Unmaintained hubs a safety issue?

tom adams said:

Is failure to overhaul hubs a safety issue?

Only if it stops turning and while you are looking for a phone, you get
hit by a car...hubs 'fail' but don't generally cause crashes.

Quoted message said:

I bought a couple of old bikes over the weekend and overhauled the
hubs. They looked pretty bad but the bearings were not badly worn.

The front one looked worst than the back one. I think their was more
room for grease in the back (bigger bearings), and maybe the freewheel
acts like a grease seal.

My step-son borrowed an old bike from me too go on a 150 mile charity
ride. I wonder if I should get the hubs on that bike overhauled.

tom adams said:

Is failure to overhaul hubs a safety issue?

I bought a couple of old bikes over the weekend and overhauled the
hubs. They looked pretty bad but the bearings were not badly worn.

The front one looked worst than the back one. I think their was more
room for grease in the back (bigger bearings), and maybe the freewheel
acts like a grease seal.

My step-son borrowed an old bike from me too go on a 150 mile charity
ride. I wonder if I should get the hubs on that bike overhauled.

Not overhauling generally doesn't raise any safety concerns. The
closest thing I can think of that's likely to actually happen is a
freehub or freewheel mechanism failing under heavy load, causing one's
foot to fall forward, which can make you lose your balance.

It's also possible for worn out or otherwise messed up cartridge
bearings to seize. It's rare and hasn't ever happened to me or anyone I
know and/or trust to give a good report, and it can cause the cartridge
to spin in its bored, which can mess it up... I don't know whether it's
conceivable under certain circumstances for it to just stop the wheel
from rotating or make the axle rotate forward instead, but it might be.

tom adams said:

Is failure to overhaul hubs a safety issue?

No. Bearing failure is almost never sudden and catastrophic.

Quoted message said:

I bought a couple of old bikes over the weekend and overhauled the
hubs. They looked pretty bad but the bearings were not badly worn.

To really find out, you would need a microscope of a very high-powered
magnifier. The naked-eye appearance can be deceiving. That said,
even discolored (but still apparently round) ball bearings will
function well enough to ride in most cases.

Quoted message said:

The front one looked worst than the back one. I think their was more
room for grease in the back (bigger bearings), and maybe the freewheel
acts like a grease seal.

My step-son borrowed an old bike from me too go on a 150 mile charity
ride. I wonder if I should get the hubs on that bike overhauled.

DIY.
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Werehatrack said:

To really find out, you would need a microscope of a very high-powered

Make that "or" instead of "of".

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In article
<[email hidden]>,

tom adams said:

Is failure to overhaul hubs a safety issue?

I bought a couple of old bikes over the weekend and overhauled the
hubs. They looked pretty bad but the bearings were not badly worn.

The front one looked worst than the back one. I think their was more
room for grease in the back (bigger bearings), and maybe the freewheel
acts like a grease seal.

My step-son borrowed an old bike from me too go on a 150 mile charity
ride. I wonder if I should get the hubs on that bike overhauled.

Replace the bearing balls. Keeping the old ones gives no
benefit, but does add risk. Test the cup and cone races
with a ball point pen. Carefully run the ball point over
the races and feel the degree of roughness. If it is extra
crunchy, decide what you want to do. The cones can
probably be replaced. You need to match thread size,
thread pitch, and cone diameter. If these were Campagnolo
hubs you could replace cups and cones if necessary.

Running old bearings is a low risk proposition, but at
least keep them well greased.

--
Michael Press

Werehatrack said:

tom adams said:

Is failure to overhaul hubs a safety issue?

No. Bearing failure is almost never sudden and catastrophic.

Quoted message said:

I bought a couple of old bikes over the weekend and overhauled the
hubs. They looked pretty bad but the bearings were not badly worn.

To really find out, you would need a microscope of a very high-powered
magnifier. The naked-eye appearance can be deceiving. That said,
even discolored (but still apparently round) ball bearings will
function well enough to ride in most cases.

Quoted message said:

The front one looked worst than the back one. I think their was more
room for grease in the back (bigger bearings), and maybe the freewheel
acts like a grease seal.

My step-son borrowed an old bike from me too go on a 150 mile charity
ride. I wonder if I should get the hubs on that bike overhauled.

DIY.

Speaking of DIY, one old bike I bought at a flea market has a stubborn
freewheel. I have the correct freewheel extractor.

