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Sorry to derail this thread, but just wondering which decent full susses have the least amount of bearings, apart from Orange
My Swarf Contour has 6, 2x Main pivot and 4x in the rocker...and a doddle to change.
AS @Cha****ng alluded to earlier, single pivot and ease of maintenance is a thing I value in a bike....the less movey bits the better.
Knolly suspension is actually very robust and bearings and bushings last a long time - I bought well-ridden frame from a mate for my son who rode it for couple of years and still the bike was on original bearings.
My DW-link bikes have been really good with bearing life, previous one was sold at seven years and only one set at main pivot needed replacing.
My SC Superlight ate bearings more than any of my multi link bikes.
As mentioned above ,the proper Giant bearing tool kit is a thing of beauty.
Changing the bearings is like watching one of James May's assembly telly programmes.
The years of my life I wasted wallowing about on single pivots makes me sad.
I had the same experience as @reluctantjumper with a Fuel Ex. Good bearings (some proprietary sizes) sealed reasonably well and years before needing attention. They could be cleaned out, spun and repacked a few times. The ones at the back axle get the grease washed out fastest and are usually the first to throw in their hand!
My old 575 had 10 bearings - I changed them twice in it's lifetime - guess it was lucky they had a carbon flex stay instead of a pivot on the chainstays or that would've been another 4!
I once had my RM Instinct bearings and bushings (yes, some bikes do use bushings!) all dismantled and spread out on the garage floor. All in position ready to reassemble, when my phone starts frantically beeping away.. tried to ignore it.. beep beep... doesn't stop. The girlfriend had smashed a glass while washing up and sliced her hand open!! Pics of blood etc. I'm like .. bike, girlfriend? Bike? girlfriend? Bike won 😀
Don't get too much of a throb on for bushings! Saracen and Ghost are two that come to mind that have managed to **** them up.
amusing
Pah!
Call that an unnecessary number of bearings? I used to own a Yeti DH9 a lawill link frame complete with a floating brake arm. IIRC that thing had something like 14 bearings...
Marin multi-trac (e.g rift zone, hawk hill), 6 of 12X24X6, job done! The rear pivot uses a bushing (an igus plane bearing).
Most of mine were seized after 2 winters, so won't leave it as long next time. The bushes were as new.
I've got 4500km on my Knolly now, in all weathers and probably a third of that around the peaks. I've replaced the bushes once now and the bearing on the swing arm twice.