Open-bearing hub maintenance

PCman said:

Hello,

How often do you check, clean and regrease the bearings on "open-
bearing" hubs? Is it necessary at all if the wheel turns smoothly and
you don't hear a thing (front wheel) or just the cassette (real
wheel)?

Thanks.

If your hubs spins "smoothly" I would just leave it alone and ride!
Otherwise, if you think it needs taking apart, follow the excellent
instructions at Park Tool:

http://www.parktool.com/repair/byregion.asp?catid=57&imageField2.x=23&imageField2.y=8

bfd said:

If your hubs spins "smoothly" I would just leave it alone and ride!
Otherwise, if you think it needs taking apart, follow the excellent
instructions at Park Tool:

http://www.parktool.com/repair/byregion.asp?catid=57&imageField2.x=23....

Thanks for the link, great one.
The book seems to indicate the bearings should be checked, cleaned &
regreased regularly, it doesn't say to wait until there is a problem
to do so. It may not be worth the risk, though.

PCman said:

bfd said:

If your hubs spins "smoothly" I would just leave it alone and ride!
Otherwise, if you think it needs taking apart, follow the excellent
instructions at Park Tool:

Quoted message said:

http://www.parktool.com/repair/byregion.asp?catid=57&imageField2.x=23....

Thanks for the link, great one.
The book seems to indicate the bearings should be checked, cleaned &
regreased regularly, it doesn't say to wait until there is a problem
to do so. It may not be worth the risk, though.

Yes, Grade 25 ball bearings are cheap. Maybe the question is how many
miles do you have on your hubs? If its alot, i.e., say more than a
couple of thousand, and you ride in alot of wet weather and/or dirt,
then you should definitely open up the hubs and repack with brand new
Grade 25 bbs. Its cheap and pretty easy to do. Get some good cone
wrenches (I like Campy!). Good Luck!

PCman said:

Hello,

How often do you check, clean and regrease the bearings on "open-
bearing" hubs? Is it necessary at all if the wheel turns smoothly and
you don't hear a thing (front wheel) or just the cassette (real
wheel)?

Thanks.

Once a year at least, more often if you ride uften or in bad
conditions. Even if the hub runs smooth the grease will need
replenishing.

Cheers Joel

--
Human Powered Cycles | High quality servicing and repairs
[email hidden] | Affordable second hand bikes
(03) 9029 6504 | Bicycle reuse centre
www.humanpowered.com.au | Mechanical and on-road training and instruction

PCman said:

Hello,

How often do you check, clean and regrease the bearings on "open-
bearing" hubs? Is it necessary at all if the wheel turns smoothly and
you don't hear a thing (front wheel) or just the cassette (real
wheel)?

Thanks.

Mine get a full overhaul once a year. They get opened up for a look
after any ride in the rain and either cleaned out or just topped off
depending on whether or not the grease looks dirty. Unless you've
really packed the entire hub shell with extremely thick grease, it's
probably not going to be completely silent. You will still hear the
balls rolling. Only worry if it's particularly crunchy, or if it's
sticky at one spot in the wheel rotation.

Quoted message said:

Mine get a full overhaul once a year.  They get opened up for a look
after any ride in the rain and either cleaned out or just topped off
depending on whether or not the grease looks dirty.  Unless you've
really packed the entire hub shell with extremely thick grease, it's
probably not going to be completely silent.  You will still hear the
balls rolling.  Only worry if it's particularly crunchy, or if it's
sticky at one spot in the wheel rotation.

Thanks for your reply. That's the strange thing. I bought this bike in
1994, mid-high end at the time. Good looking too. I have the bike
hanging from a wall bracket and when I roll the front wheel in
complete silence with my ear next to the hub for the life of me I
can't hear a thing. Nothing (and I have pretty good hearing).

I worry that if I try to open it I may end up damaging a perfect
working hub.

I degreased and lube the drivetrain last week, looks nice & clean...

On 24 Apr 2008 08:58:53 GMT, Joel Mayes <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

PCman said:

Hello,

How often do you check, clean and regrease the bearings on "open-
bearing" hubs? Is it necessary at all if the wheel turns smoothly and
you don't hear a thing (front wheel) or just the cassette (real
wheel)?

Thanks.