1. Should I invest in a whip to hold the gear set?

2. Should I buy a rubber hammer to hit the wrench? Or is there a
better approach?

3. The bike shop I checked with does not sell bearings. Where do you
get them? If I buy them online how are they sized? I guess you just
buy the whole ring and not the individual bearings?

4. I assume the axles are easy to find online and sized by length?
This axle appears to be bent, perhaps due to my attempt to remove the
freewheel.

Front ones are EZ, but the rear can be a bear.

Quoted message said:

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tom adams said:

Speaking of DIY, one old bike I bought at a flea market has a stubborn
freewheel. I have the correct freewheel extractor.

1. Should I invest in a whip to hold the gear set?

Not to get the fw off - depending on how tight it is, some method to
hold the extractor on and to turn the wheel. A good size bench vice
is most commonly used, but you can get away with a long spanner if
it's not on too too tight.

If you want to change cogs you'll need a whip; possibly a pair. You
can make your own and they'll be as good as shop-bought ones(I did,
some decades ago and they are still fine). Get a length of steel bar,
about 1 inch across and the thickness to fit between the outer plates
of a good roller chain. Drill a hole and attach a length of chain.
That's it.

Quoted message said:

2. Should I buy a rubber hammer to hit the wrench? Or is there a
better approach?

What are you going to hit with this hammer? If it's a chain whip, it
is the wrong way to use it. If it is the spanner holding the
extractor, if you do not have a vice, use a heavy steel or dead-blow
hammer - but be careful that the fw, the extractor, and the spanner
whill not come apart as you hit them.

Quoted message said:

3. The bike shop I checked with does not sell bearings. Where do you
get them? If I buy them online how are they sized? I guess you just
buy the whole ring and not the individual bearings?

You need a real bike shop. A real bike shop is owned by an old guy
who sold your parents their cycles; has various sons, daughters, and
grandchildren in to help; offers you a cup of tea if you are an old
customer dropping in in February; AND sells ball bearings.

Quoted message said:

4. I assume the axles are easy to find online and sized by length?
This axle appears to be bent, perhaps due to my attempt to remove the
freewheel.

Yes, but if you find that real bike shop, take you old one in. There
are rather too many variations in axle sizes and threadings for a
newcomer to reliably order online; and as your bent you will need a
better quality one, so getting an exact replacement is a non-starter.
It more than likely bent from use, not from your attempts to re4move
the freewheel.

Quoted message said:

Front ones are EZ, but the rear can be a bear.

Quoted message said:

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Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

tom adams said:

Is failure to overhaul hubs a safety issue?

Only if it stops turning and while you are looking for a phone, you get
hit by a car...hubs 'fail' but don't generally cause crashes.

my brother had a beater mtn. bike which he didn't maintain and the
front hub seized while riding. he went over the bars and the forks were
destroyed. he wasn't hurt though.

Quoted message said:

tom adams said:

Speaking of DIY, one old bike I bought at a flea market has a stubborn
freewheel. I have the correct freewheel extractor.

1. Should I invest in a whip to hold the gear set?

Not to get the fw off - depending on how tight it is, some method to
hold the extractor on and to turn the wheel. A good size bench vice
is most commonly used, but you can get away with a long spanner if
it's not on too too tight.

I tried a long wrench. I guess I need to give the vise approach a try.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

2. Should I buy a rubber hammer to hit the wrench? Or is there a
better approach?

What are you going to hit with this hammer?...If it is the spanner holding the
extractor, if you do not have a vice, use a heavy steel or dead-blow
hammer - but be careful that the fw, the extractor, and the spanner
whill not come apart as you hit them.

The rubber hammer was for gettng the fw out. I tried a regular hammer.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

3. The bike shop I checked with does not sell bearings. Where do you
get them? If I buy them online how are they sized? I guess you just
buy the whole ring and not the individual bearings?

You need a real bike shop. A real bike shop is owned by an old guy
who sold your parents their cycles; has various sons, daughters, and
grandchildren in to help; offers you a cup of tea if you are an old
customer dropping in in February; AND sells ball bearings.

OK, I will check around.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

4. I assume the axles are easy to find online and sized by length?
This axle appears to be bent, perhaps due to my attempt to remove the
freewheel.

