So I took Ryan's advice, disassembled my leelu spoked rear wheel, and took it to a bearing shop. They measured it with calipers, and came up with a bearing, SKF 6001. However, they said that this bearing was too small; the balls were too small, it was designed for extremely light loads, and that it would fail on me without question if I were to put them in the wheel. The dimensions on the 6001 were 28mm OD, 12mm ID.
They recommended a 6202, which has a 12mm ID, but a 35mm OD. The OD on the part of the wheel I have to put them in is only 33mm. The 6200 has a 30mm OD and a 10mm ID, but they said a 10mm axle was too small, and would break. They sent me to a machinist to ask what axle was thick enough not to fail, blah blah blah and the machinist said it was impossible, and that I should stick with the cup and cone, or that I would die on the 6001 bearings when they failed on me while riding.
I've searched the topic, and when Paz posted about converting a wheel over to sealed bearings in 2007, he shows a picture of what appears to be a 6001 bearing. It also appears to have a 2 letter suffix that I can't read in the picture, but who knows if that matters or not.
Here's my question; those of you who have converted cup and cone wheels to sealed bearings, what bearings did you use, and have they ever exploded or failed on you?
