"Our founding was all part of a carefully-constructed, marketing plan: I needed something to finance my racing." (Stefan Laessig, Partner) They say the true mark of a person's character is what they do when nobodyıs looking. The same could be said of someone who makes a product nobody sees; a "non-sexy hard part". A product most people don't even think about until the one they have breaks. There are a lot of ways to make products like this. A lot of places to skimp and shave just a little. And then there's the All Balls way. It's not that building such things to an "adequate" standard would be bad. They're all around us. Adequate products are much easier - and a ton cheaper - to produce. Lots of companies do it. But if you knew these three and their staff, spent a day with them, listened to how they talk to each other, saw the respect, got your head wrapped around their work ethic, you'd doubt that the thought of "adequate" bearings could exist in their heads. When they talk about what they do, there's a commitment you don't see in everybody's eyes. They think they do it best because they don't think anybody else works it harder to make it better. (Their slogan says "It takes All Balls to be this good"... It's no joke.)   If you're Kevin Kraft, Stefan Laessing, and Marianne Durnall, and you own Alll Balls Bearings & Components, you design, refine, and produce them with pride and a sense of "rightness" that's as if you expected the whole world to see them.   To judge them. To thrash them.