Bay Area Shop That Can Service Perception Hubs?



FogVilleLad

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Mar 2, 2006
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Does anyone know a shop in the San Francisco Bay Area that has experience with servicing Speedcific's Perception hubs? I have two used wheels built by Mike Garcia. The front hub needs one new cartridge bearing and the rear needs to have its needle bearing lubricated. I'd like to not have to send them to Florida for servicing.
 
FogVilleLad said:
Does anyone know a shop in the San Francisco Bay Area that has experience with servicing Speedcific's Perception hubs? I have two used wheels built by Mike Garcia. The front hub needs one new cartridge bearing and the rear needs to have its needle bearing lubricated. I'd like to not have to send them to Florida for servicing.
Contact Mike Garcia to see what he says/recommends.

FWIW. Most shops can probably service your bearings ...

BUT, call around to ensure that the grade of cartridge bearing is the same or better than the ones which are currently in your front hub ... if you're changing one, then you should probably change both.

Cartridge bearings CAN BE serviced ... perhaps a more tedious endeavor than you want to engage in ... you simply need to lift the seal (presuming they are sealed) up & re-lube ... replace the seal ... of course, depending on which side the seal is facing, you may need to remove the cartridge ... and, that is another issue.

The few needle bearings that I've encountered have been "loose" (i.e., loosely held in their "cage") ... the key is to NOT lose any when disassemble whatever it is that uses them when you access them!
 
alfeng said:
Contact Mike Garcia to see what he says/recommends.

FWIW. Most shops can probably service your bearings ...
When I ordered a new front wheel from Mike, he said that he didn't have any dealers in the Bay Area. There's an external cup on the rear wheel that is tricky to reinstall, so I'm hoping for a referral to a shop which already has experience with these hubs.

Re the front wheel's cartridge bearings, one of them is defective. There's a definite "notch" when holding the wheel by the axle and spinning it.

Re the needle bearings, I saw a longish post from Mike to the effect that some hubs arrived at his shop without the needle bearings having been properly lubricated and that he was now inspecting them. This rear wheel was first sold in '06. It spins smoothly but there's a quiet grinding sound which I suspect is due to the needle bearings not being properly lubricated. The wheel was not used much, so there's still hope;-)

The original purchaser coouldn't dissasemble the wheel - neither can I - and I really hope to locate a shop which already has experience with these hubs.
 
FogVilleLad said:
When I ordered a new front wheel from Mike, he said that he didn't have any dealers in the Bay Area. There's an external cup on the rear wheel that is tricky to reinstall, so I'm hoping for a referral to a shop which already has experience with these hubs.

Re the front wheel's cartridge bearings, one of them is defective. There's a definite "notch" when holding the wheel by the axle and spinning it.

Re the needle bearings, I saw a longish post from Mike to the effect that some hubs arrived at his shop without the needle bearings having been properly lubricated and that he was now inspecting them. This rear wheel was first sold in '06. It spins smoothly but there's a quiet grinding sound which I suspect is due to the needle bearings not being properly lubricated. The wheel was not used much, so there's still hope;-)

The original purchaser coouldn't dissasemble the wheel - neither can I - and I really hope to locate a shop which already has experience with these hubs.
How does your Speedcific Perception hub differ from the Speedcific Serenity rear hub that is pictured below?


1203779323447414923124.jpeg

If the Perception hub body looks the same, then I reckon to disassemble it you simply PULL the non-driveside cap away from the hub body BECAUSE it looks as though the Serenity hub is really a DT/Hugi hub in disguise. Of course, it might not be.

If your rear hub looks the same, then this is what Hugi used to refer to as a NO TOOLS assembly hub ... but, if you didn't know that it could come apart, you would be hard pressed to believe that it can.

The non-driveside cap fits onto the axle & more-or-less holds the axle in place. Wrap a wide rubber band (similar to the kind that holds a bunch of Brocolli together OR an old inner tube OR something similar) on the non-driveside cap, and simply pull ...

I haven't bothered to take the 240 hubs apart any further ... but, based on my memory of the tech drawing, the hollow axle should just slide out of the hub ... I presume the axle holds the freehub in place which in turn holds the star-ratchet against the spring ...

There are no needle bearings in this design. The BELL housing is where the spring for the reciprocating star ratchet mechanism resides.

The ratchet should have a "soft" feel to it ...

The axle will NOT seem to spin freely when you are turning it by hand, but if you put one hand on each axle end and roll the wheel/hub along the floor, you will see that the loaded resistance is minimal.

Of course, the Perception hub could be completely different than the Serenity hub ... so, the description may be moot.

Post a picture of the rear hub.

Also, what does the FRONT hub on your wheelset look like?
 
alfeng said:
How does your Speedcific Perception hub differ from the Speedcific Serenity rear hub that is pictured below?


1203779323447414923124.jpeg
Serenity hubs are designed for radial lacing.

Here's the URL for Speedcific's instructions for servicing Perception hubs. Images of both front and rear hubs are included. http://www.speedcific.com/SPDZhubinfo.html Moving/removing the axle is more difficult that the instructions might lead you to believe. The original owner of these wheels tried to service them, but couldn't.
 
FogVilleLad said:
Serenity hubs are designed for radial lacing.

Here's the URL for Speedcific's instructions for servicing Perception hubs. Images of both front and rear hubs are included. http://www.speedcific.com/SPDZhubinfo.html Moving/removing the axle is more difficult that the instructions might lead you to believe. The original owner of these wheels tried to service them, but couldn't.
I'm posting this pic of the Speedcific Serenity hubs in case someone recognizes their heritage:

roadrearhub.jpg

roadfronthub.jpg

FWIW. I've had a couple of the cartridge-type XTR BBs that felt gritty when I finally got around to doing some service on them ... I cleaned them off & sprayed some of the dreaded WD-40 around the seals followed by some standard HOUSEHOLD OIL ... for whatever reason, those BBs are as smooth as silk, now ... and, I'm still using them.
 
There's a "notch" in the front wheel when it's spun. Feels as if a small object is being hit. If the problem were constant, I'd suspect that lubrication would cure it, but this in one of those once each revolution things.

Did locate a shop in the City - they sponsor a team - whose owner says that he'll take a shot at servicing the hubs, if I don't locate anybody with previous experience with them.

We shall see...
 
FogVilleLad said:
There's a "notch" in the front wheel when it's spun. Feels as if a small object is being hit. If the problem were constant, I'd suspect that lubrication would cure it, but this in one of those once each revolution things.

Did locate a shop in the City - they sponsor a team - whose owner says that he'll take a shot at servicing the hubs, if I don't locate anybody with previous experience with them.

We shall see...
The front hub looks pretty easy - the rear a pain in the ass.

Note to self: Continue to read service manual of all equipment before you buy...
 

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