Cylindrical roller bearings have rollers that provide a modified line contact with the cylindrical inner and outer ring raceways, while the rollers are guided by ground ribs on either the inner or outer ring. The cylindrical shape allows the inner ring to have axial movement relative to the outer ring. This is especially important when accommodating thermal expansion, where both rings must be press-fitted.

Cylindrical roller bearings, in which either the inner or outer rings has two ribs and the other ring has one, are capable of taking some axial load in one direction Double-row cylindrical roller bearings have high radial rigidity and are used primarily for precision machine tools.

Cylindrical roller bearings with snap ring grooves are locating bearings. These bearings are very rigid and can support axial forces in both directions as well as high radial forces. Due to their full-complement design, they feature the maximum possible number of rolling elements and therefore have the maximum basic dynamic and static load ratings.