Road Bike Wheel Bearing Maintenance
You ll find cartridge or sealed bearing hubs on a lot of mid high range wheels these days.
Road bike wheel bearing maintenance. I m fairly new to bike repair aside from regular maintenance. When i spin it freely on the bike or when i spin it when the wheel is off if feels clunky like the axle is spinning into grooves or notches. To help here are a few different ways to check your bike s wheel bearing and some tips for how to proceed with repairs. Ball bearing hubs can benefit from a regular overhaul.
Proper bearing maintenance ends with proper. All shimano hubs use ball bearings so we used one for our tutorial. Lately i ve noticed by rear wheel has not been spinning properly it s a shimano 105 hub and axle. Despite the latest advances in road bike design and technology your bicycle still relies on the humble ball bearing to ensure it all runs smoothly.
My police patrol bike with well over 3000 miles still feels perfect. Wheels can still seem to roll and spin perfectly fine even when there s no grease in the bearings or worse the bearings are dry and binding so bad that you can barely turn the axle by hand when the wheel is off the bike. Flip the wheel over and position the hub with the bearing facing down. If you have the right tools it s a reasonably straightforward job here s how to service them.
Make sure the hub is sufficiently supported by the flange and there s room for the bearing to come out. Several major wheel manufacturers have pushed towards larger bearings in recent years and there are. If you ride in the rain a lot or ride off road through mud and sand and through water crossings naturally you re going to need more frequent maintenance. Once the bolt is unscrewed rotate the collar clockwise continually moving the wheel from side to side to.
There are bearings in the wheel hubs the headset bottom bracket pedals and jockey wheels and they re commonly made from steel. Bearings are something to check say yearly for most riders.