Phil Wood and the Sealed Bearing

I just saw a news item indicating Phil Wood recently died. Cyclists will recognize that name from the many high quality sealed bearing bicycle components with the "Phil" signature on them.

Woods' obituary is online here. An excerpt:

According to Peter Enright, who bought Phil Wood & Co., in 1991, bicycle hubs and brackets had not changed much in over a century. They were basically ball bearings placed in a cup and held in line by a pressed-in cone, which loosened easily. Wood invented a grooved hub in which ball bearings could be held in precisely by a screw-on cap. Except for the cheapest bikes, most bicycles today come with sealed hubs and bottom brackets that keep in lubricants and keep out water and grime.

However, Wood did not patent his invention and never got rich.

"My dad was an inventor," Williams said, "but he was not a businessman. He didn't care about those things. He just wanted to improve his inventions even more."

I got my first set of Phil hubs in 1974, and I still have them (pictured above with a modern rim). Way back when, we were dumbstruck by the idea of sealed hubs and bottom brackets. I loved repacking my Campy hubs, but these new Phil hubs were an evolutionary step forward. I'm sure someone will challenge that Phil was the inventor of sealed bearings, but I can attest to the fact that at the time they were not widely available in other bike parts.

As the obit notes, sealed hubs and other components are everywhere today, and we take them for granted. But some of us remember the day when things changed...

Thanks, Phil, we owe ya for millions of trouble-free miles.