Mavic Ksyrium SSL Question

jet10sn said:

Ok, I need experts! I have had Ksyriums for the past 4 years. I have owned the SSC and the SL's

Seems that i need to replace the bearings every 2 years. Is this common? Is there a way to do it yourself? Or is Mavic Ksyriums just an ok wheel?

I need suggestions, and help. I ride about 200 miles per week and on the bike a lot.

I have had top of the line Ksyriums for a combined 50k miles and have never had to replace a bearing. I currently ride the TDFs and ESs. The bearings don't need much pre-load. In fact, people are always breaking off the [censored]/tips of the Mavic pre-load wrench because of this. I did have a brand new pair of Ksyriums, that had no grease in the front wheel bearings, but they were not dry because the bearings still glistened. You can add lube to the bearings, without removing them, because they have a snap off and snap on dust & water shield. I lube mine and the freewheel, about every 5k miles, but I have done friends at between 7k to 10k miles and they looked good. The two front wheel and right side rear wheel axel bearings are the same size and easy to access, as is the much bigger left rear wheel axel bearing. The right/outside free wheel bearing can only be lubed if you remove the free wheel body, but it only turns when you are coasting. The inside free wheel bearing is just a solid plastic bushing and should never have to be replaced. Anyway, it's only availible as part of a complete new freewheel. You might as well lube the free wheel at the same time, and the Mavic web site has instructions and pictures on how to do this. Almost all their free wheels, only require a 5mm & 10mm allen wrench, to remove.