they way they ride it', explains Weatherill.Hope Technology deals direct with more than 1000 mountain bike dealers across the UK, France and Germany.'By volume [rather than value], cycling is now the largest market in the world, even larger than automotive', says Weatherill. Indeed, Hope's turnover last year was around GBP 6 million, with 50% of sales in the UK and 50% exported to the rest of Europe and the US. Hope Technology boasts a shop floor with more than 35 CNC machines, its own anodising plant, a heat treatment line for hardening brake discs and an automated polishing plant. The company uses 3D solid modelling and FEA software to analyse and optimise the design of bike components, in order to prevent any mechanical weakness while also reducing mass safely, where material is not needed. Full-scale rapid prototyped parts are then produced using a Dimension 3D printer, which enables the design team to perform final visual and fitting checks before the component goes into final production. The company now holds a consignment stock of custom-made, deep groove steel and stainless steel cartridge bearings from Schaeffler, for all its hubs and head sets. Schaeffler will also lend its technical bearings design expertise to Hope's next project - a new, integrated headset bearing and a new stainless steel hub assembly, due to be launched next month.'What I really liked about dealing with Schaeffler, is that they respected us as a company, even though we are quite a small manufacturer'.Schaeffler Sales Engineer, Paul Healey, is always extremely helpful with new designs we are working on and even does all the consignment stock taking himself'.When it comes to design innovation, Hope Technology and Schaeffler also share a very similar vision.As Paul Healey, Sales Engineer at Schaeffler points out: 'Design innovation is very much part of both companies' vision'. 'Most of Hope Technology's staff are bike enthusiasts themselves and so they are actively encouraged to bring new design ideas to the table and discuss them with the management team'.'Getting input from people who ride the bikes is critical for future success'. 'Similarly, at Schaeffler, we encourage innovation and try to work as closely with the end customer as possible, preferably early in the design process, to help improve the overall design arrangement, which might include bearings, shafts, couplings and gearboxes'.