I popped into my local shop today to ask the lad what his labour charge would be for fitting bearings.

He told me to get pins and bushings included with my bearing kit.

I know what bearings are, but what are the pins he talks of? Where do I get them and the bushings from? I’ve seen bearing kits, but I presume that is just the bearings themselves.

Difficult to be sure without seeing your frame, but as well as cartridge bearings, some have bushes(like a pressed in sleeve) that runs on a shaft(probably the pin he’s talking about).

Enduro ’04 frame.

Bolt kit?

Unless he’s talking about the shock brushing I have no idea. All you need are the bearings themselves, I should know, I’ve just done mine!

He was talking about wear in the ‘pins’ that made them wobble in the bearings.

I presume it must be the bolts.

I like the bikeshop as well, so may have to pop back to get this cleared up.

Specialized bearing kits don’t come with shock bushes, so you’d need to measure and order those seperately. I guess he means shock bolts when he says pins?

I don’t see how the bolts would wear, as nothing turns in the bolts, that why there are bearings in there.
If you take the bolts out one at a time (4 in the rocker link, 2 in the chainstays and the main pivot) you’ll see the bearing doesn’t actually turn on them, as the inner race is held in place.
It sounds to me like the guy doesn’t really know what he’s talking about.

you’ll see the bearing doesn’t actually turn on them

unless the bearing is siezed?

Hey quirrel.

Would you be prepared to invest £20 in a vice, you can simply mount the vice to a piece of wood and then clamp it onto a convenient surface, removing it once finished.

I will make you up a simple but effective servicing kit, I will also show you exactly how to remove and fit the new bearings.

This isn’t a hard job and you can easily do it yourself, I have today off, and am making up similar kits for other riders anyway.

Gotta go just got my deemax wheels in yesterday and I’m going to service them.