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Pulled my bike out Saturday having not used it for about 2 months (bloody life!). Put the front wheel in and found the bearings were seized solid. I only managed to free them up for my ride on Sunday by pulling the seals off, flushing with GT85, putting back in the fork to get some force on it, then repacking with grease.
How has this happened? It's a Nukeproof Generator hub, about 18 months old with about 500 miles on the clock. It's always stored in the house, on the spare bed in a tarp, and unless its been dry (which happened once) I'll hose down and let dry before putting it away. Only once or twice used a pressure washer, but not for months.
The only thing I can think is that the room gets pretty hot on sunny days, but surely the storage temperature rating of the bearing is >35deg?
Only once or twice used a pressure washer, but not for months.
Water ingress, ferrous metal, corrosion cell. Perfect recipe for damage to a bearing race.
Personally I'd avoid using a pressure wash.
D. £00.2
[quote=thenorthwind ]Pulled my bike out Saturday having not used it for about 2 months (bloody life!). Put the front wheel in and found the bearings were seized solid. I only managed to free them up for my ride on Sunday by pulling the seals off, flushing with GT85, putting back in the fork to get some force on it, then repacking with grease.
How has this happened? It's a [b]Nukeproof Generator hub[/b], about 18 months old with about 500 miles on the clock. It's always stored in the house, on the spare bed in a tarp, and unless its been dry (which happened once) I'll hose down and let dry before putting it away. Only once or twice used a pressure washer, but not for months.
The only thing I can think is that the room gets pretty hot on sunny days, but surely the storage temperature rating of the bearing is >35deg?
[b]WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON![/b]
I'm a big Nukeproof fan, but anything they make with a bearing in it will fail sooner rather than later.
I had a GI hub, which I think is pretty much the same hub as the Nukeproof, and it went through bearings like nothing else. there's practically no sealing and they come with pretty cheapo bearings. I (partially) solved it by packing them periodically with more grease
Personally I'd avoid using a pressure wash.
I do tend to unless my mates are cleaning theirs after a ride (don't have one myself) but will avoid spraying directly at bearings. The hub bearings are pretty well protected from a line of spray - between the fork and the hub flange.
They must be pretty shit bearings to fail that quickly. So are these a standard size bearing and can I get better sealed ones, perhaps non-bike specific for better quality/price ratio?
The outside was dry when you put it away, not the inside. Nothing like a little bit of damp and then not moving for a few weeks to wreck bearings!
The outside was dry when you put it away, not the inside. Nothing like a little bit of damp and then not moving for a few weeks to wreck bearings!
Seems like that's the case. Isn't that what the seals are for? 😡
you can probably get better sealed ones, but mine went through them at such a rate (about every 6 months on the NDS) that it wasn't worth buying pricier ones. I just pulled off the caps and slathered on the grease every now and then
this was a 20mm hub. If that makes a difference?
I'm not averse to servicing bearings, but can't help but wonder why we have cartridge bearings if we're going to have to service them at the same interval as cup-and-cones. Again 😡
this was a 20mm hub. If that makes a difference?
Nukeproof call it a 3-in-1 hub or something, the idea being you can use 15, 20 or 9mm QR (?) with the same bearings and the right adapter, so I think not.