I never used to. I had my bearings changed recently by my lbs and they told me my old bearings had corroded due to water. This made me think, what’s the best way do dry them post wash?

Options I’ve thought include: spray some gt85 or wd40 but I can’t imagine that’s great for the grease. A dehumidifier in the garage, or spend 5 minutes with a hairdryer.

I’m wondering what others do you keep corrosion away from their bearings if anything at all?

Lift and drop the bike a couple of times to ‘shake’ the water off, wipe the top tube, down tube, chainstays, lowers, run the chain through a rag and lube.
Done.

Stainless bearings packed with waterproof grease. Don’t aim a hose straight at them. Wipe bike down with an old towel after washing and sit it inside the house where it’s nice and warm.

I also drill a hole in the bottom bracket shell to let any water out.

what’s the best way do dry them post wash?

Don’t wash the bearings. I don’t wash bikes, I let the mud dry and then brush it off. If you do have to wash them, don’t blast water (and grit) at the bearings.

I thought that might be a euphemism…

Yeah, bearings are packed with grease and don’t need drying as such. Spraying wd40 is the worst thing you can do as it breaks the grease down and washes it out.

Don’t jet wash your bearings and keep the bike in a dry environment. You can’t really do much more. Well, you could I suppose, but then you’d never ride your bike.

Accept that moving parts sumbmerged in water and mud wont last indefinitely and try not to worry about it.

I did think of smearing silicone grease on my new bikes moving bits as its supposed to be more resistant to washing off. But in the end just wiped them with normal stuff.

I use the pig…

A pet dryer. Sends out hot air….. Does it help/work ? Dunno… but it can’t hurt.

You’re over thinking this, bearings wear out, just replace them when they do.

Or buy a hard tail and only have 4 in the frame

A pet dryer. Sends out hot air….. Does it help/work ? Dunno… but it can’t hurt.

I know that’s not a huge amount of heat but still, could heat cause the non-high temp grease to liquify or degrade? I don’t know, I’m not a bearing enthusiast. 🤔

for drying a compressor, found the steam wand on the espresso machine is very good at cleaning them 🙂

Clean your bike less. If at all. It’s official.

https://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en-US/news/347

Q: I’m lazy and lack motivation, what can I do to prolong bearing life?
A: Stop washing your bike so much. We did some experiments with bikes that were washed a lot but ridden infrequently, bikes that were ridden a lot but washed infrequently, and bikes that were both washed and ridden a lot. Guess what? Your bike hates only being washed and not being ridden. This test group had the worst results. They became creaky and not much fun to be around, much like the people who own bikes like that. Don’t get all angry (you know who you are), you can still wash your bike from time to time – and there are those times where it has to be done after every ride. Everything needs more attention during those times. BUT, maybe you should examine your priorities. It’s a mountain bike. You can get dirt on it. It’s OK.

I stripped down my mtb last week after building it up exactly a year ago. 2750km. Didnt wash it once. Didn’t clean the chain once, just rag and Rock’n’Roll blue apres ride. It was all fine. Cleaned everything up, reassembled, good to go, a nice lazy Sunday.

Clean your bike less. If at all.

if when you do
disksdiggler

Lift and drop the bike a couple of times to ‘shake’ the water off

because ultimately
steve_b77

You’re over thinking this, bearings wear out, just replace them when they do.

Recent thread, fella said his bearings weren’t very good cos they’ve only lasted 10 months of jet washing. I pointed out that they are pretty damn good bearings in that case.
Don’t wash your bearings and don’t get Fairy Liquid in them, like cheapskates say is the best bike washing product. Only if you like replacing bearings.

You’re over thinking this, bearings wear out, just replace them when they do.

I`ve replaced three headsets (on separate bikes) this winter. At £60 a pop its an expensive business……. I will be trying to make them last as long as possible now.

This is my non-engineer view based on experience: Bearings are sealed. This generally keeps out the water, and the WD40 and whatever else. When the bearings start to wear, tiny amounts of play develop and this is when they are basically gone. At this point water starts to get in as you ride and put forces through them and within one wet ride they are now full of gritty water. Then the next time you pick up your bike (if it’s wheel bearings that are failing) you’ll see the wheels are stiff, but you’ll turn them and they’ll free up, so you’ll ride anyway, and the grit will seriously start wearing stuff away and the next ride the wheels will turn freely but there’ll be loads of play. Same happens with frame bearings but you don’t notice the stiff phase and you only notice the play phase.

