I've been giving some thought to bearing holders lately and
I have some thoughts/questions that perhaps someone can
comment on.
It seems that, by far, the most popular type of bearing
holder is a two piece (main cap?) style. This is where the
upper part of the bearing holder is attached to the end of
the fork leg and the lower part of the bearing holder
attaches with screws/bolts to the upper part thereby
clamping the bearing in between.
The problem that I see is that if you over-tighten the
bearing holder you run the risk of damaging the bearings. If
you under-tighten the holders then you run the risk of them
falling off or at the verly least having a wobbly wheel.
One way to address this is to press-fit the bearings into a
holder and then figure out how to attach that to the frame.
I believe Pashley, Miyata, and some cheap taiwanese
unicycles use this method (with varying degrees of success).
So, what if you combine both? A split holder with a lip on
the inner and outer edges that when tightened completely
(the bottom comes into contact with the top) holds the
bearing just right. With this type of holder you would not
need to worry about over-tightening since any additional
tightening would not put more pressure on the bearing. It
would simply put pressure on the threads of the screws. It
would make the process of much simpler since you would not
need to use a subjective measurement of what is "tight
enough". And, because you could securely tighten the screws
you would not need to worry that they might come loose
while riding.
I also have a question regarding the bearing holders on the
KH series (and Summit) frames. They are nearly twice as wide
as is necessary to encompass a bearing. Nearly half of the
width is not in contact with the bearing. And, the bearing
is not centered in the holder (it sits slightly to the
inside). So, the questions is: Why not have the bearing
holder narrower? An why put the bearing off-center? When I
tighten the bearing holders on both the Summit and KH24 I
find they have a tendency to pull the lower part to the
outsite since there is nothing there to hold the top and
bottom apart.
I'm interested to know if anyone has build a bearing holder
(or frame that uses them) that addresses the above mentioned
objections?
-mg
--
mgrant - Ever hoping for the best!
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older, shorter of
breath, and one day closer to death.
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