Hardly ride my mtb these days but last couple rides way back in Easter mate and I thought rear wheel was sounding noisy and bearings maybe on the way out. Not bothered about them until recently when going to take it back to Scotland for Christmas and thought ah I'll get the bearings changed to avoid any unforseen riding misery. Ordered some, booked it into lbs as don't have Dt swiss tool and collected it this afternoon. They had given me the bearings I'd had taken out and when got home felt them to see how bad they were. Smooth, totally fine. Gutted. £20 on bearings and the same again in labour 🙄
Not really a rant just a whimper to myself
Banjaxed bearings can feel smooth once out as they're not compressed or loaded. Don't feel bad.
Once they start to real fall to bits other things get damaged as well, no harm in getting them changed before they totally fail.
cheers guys
Or if they really not to bad, pop the seals off, clean and re grease and you got spares if you really need to replace bearings quick.