Cup and cone BB race: how many balls? Room for another?

[doctor-bond]

I’ve been titting around with old Cup and cone BBs (wonderfully over built things), and have a vague memory that you can remove the cage that holds the balls and add an extra one? It’s a tricky thing to Google, so anyone here know if it’s a goer before I start hacking cages and measuring balls?

Ta.

 

[jonnyboy666]

9 in a cage or 11 without, which is much better as it's always the cage that fails.

 

[doctor-bond]

Yes! Much obliged.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

.... you can remove the cage that holds the balls .... It’s a tricky thing to Google .... and measuring balls?

That's because Google'a algorithm is based on all the other stuff you've looked up. That browser history is skewing the results.

Ask me how I know...

 

[doctor-bond]

So, for the record, turns out this old skool BB had 11 balls in a cage, and when de-caged, only 11 would fit back in the cup. I figured the cone would spread them out evenly so rebuilt it without the cages. Runs smooth and sweet with no play.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Mostly cheap cage holds 9 balls , quality bb had the full 11 with the cage added for ease of assembly.
campagnolo did this.

(Quality bbs with 9 ball cage are most likely expecting you to replace the bearings every year.)

In the cheap 9 ball cage, wear against the balls causes it to break up eventually, destroying the bearing surfaces.
But if the axle and cups are also low quality, they have probably already got beyond their service life.