An easy way to tell if your bearings are worn out.

BicycleTutor

In my first bike shop job, I learned a nifty trick to easily assess
the condition of the bike's bearings without having to overhaul them.
I thought I'd share it with the group:

http://bicycletutor.com/check-bearing-wear/

It's been a busy week - I managed to get two other tutorials done as
well:

http://bicycletutor.com/lube-brake-shift-cables/
http://bicycletutor.com/cartridge-bottom-bracket/

I hope you find them useful. Comments, requests and suggestions are
always appreciated!

Alex

jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org

Alex BicycleTutor writes:

> In my first bike shop job, I learned a nifty trick to easily assess
> the condition of the bike's bearings without having to overhaul
> them. I thought I'd share it with the group:

http://bicycletutor.com/check-bearing-wear/

I think this approached bicycle maintenance from the wrong end. The
bicycle is for riding and its bearings are there to serve the rider
rather than be a project of perfection. Therefore, leave them alone
unless they develop clearance or have perceptible drag, both things
that can be felt by hand. Acoustic purity is not a functional
concern.

Dimpled head bearings are best detected by bouncing the bicycle on its
front wheel while moving the bars on and off center. It produces a
noticeable chatter.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/...d-steering.html

> It's been a busy week - I managed to get two other tutorials done as
> well:

http://bicycletutor.com/lube-brake-shift-cables/

If you wipe a coat of light grease over the cable when first
installing it in its housing, it needs no care after that. Adding
spray-on lubricants does not protect well against water intrusion in
the long run because they are volatile and don't lubricate the entire
length of the cable.

http://bicycletutor.com/cartridge-bottom-bracket/

I guess they weren't sealed after all or they would last as long as
the bearings in automobiles.

> I hope you find them useful. Comments, requests and suggestions are
> always appreciated!


Jobst Brandt

russellseaton1@yahoo.com

On Feb 20, 6:57 am, BicycleTutor <bicycletu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> In my first bike shop job, I learned a nifty trick to easily assess
> the condition of the bike's bearings without having to overhaul them.
> I thought I'd share it with the group:
>
> http://bicycletutor.com/check-bearing-wear/
>
> It's been a busy week - I managed to get two other tutorials done as
> well:
>
> http://bicycletutor.com/lube-brake-...bottom-bracket/
>
> I hope you find them useful. Comments, requests and suggestions are
> always appreciated!
>
> Alex

From the website on lubing cables.
"Most brake and shift cables these days have a plastic lining built
into the housing, therefore eliminating the need for lubrication.
However, if you ride a lot in wet weather, or have an older bike
without the plastic lining, you'll want to lubricate the cables to
prevent rust. I personally believe that well-lubricated cables also
improve braking and shifting."

Why wouldn't you just buy stainless steel brake and shifter cables to
prevent rust? If you go into any competent bike shop, or order from
the web, you will get stainless steel brake and shifter cables. They
don't rust. Seems to me your tutorial or whatever is based on things
that happened 30 years ago. Or is written for people who never work
on bikes and will believe any drivel a bike shop will tell them so
they can sell stuff.

datakoll

grease? Finish Line teflon with wax: dribble occasionally into the
housing ends where the lube dries first.

noise? wear ear plugs and butt your forehead (above your nose) into
the seat post

find a water pipe or tape cardboard tubes, paper towels, saran wrap,
together for a stethoscope

when bearings wear, bearings wear unevenly, lose sphericity becoming
elliptical.

adjusting tolerance for an elliptical shape is difficult. As the
shape(s) roll, shapes rool independently (I assume) giving different
tolerances forcing the bearing races apart.

wider bearing races increases wear pressures on a fewer bearing
increasing wear rate.

so when the wheel wiggles laterally at the tire, the bearings are
becoming or are elliptical.

throw the old ones away and repack with new bearings. Elliptical
bearings are unadjustable.