So basically, don’t bother drying them. If there’s water on the outside, it’ll stay there. If there’s water on the inside, they’re already buggered. I always just hose (or jetwash) my bike and the bearings last years. I’ve had my Trek (second hand) for ooh, three years now and I’ve changed one main pivot, that was maybe a year ago or more.

You must really be purchasing shit bearings and have very poor sealing if fairy liquid is destroying them.

What TINAS said +1

I`ve replaced three headsets (on separate bikes) this winter. At £60 a pop its an expensive business…….

I’ve replaced one headset bearing in about a decade and it cost £25 for the headset, I took the bearings and junked the rest as I couldn’t buy the bearings on their own!

I`ve replaced three headsets (on separate bikes) this winter. At £60 a pop its an expensive business…….

How long are they lasting? If a seemingly short period of time, I’d suggest the bearings are shite. Either put up with it or buy cheaper headsets.

My main bike has had one replacement headset in 4 years and it’s not a particularly expensive headset, so less that £20 after over 3000km on the original one is pretty good in my mind.

The underfloor heating in my garage dries the bike out nice & quickly after washing.

Self serving bollocks justifying inadequate grease fills?

Load them up with a decent water resistant grease with corrosion inhibitors and solid lubricants, not a 30% fill with high speed bearing grease designed for an electric motor.

https://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en-US/news/347

Q: I’m lazy and lack motivation, what can I do to prolong bearing life?
A: Stop washing your bike so much. We did some experiments with bikes that were washed a lot but ridden infrequently, bikes that were ridden a lot but washed infrequently, and bikes that were both washed and ridden a lot. Guess what? Your bike hates only being washed and not being ridden. This test group had the worst results. They became creaky and not much fun to be around, much like the people who own bikes like that. Don’t get all angry (you know who you are), you can still wash your bike from time to time – and there are those times where it has to be done after every ride. Everything needs more attention during those times. BUT, maybe you should examine your priorities. It’s a mountain bike. You can get dirt on it. It’s OK.

How long are they lasting? If a seemingly short period of time, I’d suggest the bearings are shite. Either put up with it or buy cheaper headsets.

Varies on the bikes. One was for my Spesh Allez. Cheap (but great) road bike that only fits s-works headsets as an aftermarket replacement, hence the £60.

Other was a Genesis, which uses some cheapo Australian made bespoke jobby. Lasted one ride. Replaced with hope mix and match which to be fair will last a lot longer.

Self serving bollocks justifying inadequate grease fills?

Don’t SC have a lifetime replacement policy on their bearings? So it’s in their interest to keep their customers bearings alive and not just make excuses?

We have used this guy from his ebay shop for quite some time for all our bearings. He also does the Headset ones for Specialized bikes. I think they are packed or repacked with better grease.

https://www.facebook.com/BlusealBikeBearings/

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/TrailvisionStore?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

Never use a jet wash on ours, bounce the bike after washing and store hanging from front wheel. All the down tubes have holes in the bottom.

According to SKF the damage is already done before we get to the washing/drying stage if we are riding in the wet. They say bearings draw water inside them under the seals via capillary action and this can be itself be made worse by the delicate contact seals being burned back via usage .

Once it’s in I guess it stays in,as Santa Cruz say frequent use seems to halt the internal corrosion for me-keeping things moving,maybe warming up the bearings…..although if I lived in California I reckon I wouldn’t need to be washing the bike as much as I do now.

and there are those times where it has to be done after every ride.

Which in the UK is most of the time I’d imagine.

As above especially @brants Post.

How often do you strip your bike, take parts off, clean, degrease, regrease etc? I treat my bike to a bit of tlc every 3 or 4 months.

My full suss mtb goes away for winter and out comes the rigid 29er. It gets washed, bearings come out, cleaned, inspected, replaced etc. Bb removed and any water comes out. Chain cleaned and oiled. Freehub cleaned etc.

The biggest problem is cleaning a bike and then leaving it stood still with water just sitting there in hidden places.

Also, if you kill bearings don’t but a complicated suspension design. Buy something simple like an orange frame etc.

The rigid 29er has less things to go wrong but still gets some tlc from time to time.

My 2penneth

Firstly don’t not buy a bike because it has 10 bearings as opposed to 4. That’s daft.

I ride in Calderdale. I don’t know what its like in the rest of the country but I need to wash by bike after every ride. If I don’t and ive ridden across norland the grit will destroy every moving part of my bike quickly. If I don’t and ive been riding through the woods the mud packed around the bike will corrode all the drivetrain and linkages quickly. It needs washing. Not washing it will cause a lot more damage to the bike.

