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What's the current consensus on frame bearings? Half of mine are shot/seized after two (well, one and a half) minging winters. It has had some hammer, it's an ebike so has probably seen more use in filthy conditions than I could be bothered with on an analogue. Never been jet washed and have used a hose on low pressure from a distance but even so water has got past the seals on some of them.
So, came with Enduro Max (the ones with black casings and orange seals), can't see they have performed better than any other Max Complement bearings I've had in the past. Not sure there is any benefit in those over a set from the likes of Blue Seal for £65? Have
And finally, they are all advertised as having the max amount of grease to avoid interfering with the seals, not sure there is any benefit to this though, I'm tempted to just pop the seals when new and ram them full of blue Mobil grease (LLP2 or whatever it is)
Not sure if there is anything I can do to get better bearing life (other than not riding in minging conditions or cleaning the bike but that's not going to happen). Any general thoughts? PS - I hate changing bearings!
Check you actually have Enduro MAX bearings. I think from memory the black metal ones are some sort of ceramic type? All the Enduro MAX bearings I have bought are silver metal with red seals.
From personal experience, Enduro MAX have lasted at least twice as long as generic max-compliment bearings on all the frames I've owned. I think they are worth the premium because stripping a frame and changing bearings (especially if you have a horst link bike and / or need to work with a blind bearing puller) is a PITA and the less I have to do it the better.
TBH the BLueseal have been OK on ours, they've not lasted any less than the Enduro bearings from what i can tell. It's an easy quick job so i don't mind it as such. We've tried both/everything in the last 2 years.
I always find the best thing to do when considering bearing replacement is to consider the failure mode of the existing ones. Do you need better sealing, or corrosion resistant races, or higher load capacity? Perhaps you have a poorly aligned system and would benefit from bearings with more clearance.
@devash is that not just because they are better quality or do they run for longer once water has gotten into them? I thought that once water got past the seals they will all seize in a similar time frame?
My bike does have a couple of sets of blind bearings, at the drop outs are OK but two of the four tiny ones in the carbon linkage are seized, which will be fun. Might chuck thr linkage in the freezer for a bit
@onzadog - the first two, it always seems to be water ingress that kills them. Frame alignment seems spot on, it's a carbon Orbea Wild (although the alloy ones have had some alignment issues). What do you mean by "more clearance"? - less balls in the races so not Max complement? If so I don't think that is the issue
More clearance refers to the space in the bearings, the tolerance between metal parts. People think that high tolerance bearings are best, but sometimes, more clearance will run longer depending on frame tolerance
@davosaurusrex it's always water ingress / corrosion that kills them on all the frames I've had so I presume Enduro bearings have better seals and grease inside.
I've been told Enduro aren't as good as SKF and NTN brand bearings but they sit in the sweet spot price-to-longevity-wise.
Best way I’ve found to maximise bearing life is to not actually wash the bike with water. If muddy, let it dry, brush it off, then wipe down with a rag and silicone spray or construction hand wipes. Done this method for years and you can get the bike just as clean as if using water. After a couple of years I will also check the bearings before winter, pop the seals off and re grease if required.
I notice some bikes (Canyon Lux CFR for example) have started coming with solid lube cartridge bearings for pivots. Various bearing companies making them. Supposedly less room for water and other contaminants to set up camp and obviously no amount of washing will flush the solid lube out.
Despite the early doom-mongers I found Ibis polymer bushings were still like new when other frames would have been coming up to their third set of cartridge bearings.
Longest lasting bearings I ever had were the plain bearings in my old Turner 6-Pack. Quick squirt of grease in the Zerk and they were like new.
Yeah, I had a series of Turners with bushings, so much less grief than cartridge bearings
Despite the early doom-mongers I found Ibis polymer bushings were still like new when other frames would have been coming up to their third set of cartridge bearings.
Mine is a 2020 Ripmo AF and I just changed the bushings recently because they're free. I needn't have bothered to be honest.
For cartridge bearings I smear a little lanolin spray on the seals to help keep water out.
It does seem an area where some development of Turner style bushings or the plastic filled bearings, collett or clamped bearings etc could provide some real benefit.
Of course it's not as sexy for bike sales as bold new colours and 10% improved damping...
Wondering if folk like Cy or Jameseo have a thought on this.
The key to the Turner bushings working so well and lasting so long was the alignment tolerance. Rolling element bearings work better on sloppily made frames.
People claimed there was a lot of stiction on bushings but the rear end was never still enough for static friction to be an issue and on a Horst link design the lever arms were considerable.
Trail Vision (BlueSeal) have 25% off theirs at the moment.
Been using them for years and have been as good as any of the others we have used.
They also use marine grease in them
+1 for "not washing". Or at least don't use anything more aggressive than car shampoo and a bucket of water (hose is probably fine).
I just stripped the brakes on my road bike, it took a hammer to get the bushings / pins apart. I blame that entirely on the Muck-off someone bought me for Christmas last winter. It's a surfactant and degreaser so it helps water creep in past seals and then dissolved lubricant once in there.
I had some SKF MTRX solid oil bearings in a pair of superstar wheels and they lasted through several winters without feeling gritty or notchy. Compared to regular 2RS bearings which were only last 6 months or so.
I'd love to try those in my frame but the cost is high.
I also have an Orbea. The OEM bearings look very much like Enduro Max but they barely lasted 6 months in the linkage. Second set lasted about the same. It's not so much a problem with the bearing, it's the design of the linkage that's the problem. There's nothing to stop water and grit getting into the bearing.
There are 2 small double stacked bearings at one end. The inners are well protected and are always sparkly clean. The outers (and every other bearing on the frame) get covered in crap and last 5 minutes.
Yeah, the Orbeas seem like Californian brands, built for Spanish winters, not UK! No additional seals on the pivot hardware. Funnliy enough the inner of the small ones at the rear of the linkage are both seized on mine but outers aren't.
I'm pretty much 100% they are genuine Enduro Max but if the water gets in doesn't seem to make any odds. I'be ordered a linkage bearing kit as the others are OK, have popped seals and regreased, I am thinking I will top up the new ones though, I know it might compromise the seals but it doesn't seem to make any odds and I can install them with that side facing inwards.
I am going to try just scraping the mud off as well but as about 50% of winter rides have the bike looking like this it's a challenge....
I’m not convinced that completely packing the bearings with grease after you’ve bought them does any good whatsoever and disturbing the seals can damage them. Whilst packing them fully with grease makes less space for water there’s a reason most are advertised as 30% filled - the bearings need space to rotate and move to spread the load and also keep the lubricant on the move.
I see that but not doing so doesn't seem to prevent them getting ruined by water ingress in short order so not really got anything to lose. It's not like pivot bearings rotate much anyway and I can't see that grease is going to prevent movement given the leverage on the suspension
Off the back of this thread I stripped my bike last night and checked all the bearings (first time in three years with this frame).
Full complement of Enduro MAX, zero seized. One was a tad gritty but could have probably gone on longer. Take from that what you will.
What frame is that on and does the pivot hardware have any additional sealing?
@davosaurusrex - Transition Spur. Pivot hardware does indeed have these little metal 'bearing shields' so that might improve longevity.