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So, my bikes in the shop having a it’s bearings replaced…. And all the pivot bolts. Apparently the bearings had seized and have been rotating on the bolts almost shearing them and making extraction of everything a bit touch and go.
So firstly, please don’t leave your suspension for 3 years without inspection (guilty), and secondly I just wondered if others with Scott’s/Sparks have experienced this?
The shops says the bearings are pretty low quality, which you might expect being a hidden OEM part but not on what was a £3.5k bike in 2018, which is a tad annoying especially as they are a lower grade than the replacement kit. Odd.
3 years... that's quite a while without doing them mate !
Bearings are always cheaper in the OEM of bikes.
Each time I do an air can service (few times a year), I'll pop the bike in the stand with the rear wheel off and cycle the linkage. Gives a pretty good idea if any of the bearings are getting lumpy.
You think getting sub standard frame bearings is bad, back in 2015 my £4.8K Foxy XR Carbon (and indeed the £6K range topper) came with loose ball and cage bearing headsets! And the less said about the constantly loosening pivot hardware the better!
The bearings in the Scott kit are exactly the same as the original build bearings.
Squeeks in the spark/genius mean the main pivot bearings have gone. I havent experienced any having a quiet death. Often sounds like bottom bracket bearings.
I also havent seen any linkage bearings go before main pivots.
To be fair, the flex stays do make "shock out" bearing assessment a little less easy than non flex pivot bikes.
The bearings in the Scott kit are exactly the same as the original build bearings.
The shop thinks not but it doesn’t matter as mine are being replaced with ceramic bearings by choice (I want a couple of more racing years from my frame).
Squeeks in the spark/genius mean the main pivot bearings have gone. I havent experienced any having a quiet death. Often sounds like bottom bracket bearings.
That’s exactly how I got to this point, the bike was creaking away. Whilst in the shop and in pieces pretty much everything’s - all still oem - being replaced, headset bearings, cables, BB for a c-bear ceramic and of course the suspension bearings. Fork and shock were serviced six months ago. Time has flown tbh, I can’t believe I’d left it for so long. Still, the bike should feel good when it’s back.
I just can’t ride a creaky / clicky bike - if it starts doing that on a ride I’ll have a look over it before the next ride and fix whatever the problem is. To saw through pivot hardware it must have been creaking for ages 😳
Tbh it wasn’t that loud, and maybe… 4 months? I may have inadvertently hidden it by shoving a load of Park grease under the bearing caps before Christmas.
As you might tell, I’m not good with my hands / mechanically so as much as I’d love to be able to service my own suspension bearings and pivots, I darent. But notwistanding that it should have been in a shop sooner.
Lol - 4 months 🙈
I just changed all the bearings in my Bird Aether - at about 18 months old. They’d probably have soldiered on a bit longer and weren’t creaking but I rode them through all sorts of slop and bog over the winter so a few were beginning to feel a bit secondhand.
Honestly it wasn’t that hard - cheap Chinese press kit from eBay and mostly a mallet and drift. Just the rear blind bearings that were a bit trickier to get out with a little slide hammer set (also from eBay and pretty cheap). Was really satisfying to do it myself - I think the only things I can’t / won’t do now are a full rear shock service (happy to do just aircan) or touch the charger damper in my forks.
Watch out for the rocker / seat tube pivot bolt breaking too, the heads are super thin and are known to fail, apparently its a consumable part that should be replaced after X hours along with the bearings - bit shit if you ask me.
Ceramic bearings are not an obvious choice for frame pivot bearings, why are you using them?
I've been looking for a cheap press for frame and wheel bearings. I was also looking at a blind bearing tool so I'm not having to tap out the wheel bearings with a large screwdriver.
Any links would be appreciated.
Puller:
Press set - quite a few sellers selling what looks to be the same thing:
Nice one thanks.
apparently its a consumable part that should be replaced after X hours along with the bearings – bit shit if you ask me.
Never happened to me?
Ceramic bearings are not an obvious choice for frame pivot bearings, why are you using them?
Sorry I rushed and confused post. It’ll have the suspension bearings that come with the kit, the BB has ceramic bearings.
The bearings in my Orange Alpine lasted 10 years with a complete absence of love.
But they are a relatively large bearing.
igm
Full MemberThe bearings in my Orange Alpine lasted 10 years with a complete absence of love.
But they are a relatively large bearing.
They also have a relatively large amount of rotation which helps keep them alive, linkages tend to have much less rotation which basically stresses small areas of the total bearing more.
Having said that, I reckon most Oranges if you pull them apart, you'll find 2 knackered bearings- it's just that with simple designs and lots of leverage it tends to be less obvious. Every time I've worked on one it's needed bearings and the owner's been surprised.
I just changed all the bearings in my Bird Aether – at about 18 months old. They’d probably have soldiered on a bit longer and weren’t creaking but I rode them through all sorts of slop and bog over the winter so a few were beginning to feel a bit secondhand.
Honestly it wasn’t that hard – cheap Chinese press kit from eBay and mostly a mallet and drift. Just the rear blind bearings that were a bit trickier to get out with a little slide hammer set (also from eBay and pretty cheap). Was really satisfying to do it myself – I think the only things I can’t / won’t do now are a full rear shock service (happy to do just aircan) or touch the charger damper in my forks.
How were the chainstay bearings? I nearly lost my mind changing them on my Aeris
How were the chainstay bearings? I nearly lost my mind changing them on my Aeris
Mine came out reasonably easy but they were only 18 months old.
I didn't own mine long enough, but had to pull the pivots apart a few weeks into owning it due to a horrid creaking/cracking noise.
Turns out that whoever assembled it absolutely covered it in loctite. it was all over the inside of the pivots and causing all sorts of binding.
Any full suss bike I’ve had, twice a year strip and check/replace bearings, re-grease etc, usually Oct and March time, not a bit difficult job, but keeps bike maintained like we all should do
I check and replace them all about once a year, or earlier if needed. Sometimes it's just the lower linkage, but often the full set.