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Bearing Maintenance and Replacement
Bearing Maintenance & Replacement
With Summer winding down and Fall right around the corner Cross Season is here! As tough as cross is on your body it can be even tougher on your bike and its components. Mud, rain, dust and snow can be brutal on some of your bike’s most vulnerable parts: bearings. While mileage affects bearing life, there’s nothing like rain, snow and mud to bring even a good quality sealed cartridge bearing to a premature end. Among the most vulnerable bearings on your bike are the bottom bracket bearings as they are the closest to the mud and muck.
Sealed Bearing Maintenance
There is a common misconception that all sealed bearings are in fact permanently sealed and therefore impervious to the elements. While the seals used in cartridge bearings go a long way towards protecting the bearings from the elements they won’t keep all contaminants out. Riding in wet will guarantee that dirt and grit will find its way past the seals and into your bearings. The good news is that sealed cartridge bearings are serviceable, in fact it’s quicker, easier and requires fewer tools than re-packing a loose ball bottom bracket. To clean your sealed bearings, carefully remove the seals between the inner and outer races with a pick, clean with your choice of de-greaser and blow out the bearing with a blast of air from an air compressor. Once you’ve done this, inspect the individual bearings for wear. If all the bearings look good, pack the bearing with grease and put the seals back on.
Sealed Bearing Replacement
As diligent as you are in servicing your sealed bearings eventually they will wear out, but again replacing your bearings is easier than you may think. Among the great features of the Wheels Mfg. bottom brackets is the ability to replace the bearings without degrading the cups, and in the case of our thread-together bottom brackets, you can replace your bearings while leaving the cups in the frame. We’ve even produced step-by-step videos to guide you through it!
From the videos you can see that with great tools like the BB-EXT and PRESS-9-PRO bearing replacement becomes hassle-free.
So with a little maintenance you can extend the life of your bearings and when it is time to replace the bearings, the proper tools will get you back up and running in no time!