Once a year at least, more often if you ride uften or in bad
conditions. Even if the hub runs smooth the grease will need
replenishing.

Not necessarily. Here's something I posted back in 2001. Admittedly
it's about a BB and not a hub, but both are cup-and-cone ball bearing
installations.

"I must now have between 40 and 50K miles on one DuraAce cup-and-cone
BB. At one point I determined I was going to replace it with a
cartridge unit, so just figured I'd ride it until it went "crunch,
crunch, crunch". Four years (and perhaps 20K miles) later I pulled it
apart as part of a total refurb job on the bike. Since it was still
going strong I just replaced the balls and reinstalled it. That was
three winters ago and I haven't touched it since. BTW, I discarded the
ball retainers many years ago."

So now seven years later I'm still riding with that original BB. I
can't remember when I last cleaned and re-lubed it. So why should hubs
be any different?

BTW, yesterday's ride was on that same bike. :-)

--
jeverett3<AT>sbcglobal<DOT>net (John V. Everett)

On 2008-04-24, John Everett <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

On 24 Apr 2008 08:58:53 GMT, Joel Mayes <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

PCman said:

Hello,

How often do you check, clean and regrease the bearings on "open-
bearing" hubs? Is it necessary at all if the wheel turns smoothly
and you don't hear a thing (front wheel) or just the cassette (real
wheel)?

Thanks.

Once a year at least, more often if you ride uften or in bad
conditions. Even if the hub runs smooth the grease will need
replenishing.

Not necessarily. Here's something I posted back in 2001. Admittedly
it's about a BB and not a hub, but both are cup-and-cone ball bearing
installations.

<SNIP>

Quoted message said:

So now seven years later I'm still riding with that original BB. I
can't remember when I last cleaned and re-lubed it. So why should hubs
be any different?

BTW, yesterday's ride was on that same bike. :-)

The grease in the races will be full of metal particles and is slowly
lapping the races into oblivion. This will take longer on good quality
components but is inevitable if you don't clean and relube regularly.

Cheers

Joel

--
Human Powered Cycles | High quality servicing and repairs
[email hidden] | Affordable second hand bikes
(03) 9029 6504 | Bicycle reuse centre
www.humanpowered.com.au | Mechanical and on-road training and instruction

On 24 Apr 2008 22:32:36 GMT, Joel Mayes <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

On 2008-04-24, John Everett <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

On 24 Apr 2008 08:58:53 GMT, Joel Mayes <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

On 2008-04-23, PCman <[email hidden]> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> How often do you check, clean and regrease the bearings on "open-
> bearing" hubs? Is it necessary at all if the wheel turns smoothly
> and you don't hear a thing (front wheel) or just the cassette (real
> wheel)?
>
> Thanks.

Once a year at least, more often if you ride uften or in bad
conditions. Even if the hub runs smooth the grease will need
replenishing.

Not necessarily. Here's something I posted back in 2001. Admittedly
it's about a BB and not a hub, but both are cup-and-cone ball bearing
installations.

<SNIP>

Quoted message said:

So now seven years later I'm still riding with that original BB. I
can't remember when I last cleaned and re-lubed it. So why should hubs
be any different?

BTW, yesterday's ride was on that same bike. :-)

The grease in the races will be full of metal particles and is slowly
lapping the races into oblivion. This will take longer on good quality
components but is inevitable if you don't clean and relube regularly.

Admittedly wear of the components is inevitable, but what's magic
about replenishing the grease "once a year at least"? And why "even if
the hub runs smooth the grease will need replenishing."? And why is it
"the races will be full of metal particles" after a year? Will they be
half full after six months?

I'm just saying there are no hard-and-fast rules regarding bearing
maintenance. A lot depends upon operating conditions and I've gone
much longer than a year between bearing cleaning and relubing with no
apparent adverse effects.

BTW, our sun running out of hydrogen is also inevitable. ;-)

--
jeverett3<AT>sbcglobal<DOT>net (John V. Everett)

Quoted message said:

They get opened up for a look
after any ride in the rain [...]

You must not be a year-round bike commuter. If I did that, I'd never
ride my bikes.

--
Work and recreation are not often effected at the same time.
One using a bicycle in business makes an exception to the rule.
- Dr. Edgar H. Earl, Rochester. (~1892)