Leo Lichtman

"datakoll" wrote: (clip) find a water pipe or tape cardboard tubes, paper
towels, saran wrap,
> together for a stethoscope (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
One of the most (and least expensive) tools I own is a stethoscope. The
mechnic's kind, with a long slender metal probe--not the doctor's kind. It
will help you hunt down clicks, squeaks, rattles and other troubling sounds
on all sorts of machines, not only bicycles. Unfortunately, I have not
found a way of using it while riding :-)

RicodJour

On Feb 20, 12:25 pm, "Leo Lichtman" <l.licht...@worldnet.att.net>
wrote:
> "datakoll" wrote: (clip) find a water pipe or tape cardboard tubes, paper
>
> towels, saran wrap,> together for a stethoscope (clip)
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> One of the most (and least expensive) tools I own is a stethoscope. The
> mechnic's kind, with a long slender metal probe--not the doctor's kind. It
> will help you hunt down clicks, squeaks, rattles and other troubling sounds
> on all sorts of machines, not only bicycles. Unfortunately, I have not
> found a way of using it while riding :-)

Using it while riding would help you hunt down the back end of a car.

R

Brian Huntley

On Feb 20, 11:16*am, "russellseat...@yahoo.com"
<russellseat...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Why wouldn't you just buy stainless steel brake and shifter cables to
> prevent rust? *If you go into any competent bike shop, or order from
> the web, you will get stainless steel brake and shifter cables. *They
> don't rust. *Seems to me your tutorial or whatever is based on things
> that happened 30 years ago. *Or is written for people who never work
> on bikes and will believe any drivel a bike shop will tell them so
> they can sell stuff.

SS cables do, in fact, oxidize perceptively. But my problem with water
in the housing is more due to freezing instead. This time of year, I
have to remember to shift into a useful gear before parking for the
night, as I may have a single speed in the morning.

BicycleTutor

Thanks Jobst,

I really appreciate your honest and critical assessments. At some
point I will be re-touching many of the tutorials using advice like
yours as a guide. Before Sheldon passed on, he was critiquing each of
the tutorials very bluntly and thoroughly, and I miss having that
level of expert input... yours is greatly appreciated!

Alex

Leo Lichtman

"Leo Lichtman" <l.lichtman@worldnet.att.net> wrote One of the most (and
least expensive) tools I own is a stethoscope. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I meant to say, "One of the most *useful* (and least expensive) tools I own
is a stethoscope."

datakoll

On Feb 20, 3:04*pm, BicycleTutor <bicycletu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks Jobst,
>
> I really appreciate your honest and critical assessments. At some
> point I will be re-touching many of the tutorials using advice like
> yours as a guide. Before Sheldon passed on, he was critiquing each of
> the tutorials very bluntly and thoroughly, and I miss having that
> level of expert input... yours is greatly appreciated!
>
> Alex

looking over hub posts we find the question, "what do I do with the
bearings" asked frequently. Used bearings are elliptical,
unadjustable.
Questioner will go on into a serious hand wringing episode over the
expense of new bearings and will again ask, after screaming at him
that used bearings are no good, if he can use the old bearings, that
are what? unadjustable.
Several posters will then scream at the questioner: "DO NOT MIX
BEARING BATCHES" and off course that goes in one ear and out ? with
foresight to carefully segregate bearings on say a used and clean bed
sheet before one (one hahahah) rolls under the dishwasher.
Questioner will then rerun asking "the bearings all look the same, can
I use used bearings that all...
Some questioners will ask: I CAN'T AFFORD $4 FOR NEW BEARINGS. THE OLD
BEARINGS ARE CRACKED, ARE THE OLD BEARINGS OK...?"

A TUTORIAL SHOULD COVER THIS GROUND following those used bearings.

datakoll

On Feb 20, 12:25*pm, "Leo Lichtman" <l.licht...@worldnet.att.net>
wrote:
> "datakoll" wrote: *(clip) find a water pipe or tape cardboard tubes, paper
>
> towels, saran wrap,> together for a stethoscope (clip)
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> One of the most (and least expensive) tools I own is a stethoscope. *The
> mechnic's kind, with a long slender metal probe--not the doctor's kind. *It
> will help you hunt down clicks, squeaks, rattles and other troubling sounds
> on all sorts of machines, not only bicycles. *Unfortunately, I have not
> found a way of using it while riding :-)

Leo, down at the music store there's an inexpensive guitar pickup once
called a Buffalo Nickel. Ask the music man if it plugs into a portable
recorder with monitor earplugs attached.
My work sounds like a old Sears steel cement mixer with steel drive
gears filled with 2B, water and no sand (fines) when tight!

