Frame bearings on my Bird are looking a bit ropey after 8 months of use so looking to change, doing my sons Nukeproof Mega at the same time . Both frames about same age his bearings are Caged and mine are Max , both suffered corrosion and need to be replaced. So cleaned and greased them to get a bit more life out of them.
So are Max worth the extra ? Is stainless worth a go ?
Cheers Si
I go with Max and fill them full of marine grease.👍
Enduro max are 'specifically designed for suspension pivots'. So I'd go with that!
Speak to kinetic bearings
They sell kits all without cages and if your mega is a newish one they'll also provide the enduro black oxide bearings as part of the kit as std.
I paid 35 pounds and all bearings were max with enduro bo versions for the flanged bearings on my mega 290
The rear chainstay are blind and have 2 either side are can be a bitch to extract.
Stainless isn't that important in frame bearings .
The outside bit yes but chrome vanadium is actually stronger.
Hence hope use a cv bearing on the vulnerable side of the freehub .
Cage bearings are smaller
Cage less are just a ring of big balls and just last Longer and can take more stress .
Go to kinetic I promise you won't be disappointed.
They even do the tools to install and remove for 20 pounds.
Put some masking tape around the area of the bearings as the nukeproof paint is shockingly bad
The rear chainstay are blind and have 2 either side are can be a bitch to extract.
Done a few Bird frame bearings and these are fine with a blind bearing puller. The rest can be tackled with a drift or a puller.
As for the bearings, this is also my approach...
I go with Max and fill them full of marine grease
I was thinking if Nukeproof are putting Caged bearings in maybe they are up to the job !!! or are they cost cutting ?? Both set of bearings seem ok apart from the corrosion which has made them a bit grumbley.
The quality of the etc bearings is shocking mate .wait till you remove and refit them .
Some of my bearings were very tight others were slack .
Check out the reviews on crc for the std bearings .I'm not the only one