Just after a second opinion here:
I striped my FlareMax rear suspension down as after about 10 hours use it had developed an annoying squeak. I left all the bearings pressed in, just took everything apart, regressed and re-torqued.
The main upper bearings are very tight to the point where they don’t really turn without a lot of effort. It feels like a badly made pressfit bottom bracket. That’s not right is it?

All the other bearings are buttery smooth and re-greasing has cured the squeak. But I suspect without remedy the bike is going to need a new aluminium pivot bolt or new bearings sooner than it should.

is it a ball bearing, or a bushing?

If its a bush, they are tight to turn by hand, and if they are easy to turn by hand they have nearly had it.

Dont know what the arrangement is on that bike though…

some bearings that move very little have a habit of seizing in one position. Whip the cover off, clean it up and regrease, you may save it…

but the answer is… No, they shouldn’t be stiff like that 🙂

@olly – ball bearing. Appear to be the same as a 15 front hub.

Try and blast them out with brake cleaner to remove any crud. Hopefully they won’t be rusted up and you can re-pack with grease.

nope not right

Not right after 10 hours use, certainly. Worth a call to Cotic.

Thanks all, that’s what I thought. I’ll pull it apart again and see if there’s anything obvious that I’ve missed (doubt it as it’s a very simple design). Then call Cotic.

The 2 rear bushes can make really annoying noises.

I recently stripped mine to solve the annoying click which was coming from one of the rear bushing pivots. Bearings were all nice and smooth after 5 months use. If you’ve got the tools I’d pop it out, see if it’s moving freely and if so press it back in. Or pop the seal off in situ to inspect.

No they should not.

Might have got crushed when installed/installed badly/overspray in the recess/badly machined recesses, either that or water has got in and they have seized. It happens and can happen quickly where bearings are exposed and don’t benefit from any additional shielding. Different frame designs suffer from different wear rates for bearings in certain positions. Some frame designs eat main pivot bearings and shock bushes on high rotation points for example!

With just 10 hours use that is unusual unless the bike has been submerged!

Given its only ten hours usage, my money is on this:

Might have got crushed when installed/installed badly/overspray in the recess/badly machined recesses,

I’d say 25% of all my alu frames over the years have had some kind of frame pivot that is either over-sprayed, over anodised or under bored (usually a worn tool)

The tell will be to pull the bearing out. If it moves smoothly and freely in your hand, you know its being compressed by the bearing seat.

Usually a bit of time with some fine sandpaper and a careful eye does the job. You might have to be a bit more aggressive with steel though…

About submerging, Penmachno and Gisburn in the wet during Autumn = submerging. Major regreasing needed after my two visit’s there. Penmachno was incredibly wet, but heaps of fun.

My suspicion is either incorrectly fitted or poorly bored housing. The nearest it’s come to getting wet is riding along a ditch. Looking at the design it looks removing the bearings will result in new bearings. There’s no way to access the other race of the bearing. So slide hammer only. I’ll give Cotic a shout.

@woodlikesbikes – did you get the help or advice you needed?

ball bearing. Appear to be the same as a 15 front hub.

Use the max fill version rather than a hub bearing if you are going to replace it.

@kelvin. Yes thanks. Away at the moment so will have a proper as soon as I’m back.

they’ll deffo have something on how to sort your suspension

They don’t.

The info on that site is all very basic, the Park Tools site is far more useful: https://www.parktool.com/en-int/blog/repair-help but the topic of this thread isn’t a general maintenance issue so not going to be covered by a general repair guide

EDIT: seems that post was removed pronto, did think it seemed a bit spammy

I forgot to update.
I called Cotic, they said no problems, we will fix what ever needs fixing. But the whole company was going to France for a post-Covid working holiday – could I hang on two weeks? I said yes that’s fine but was it OK to ride the bike at the weekend? They said no problems and would fix any further issues. Two weeks later bike gets picked up, fixed and returned.
Cost to me: two phone calls.

Sometimes stuff breaks or isn’t perfect. How a company deals with that really defines the company. I’m happy with Cotic.

Out of interest, what was wrong? (other than the bearing not moving)