Does anyone know how to get the main pivot bearings out of a Canyon Nerve AM 2011 frame? They’re part number 22 on this handy schematic, which tells me what size bearings I need, and what order all the bits go in, but not how to get the buggers out of the frame.

Obviously I’ve removed all the bolts, the circlip and the assorted washery-spacery whatnots in there, but there’s something still holding things together once all the fasteners are out, and I’m **** if I can figure out what it is or how to get it to let go. I’ve tried applying a few judicious taps with one of my precision persuaders too and that didn’t work either. Any ideas anyone?

Have you been onto Canyon? I believe they offer a service to replace bearings.. That at least takes the guess work out of it

Nope, not tried them yet. I will send it off if I really can’t figure it out, but I like fixing things myself cos it’s fun. 🙂

Anyone else? I know there’s quite a few Nerves out there, someone on here must have replaced the bearings on theirs…

Looking at your exploded PDF it seems the same layout and bearing as the XC 11/12.

Some ideas here: I stopped before the big “persuaders” got involved!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/canyon-bearing-replacement-service-nerve-xc-bearings-needed-anyone-used-it#post-4876025

Cheers. Hmm. Chisels? Alarming… 😯

I suspect that if I can get the NDS bearing out then whatever is behind it will let go and the whole thing will come away. Just need to figure out how to do that without spending £££ on a bearing puller.

Isn’t half the ‘fun’ the good excuse to go and buy man-tools? 😉

Good point.

*googles bearing pullers*

Have had a nightmare dealing with canyon trying to get mine done on my nerve xc9…

After having to give up on the canyon service centre in Kingston (they have recently fired their mechanic) I took it to my local friendly mobile bike mechanic.

He also had the same question, and canyon’s official reply was:

“if you have removed all bearing, you should be fine removing the stay with a plastic (faced) hammer (give it a smooth try). Alternatively pull the stay
downwards and lever it out.”

So I think the basic approach is hit it with a hammer….!

Good luck!

Right, so, for the sake of anyone else wondering how to pull a Canyon Nerve apart, the short answer is: you’re probably going to need a blind bearing puller (8mm collet and slide hammer worked for me).

You *might* be able to bodge it with an expanding 8mm rawlbolt, but I couldn’t get that to work. If you try to force things with chisels and hammers round the back of the bearings, you’re almost certainly going to trash stuff. At best you’ll kill the fancy ball-joint washer that’s hiding in there, which will be fun sourcing a replacement for. At worst you’ll wreck the chainstay and/or main frame. So I’d really not recommend getting the Yorkshire spanners out on this job.

Once you’ve pulled one bearing a couple of mm out of its seat the whole assembly comes apart beautifully, no force required and there’s really no way it can stay together if you’ve got one of the bearings even a little way out.

To be honest, having gone through all this it’s clear I’ve wasted my time. If your Nerve’s swing arm is still moving ok, I doubt you need to replace the main pivot bearings at all. They’re not cartridge jobs with balls or rollers in them, they’re spherical plain bearings, and they don’t seem to wear in the same way as normal bearings. It’s also pretty well sealed down there compared to the other bits of the linkage. If the bearings are not obviously completely dead I reckon there’s no point going to the trouble of replacing them. I had to replace mine because I knackered one bearing in my attempts to pull things apart out of curiosity, but unless it’s clear that you really need to do this job, don’t bother… 😉