Yes, but if you find that real bike shop, take you old one in. There
are rather too many variations in axle sizes and threadings for a
newcomer to reliably order online; and as your bent you will need a
better quality one, so getting an exact replacement is a non-starter.
It more than likely bent from use, not from your attempts to re4move
the freewheel.

Not sure, I really tried hard to turn the fw with the wheel gripping a
garage floor. But I did not check the axle before I started trying to
get the fw off. I had another women's bike ($10 from a thrift shop)
where the fw came off easy. That has turned out to be a great bike for
my wife.

I just bought this bike with the tight fw at a flea market. It's a
rigid frame mountain bike style and I can see that the user off-roaded
and crashed some. But, if I keep it, I'll just use it for commuting,
short trips and errands and some light recreational cycling. So I
figure a replacement of the current axle will probably be OK for me.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Front ones are EZ, but the rear can be a bear.

Quoted message said:

--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
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tom adams said:

Speaking of DIY, one old bike I bought at a flea market has a stubborn
freewheel. I have the correct freewheel extractor.

1. Should I invest in a whip to hold the gear set?

Won't help. If you have a neighbor who has a bench vise, clamp the
freewheel tool in the vise, drop the wheel on to it, and grab the rim
and spin it loose. (Remember, the threads are NOT "left hand".)
Otherwise, dropping by an auto repair shop and asking them to spin it
off by applying an impact wrench to the tool is usually effective.

Quoted message said:

2. Should I buy a rubber hammer to hit the wrench? Or is there a
better approach?

No, and see above, in that order. (A rubber hammer isn't much use in
such a situation anyway.)

Quoted message said:

3. The bike shop I checked with does not sell bearings.

Good grief! That's inexcusable.

Quoted message said:

Where do you get them?

www.biketoolsetc.com
www.loosescrews.com
Any bearing supply house (look in the Yellow Pages under "Bearings"😉
Any *real* bike shop.
Many automotive parts places, if they aren't of the chain-store
variety.
Some old-style hardware stores (if you can find one!)

Quoted message said:

If I buy them online how are they sized?

In fractions of an inch. 1/4" is typical for the rear; the fronts are
generally smaller.

Quoted message said:

I guess you just
buy the whole ring and not the individual bearings?

The other way around. Toss the ring; you don't need it. Put as many
balls in the cup as will fit, grease well, adjust, spin, recheck the
adjustment, and install the wheel.

Quoted message said:

4. I assume the axles are easy to find online and sized by length?

Length, diameter, and thread. The first two sources cited above are
good for those as well.

Quoted message said:

This axle appears to be bent, perhaps due to my attempt to remove the
freewheel.

Could be, though bent axles on 7-speed freewheel setups are far from
rare.

Quoted message said:

Front ones are EZ, but the rear can be a bear.

Many things become easier with tools and experience.
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Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
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Werehatrack said:

tom adams said:

Speaking of DIY, one old bike I bought at a flea market has a stubborn
freewheel. I have the correct freewheel extractor.

1. Should I invest in a whip to hold the gear set?

Won't help. If you have a neighbor who has a bench vise, clamp the
freewheel tool in the vise, drop the wheel on to it, and grab the rim
and spin it loose. (Remember, the threads are NOT "left hand".)
Otherwise, dropping by an auto repair shop and asking them to spin it
off by applying an impact wrench to the tool is usually effective.

I got is loose by using the groove in the concrete under my garage door
as a vice for the wrench.

The bolts on one side of the axle (the side without the gears) will not
come off. The ones that bind together inside the fork. Seems odd
since either should be able to turn so you would have to have bad
threads or a bent axle that jammed both of them. I screwed another nut
on and the threads are not damaged at the fork. I destroyed a cone
wrench trying to get them to loosen.

The two nuts must be really bound together.

Might just punt and use the slightly bent axle. I'll probably just use
the bike for a while till I get my other bike back. I let my stepson
borrow it to train and ride in a MS 150.

Anyway, I am coming out pretty well. Got two bikes for $30 and one of
them (the one for my wife) will be a keeper. I was able to repack the
hubs on that one without finding any problems.

These mountain bikes with long seat posts are cheap and barely
adjustable for an adult. I seems hard to find a 10-speed road bike of
for less than $125.

lf there was just a cheap way to extend the length of the seat post by
an couple of inches.

The bike for my wife is unusual. The back half looks like a rigid
frame mountain bike and the front half looks like a comfort bike.
Somebody repainted the frame so I cannot ID the make and model.