Greaseless ball bearings:

[freebeard]

http://www.texasaircooled.com/catalog/Front-OUTER-Wheel-BALL-Bearing.html

These are the parts involved. I'm not sure how you'd assemble it without the ball retainer. Beyond that I've got a ball-joint front end that has the roller bearings. The earlier link-pin front end has the roller bearings.

But I've heard of people spending (thousands?) on machining the front wheels and brakes on a Bonneville racer. If this works, someone (then everyone) will be doing it.

[redpoint5]

Well, it should be cheaper to indent the race than to machine a retainer. It should be cheaper than traditional bearings to manufacture, so if they are also better, then this should quickly be adopted. The only thing that would slow adoption is if the patent holders asked too much to license the technology, or the technology isn't sound.

[Natalya]

It looks like you only need 1 notch, not multiple.

I play roller derby and I have some slightly aged skate bearings, I might try converting one to this configuration and see what happens.

[freebeard]

I talked by phone with a friend that has a shop full of machine tools. He said the races are 'case-hardened and then hardened again', and suggested grinding would work where milling wouldn't. I noticed in the videos there were smooth, polished gutters and other examples that were ground in.

As far as assembly, we talked about using rare earth magnets to hold everything together.