Can we send you a pocket knife?

This is the official RBI Pocket Knife - and it's yours for just a few minutes of your time.

Past New York Mayor Ed Koch used to walk up to people on the street and ask, "How am I doing?" when he wanted feedback on his performance.

We're also looking for some feedback on how we're doing. If you'll take a few minutes to give us your opinion of what we're doing well - and not so well - we'll send you a token of our appreciation we think you may find useful.

Just click this link to give us a piece of your mind...

Win a Swingmaster Classic Pro Jump Rope - $60 Retail Value
Click Jump Rope To Enter>>>		JANUARY 2005 WINNER Robert Hudkins U.S. Bearings & Drives Seattle, WA Previous Winners

China Update
A monthly look at news from China that impacts all of us
Click the title to read the story

China adopts new guidelines for private sector
China has passed new strategic guidelines to ensure a level-playing field for the private sector in the nation's booming economy, hitherto dominated and monopolized by the public sector.

Millions ready for Chinese New Year
China's peak Lunar New Year travel season, the world's biggest annual human migration, began on Tuesday, January 25 and about 2 billion journeys are expected across China in the next 40 days, state media has said.

Common causes for noisy bearings
by Mike Mortensen - Director of Engineering RBI-USA

The cause of noise in bearings can be a challenge to determine. Many times bearing noise is blamed on manufacturing defects within the bearing. The probability of manufacturing defects from most major bearing manufacturers is very low. Most manufacturers typically have noise or vibration testing built into their manufacturing process to eliminate defects. Knowing some of the more common causes for noise can help with the detective work needed to determine the cause(s).

Have a question or topic you would like to see covered? Click here to let Mike know!

Final Word
They may be better than the game...

Some 90 million people are expected to tune in to watch the Feb. 6 Super Bowl. For many viewers the commercials, not the game, are the main attraction. At a lot of parties, the room gets quiet not when the game is being played, but when the commercials come on.'

That's why companies are willing to pay a premium -- $2.4 million a 30-second spot -- to get their message across during Super Bowl commercial breaks.

This year's Super Bowl commercials include Web services company GoDaddy.com, Visa, Honda and online recruiting company CareerBuilder.com.

If you're feeling nostalgic for a glimpse of some of the past Super Bowl commercials click here to see all the ads since 2002.

We Get It Done.

RBI Connections is a publication of RBI Bearing, Inc and is intended to provide useful company and/or industry news and information. We understand and respect your need for privacy. Email addresses in our files are from our customers or published materials. Please accept our apologies if you believe this email to be unsolicited. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Any personal information provided to us will be stored in a secure environment and will not be misused. RBI Bearing, Inc. does not make email addresses available to third parties for their use. RBI Bearing would like to send news releases and special promotions to you from time to time. If you would not like to receive these emails from us, please click this link and type the word "unsubscribe" in the subject. © 2004 RBI Bearing, Inc.