Tom Sherman

datakoll aka gene daniels wrote:
> On Feb 20, 3:04 pm, BicycleTutor <bicycletu...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Thanks Jobst,
>>
>> I really appreciate your honest and critical assessments. At some
>> point I will be re-touching many of the tutorials using advice like
>> yours as a guide. Before Sheldon passed on, he was critiquing each of
>> the tutorials very bluntly and thoroughly, and I miss having that
>> level of expert input... yours is greatly appreciated!
>>
>> Alex
>
> looking over hub posts we find the question, "what do I do with the
> bearings" asked frequently. Used bearings are elliptical,
> unadjustable.
> Questioner will go on into a serious hand wringing episode over the
> expense of new bearings and will again ask, after screaming at him
> that used bearings are no good, if he can use the old bearings, that
> are what? unadjustable.
> Several posters will then scream at the questioner: "DO NOT MIX
> BEARING BATCHES" and off course that goes in one ear and out ? with
> foresight to carefully segregate bearings on say a used and clean bed
> sheet before one (one hahahah) rolls under the dishwasher.
> Questioner will then rerun asking "the bearings all look the same, can
> I use used bearings that all...
> Some questioners will ask: I CAN'T AFFORD $4 FOR NEW BEARINGS. THE OLD
> BEARINGS ARE CRACKED, ARE THE OLD BEARINGS OK...?"
>
> A TUTORIAL SHOULD COVER THIS GROUND following those used bearings.

Do not used bearings work as sling shot ammunition?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org

Aside from all the noise over worn bearings, let's be clear about
this. The only types of wear that affect a bicycle ball bearing is
rust and spalling.

Rust in a wet ball bearing being ridden will dry out and leave fine
rust that causes intermittent and random sharp cracking sounds. Such
bearings can be cleaned by wiping traces of rust from the races and
balls with a clean cloth before re-installing and oiling them. They
will work fine.

Bearings that have rusted at rest from water are another matter
because that causes eroded rust grooves at the edge of the wet
meniscus. The balls and probably their races are shot if this
condition developed over a few days.

The most common failing is spalling, in which the highly polished
surface of bearing balls and even races, flake off much like a pot
hole in a repaved street in which the top layer of pavement cracked
and got displaced from its place. These need replacement.

Other than that, bearing balls do not become oval or change their size
significantly without spalling. Therefor all the advice about oval
balls and undersized balls is imaginary. If you were to watch the
rotation of bearing balls in use, you would see that they spin about
an ever changing axis, causing uniform color and roundness. They do
not rotate about a fixed axis as the ovality folks visualize.

Jobst Brandt

jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org

Aside from all the noise over worn bearings, let's be clear about
this. The only types of wear that affect bicycle ball bearings are
rust and spalling.

Riding ball bearings when wet will dry them out and leave fine rust
that causes intermittent and random sharp cracking sounds. Such
bearings can be cleaned by wiping fine rust from the races and balls
with a clean cloth before re-installing and oiling them. They will
work fine.

Bearings that have rusted at rest from water are another matter
because that causes eroded rust grooves at the edge of the wet
meniscus. The balls and probably their races are shot if this
condition developed over a few days.

The most common failing is spalling, in which the highly polished
surface of bearing balls and even races, flake off much like a pot
hole in a repaved street in which the top layer of pavement cracked
and got displaced. These are also shot.

Other than that, bearing balls do not become oval or change their size
significantly without spalling. Therefore, all the advice about oval
balls and undersized balls is imaginary. If you were to watch bearing
balls in use, you would see that they spin about an ever changing
axis, causing uniform color and roundness. They do not rotate about a
fixed axis as the ovality folks seem to visualize.

Jobst Brandt