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Caged bearings are used largely as a convenience for assembly
Not strictly true, the cages are there to reduce friction and therefore heating in high speed bearings. Obviously this is moot in something which rarely goes over 100rpm 😉 Hubs had loose balls for decades (and many still do) and they typically rotate at three to four times crank speed.
gbj_tester
withered_preacher
Caged bearings are used largely as a convenience for assembly, loose balls will be fine : )