_ForceD_

I think one of my bikes is mocking me.

You ever get out of bed in the morning and discover that you have a mysterious pain in some joint/muscle/tendon? And you say to yourself “What the heck brought this on? I haven’t overused, or caused any trauma to it.” And you think “ I’ll have to ice it and take some NSAIDS.” A couple days go by and you never get around to it. Then the next day you wake up and it’s completely better. Gone as quickly as it showed up.

Last week I was riding my rainy day bike. A few miles into the ride I began to hear that unmistakable sound of wheel bearings going bad (rear wheel). I figured I’d have to be replacing cone nuts and bearings. I disassembled the hub and discovered the cones were in perfect condition. But the grease had dissipated and wasn’t sufficient to lube the bearings, and the balls were actually rusty and destroyed. The races seemed generally rough, but weren’t otherwise pitted or grooved. So I cleaned everything, replaced the balls, and re-packed with fresh grease. I rode the bike about twenty miles and it was still rough sounding. But not nearly as bad as before. I figured the races were worse than I thought. So, I began thinking about a new wheel. I hadn’t ridden the bike since, and still haven’t gotten the new wheel. But today, for some reason, I thought I’d give the old wheel one more try. I rode 31 miles and it was absolutely perfect. Not a sound. Like those phantom pains that come and go…the wheel bearings fixed themselves.

Dan

Iride01 

Might have been something got into the clean grease you put in there like some sand or a spec of rust you might have missed. Probably got pulverized to dust on that first ride and you just didn't notice the lack of noise when you were finishing the ride.

bblair

Question: How perfect does it have to be?
Answer: Not very.

Glad you are enjoying riding your less-than-perfect bike.

SW84

I tore apart the front axle on my '00 Raleigh this morning to check the wheel bearings. I noticed that there were 10 bearings on each side, but it appeared it could easily take 11. Is there any advantage, or disadvantage, to adding another one to each side?

Iride01 

You are hijacking the thread of another to ask your own question. You should have ask in your own new thread. And the Bicycle Mechanics sub-forum would be a better venue for it.

Don't fill up that gap. It'll likely have the bearings not sitting on the race properly or even rubbing each other in opposing directions. You really for most things don't even need as many balls as are in there currently.

SW84

I apologize. I saw the title of the thread was wheel bearings, and the first post dealt with wheel bearings, so I posted a question about wheel bearings. I'll try to do better next time.

_ForceD_

It’s cool. I’m not put off by it. No harm no foul. There’s plenty of internet to go around. Cause anyway…you perpetuated the veering “hijack” by answering the off-topic question in the thread when you could have PM’d him.

Dan

Iride01 

It's how we learn. PM's don't let others learn and they might have to find out for themselves.

I know it embarrasses and flusters some to get criticized. And others might take my response as a sharp rebuke and shouting with rage. But that's the problem of those that read things with angry voices instead of just the neutral transfer of information.

And it's a fine line since threads don't stay on topic. Many times that's okay. It's a natural progression of the topic or expansion into other areas.

Iride01 

No need to apologize. It's expected that new users won't realize all the do's and don'ts. And even a person experienced at another forum might find things done there aren't accepted here or other places.

I've seen some threads get very confused in the conversation when others ask questions of their own that are similar but not quite the same. It gets confusing to know what who's question the replies are addressing. Even if the problem ask about seems exactly the same, it still should be ask in it's own new thread, IMO. Because many times the solution to issue isn't the same or the problem really isn't the same as perceived by that person.

I know I'm not perfect either. I have plenty of times I've messed up here too. And I've been on forums since BITD when they were called BBS's or bulletin boards in the early 80's.