“My bearings will die during the winter”?

Unless you're regularly riding through axle deep water, bearings don't just disintegrate at the first sight of a morning frost 😉😁

It should be fine

Bearings aren't that expensive, or difficult to replace. The Orange is the best for crappy UK weather. It's not so much mud and filth that cause the issues, but regular drownings.

I needed 'work' doing on my FS after it got drowned at Penmachno in October and Gisburn in December - just stupidly wet (like axel deep).

Your BB and jockey bearings take the most abuse !

i looked at both of those bikes, and settled on a banshee spitfire (theres some nice deals o nthe v3 frames right now)
also looked at hte where all the crap will land.. decided if it happens it happens.. they wil lwear out at some point regardless.. all i will do is fit the best spec bearing i can when they do

I had a gen 1 Edit that had bearings in a similar position, bearings lasted 2 years of riding in all weathers

I've had a multipivot bike for er.. 5 or 6 years ish? It's had one pair of main pivot bearings and I think one other linkage went. You don't have to replace them all at once, they don't all experience the same load. If you are DIYing it makes sense not to.

I wouldn’t worry about bearing position too much - it’s just a 4 bar Horst link bike (Filter) like many others. I normally get 18 months or so out of them even when hammered through filth all winter (Bird Aeris 145 and Bird Aether 7). Now on a Transition Sentinel which even has a little shelf to collect muck on and the bearings are fine so far - got it late December and ridden through some horrific conditions.

Bearing replacement doesn't have to be difficult and expensive, but it can be. As long as the designers put a few minutes thought into it then it's not worth worrying about in the scheme of things.

The Orange philosophy of making it a 5 minute job with an Allen key rather than a couple of hours with various pullers and presses probably does appeal though when actually having to do it though!

FWIW it's one of those jobs that's infinitely easier if done ahead of time as preventative maintenance. If you can pull/push the old bearings out by their inner races without the whole thing falling apart leaving the outer rusted/sized into the frame/swingarm then it's a lot less stressful. If you wait until there's play then it's got potential to be a nightmare.

Appreciate the responses. Alan, it was your thread that got me to this point. I am a diy numpty though, the thought of bearing pulley’s and presses etc scares the life out of me.

Also, I’ve ridden the clockwork 3 times this year which is in my thoughts, although I really want to make more efforts to enjoy the new bike more places than I would on my Spark, which is deferring very much to “a tool for the job” (xc race).

FWIW the other option is to save the cash and get something like an Epic Evo when the Spark dies, something that can be fun AND race XC Marathons.

My favorite ride is the Tywi track in Mid Wales. It has at least ten sections where the BB and often hubs are fully immersed. because of this I will always fully pack all bearings with a good heavy-duty grease when I'm fitting them. Bearings will last years as a result, inc. main pivot and jockey wheels. FWIW it's a Horst link bike.

I am a diy numpty though

Orange, then.

Also, max filled bearings are already packed with grease for this purpose.

The airdrop is 100 times better looking though 😂

If worried about bearing wear, get a Cotic - mine's in it's 5th year of Scottish grime and only on it's 2nd set of bearings.

I've pretty much doubled the life of the pivot bearings on my Five by making a mudflap from an old DH innertube ziptied to the downtube. Cost sod-all, works wonders.

@molgrips I thought the max bit meant full compliment i.e. All balls no cages

It does, but they are also fully packed with grease.

Anything that these guys sell that would work to protect the bearings?

https://rockguardz.com/