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My rear wheel is a 2012 Crank Bros Iodine 3 (with 4 sealed bearings in the hub) and as the title says, I'm a bit concerned the bearings might have developed some play in them.
The hub spins freely and smoothly but if you grab the wheel at say 3 and 9 o clock, you can flex it around the hub area. It's not spoke tension as they're all fine. It's only a standard quick release (done up as tight as possible) but it just seems to have a lot more play in it than I think it should. When you do try and move it there's no noticeable movement/knocking like there would be if say a shock bushing was gone.
Any ideas? It's pretty tricky for me to take it to a shop so thought I'd ask here. Really appreciate any help.
Cheers - Chris
You can normally feel some roughness if the bearing if it's on it's way out. Take the wheel out and hold each end where the Qr goes and spin it. It will be very obvious if it's rough. Should be a fairly simple bearing swap if that's the case. Have done Hope bearing swap's in the past, very easy.
Just grab the tyre and wiggle it from side to side. Do it by the frame/swingarm and see how much play there is. A couple of mm isn't worth worrying about. A bit of rear wheel steering is useful on tight trails.
I tried that last night expecting to feel that but it feels nice and smooth. Swapped my bottom bracket over last weekend as that was properly shagged so I'm very familiar with what knackered bearings feel like.
Just how easy is it to swap bearings over? Never done it before so tempted just to take the hub apart and put new ones in anyway as a maintenance thing. I've certainly never used a drift to remove bearings though.
if its play in the hub you;ll be able to tell when it's in the bike. hold the wheel in place with your foot where it contacts the ground. hold the top of the wheel with one hand and your saddle with the other. if you move them in opposite directions, you;ll be able to feel the play in the wheel if the hub bearings are going
Mine is the same, albeit different wheel.
I just keep on riding, you should do the same.
If you're struggling to confirm play, then keep riding it, it's not bad. When you have genuine play and need new bearings it'll be obvious.
Just keep riding. If a bearing's gone, you'll be able to tell in a few more rides. Then either keep riding till you can be bothered to change it or get a socket set and a hammer and put some new ones in.
Cheers for the advice. Have to say it's been like if for a while. The front wheel (with through axle) is laterally very solid. Are quick releases really that crap?!
My bike recently developed play in the rear wheel, I was a bit annoyed at the thought of it being the bearings as they're reasonably new ceramic ones. After a bit of investigating it turned out to be that one of the end caps which thread on the end of the axle and actually sit in the frame drop outs had come loose, did it back up and play disappeared, the bearings were fine. I'm not familiar with Iodine wheels though, so not sure if they use a similar system?
That's an interesting point actually. I have a PDF somewhere showing an expanded view of all the hub parts. Think I feel a bit of time with the bike in the stand tomorrow and a strip down of the hub to give it the once over.
Must admit that although Crank Bros have a bit of a bad rep, these wheels have been pretty good.
Check the little bolts holding any drop-outs on that you may have. They came loose on my bike and the rear felt loose.