Radial cylindrical roller bearings are intended to accommodate the radial loads. They have much greater radial load capacity compared to the deep groove ball bearings of equal dimensions, but they are inferior to them as per high-speed characteristics. Cylindrical roller bearings are very sensitive to the misalignment of inner rings relative to outer rings, when tension concentration at the edges of rollers appears. To reduce this tension the modern roller bearings contact geometry between roller and raceway has a special «logarithmic» profile.

Single row radial cylindrical roller bearings are produced in many structural modifications, the most common of which are: without flanges and with one flange on the inner ring, with one flange on the inner ring and flat thrust ring, without flanges and with one flange on the outer ring. If it is necessary to reduce the unit radial dimensions, single row roller bearings can be supplied without inner or outer rings, in this case the second raceway is formed directly on the shaft or in the housing of the unit. Double row and multi-row radial cylindrical roller bearings are produced for various special applications.

Radial cylindrical roller bearings are manufactured with cages made of glass fibre reinforced polyamide, pressed steel cages or machined cages of brass, bronze and aluminum alloys. Machined cages are usually centered on double flanges ring. If it is necessary to provide extremely high radial load capacity, these bearings can be produced without cages with the maximum number of rollers.