The bearings are not waterproof. I like to fill mine with sticky grease as it leaves less room for water to get in but it still does. Stainless bearings are generally too soft imo. I would be running them otherwise.

Things like the m094 or “maintenance” sprays will kill bearings, yes it’s a water repellent but it will seep into the bearing and help wash out the grease that in there.

Most people don’t realise just how bad their bearings are. I regularly speak to people who say they have lasted years. I can bet that most are corroded to buggery. Stick it down to annual maintenance imo.

Bearings are sealed. This generally keeps out the water, and the WD40 and whatever else

Ah yes, don’t spray penetrating stuff like WD40/ Gt85 near bearings either. Not much is better at starting the degradation of that grease.

alexnharvey

Member
Self serving bollocks justifying inadequate grease fills?

Load them up with a decent water resistant grease with corrosion inhibitors and solid lubricants, not a 30% fill with high speed bearing grease designed for an electric motor.

I love your armchair engineer opinion that Santa Cruz only have access to the local bearing supplier and wouldn’t consider speccing their own.

I put mine in the microwave

I regularly speak to people who say they have lasted years. I can bet that most are corroded to buggery.

In my experience once they get bad they develop play very quickly, which is what we notice.

I love your armchair engineer opinion that Santa Cruz only have access to the local bearing supplier and wouldn’t consider speccing their own.

I bought some Enduro Max bearings to ‘upgrade’ the ones on my Trek when they failed – the ones I took out were also Enduro Max. Dunno if they were put there by the previous owner though or by Trek.

If you want things to dry, I would suggest pointing a dehumidifier at them. Or if it’s sunny and you’ve somewhere secure, leave them in the sunny secure place post wash.

Leaving things wet for a while does seem to be a recipe for seized bearings.

I tend to hose bikes down after most rides, mainly to at least give the chain a bit of a wash and keep the stanchions nice and clean so everything bounces as it should. In summer I’ll happily leave the odd smudge of dirt on the bike and just ride it a bit longer instead of washing.

I love your armchair engineer opinion that Santa Cruz only have access to the local bearing supplier and wouldn’t consider speccing their own.

I kind of doubt even a fairly big bike company would have the clout to specify the grease fill of their bearings at an economical price, and further that a California based bike manufacturer would think to specify the sort of filling we need for UK year round riding. Look at comments here and elsewhere about the internet on the amount of grease that comes in Shimano hubs for example, or oil levels in new forks.

The enduro max bearings or similar are worthwhile for bikes as the bearings are relatively highly loaded at relatively low rotational speeds compared with typical industrial applications. I wouldn’t be surprised if a number of bike companies specified these to keep bearing size (and overall weight) down whilst having reasonable durability.

@brant

Happy to be corrected with insider knowledge if you’ve got some to share.

Assume you would’ve stated it rather than being snide if you did though…

How many units do you have to order to get a custom fill?

Haha oops didn’t realise who I was contradicting when I mentioned custom fill.

Happy to be corrected.

Although I am in no sense an engineer, as a fan of oldish bikes I have had the occasion to be out of my armchair and looking in more than a few rusty bike bearings over the years. Of course their previous owners often maintained them poorly but my experience has been that even many new bearings have very little grease in them. The most recent unpleasant surprise was a little different, a set of enduro max bearings that had a good loading of grease but still rusted within months. Most of my riding these days is commuting and salted roads are a killer. Everything bearing I buy now gets stripped and filled with semi-fluid grease that has lots of corrosion inhibitors and I can tell you that the bearings are not rusty six months later.

If santa cruz or anyone else are filling their bearings with a grease that is suitable for the UK and other rainy places I would applaud them.

Place bike in utility room and direct dehumidifier at it.

This generally keeps out the water, and the WD40 and whatever else.

No it doesn’t because the surface tension is completely opposite. (Technically relative permeability) … The whole point of a detergent is to break down that surface tension between water and oil whereas WD40 is still oil wet but will penetrate oil because they are mutually attracted.

So basically, don’t bother drying them. If there’s water on the outside, it’ll stay there. If there’s water on the inside, they’re already buggered.

Even if water doesn’t get inside corrosion of the outer race is not a good thing… especially on pivot bearings where getting them out is more destructive if they are chemically welded in.

Even if water doesn’t get inside corrosion of the outer race is not a good thing… especially on pivot bearings where getting them out is more destructive if they are chemically welded in.

Putting something to stop them seizing in is the best bet here. Although with bearings in a frame, hot water usually does the trick to get them moving (steel in an al. frame, al will expand more)