Hi folks, been seriously considering a carbon sb66 and found reviews from genuine owners who’ve said that they’ve had 2 main problems, 1: pivot bearings wear out really quick and 2: their customer service is awful

Can anyone shed any light on this or their own experiences please?

Never had to deal with Yeti direct but Silverfish are OK. Sorted my pivot bearings under warranty. Found my main pivot was leaking water which washed the grease from the bearing, sealed it properly and they’ve been fine since….touch wood. Neither would put me off. Great bike.

How long had u had the bike b4 the bearings went? As others seem to say they went thro a couple of sets a year, cheers

With the bearings, it depends how pedantic you are.

I’m pedantic, any little creak drives me nuts, i got a year out of my bearings.

Also, is it your only bike? Will you be mud plugging and jet washing? Gets left wet and cold in the shed?

One mans trashed bearings are another mans good bearings too.

No, in my experience, the SB66 bearings aren’t short lived. I’d get through main pivot bearings on my pitch in a couple of months.

As for customer service, its been nothing but great. Though it did help working in a shop when i did have any issues. Cracked a chainstay, replacement with me in two days.

SB66s are really rather excellent bikes. Bit much for just a “trail” bike though. Very much in the all mountain/enduro/mini dh bike category in my experience.

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/10229416

Hi dean, it will replace my current w’end trail bike which does gets put thro its paces on all natural stuff. It will get washed after every ride and kept in the garage, so it will be drying off there? Will doing this add to the bearings needing changing sooner??
I’m used to riding a zesty which in fairness doesn’t need much maintanence and I’m not sure how u could look after bearings as I’ve never had to,
Thanks Jim

Bearings lasted about 6 months but perhaps I wasn’t very bearing friendly with the hose. Like I say if the main Switch pivot is properly sealed then it shouldn’t really be a problem.
If you want zero bearing hassle get a Turner. If that’s not your bag then don’t worry about it.

Bump, any other 66 owners out there with their experiences??

I’ve only just got my (used) frame so can’t comment on any longevity issues. What I can say though, is that it’s a great bike

I’ve had mine (aluminium) since release and not noticed any bearing problems. I admit, I’ve also not stripped it down to have a look, I’m a little bit scared. But it’s been great.

I’ve got my third set of bearings to go in after the winter, along with a new switch. I didn’t seat the bearings properly & now it creaks a bit. My fault. Bearings are disposable I suppose.
Still an awesome bike, & I recommend the Pikes.

Had mine a few months, no problems so far, it’s awesome compared to the Spesh FSR it replaced.

Silverfish seem good, mine was missing a stoper bolt for the Switch and they had one to me in 2 days FoC. Can’t say fairer than that.

Cheers guys, did u all get the replacement bearings free under warranty? And the fitting of them?

I’ve got an alu 2012 frame. It is now at the point where it needs a good service, although i think it’s the shock bushings rather than the pivot bearings.

As has been mentioned above, judging bearing wear is pretty subjective, but I’ve had no problems. It tends to be the bike of choice for weekends away, so between rides it gets left in the garage for weeks on end.

Riding wise, its done a week in PDS, a week in Molini, 4 rounds of the this year’s UKGE series, regular days at Aston Hill, uplift at the FOD and Cwmcarn as well as plenty of wet welsh trail centre rides. It’s been dunked in rivers to clean it, and not-very-carefully jetwashed a couple of times when the mud had properly dried on.

It’s an awesome frame, and i’d have the carbon like a shot. The climbing traction is excellent, but it is very much in the AM/Mini DH category though, and it really shows when you ride it fast in the rough stuff, where it’s very composed.

It takes some time to get the shock right. Mine has an RP23, which I found was really blowing through the travel on drops, which is best remedied with a plastic spacer that fits in the air can. I’m running a medium spacer in and it only pushes the ‘O’ ring off on bigger drops/flatter landings. the travel now has a great ‘bottomless’ feel about it.

I wouldn’t expect to warranty a set of year old bearings.

If you’ve noticed no issues with bearings on your lapierre, you’re not going to notice any issues on the SB66.

Generally, if you’re the sort of person who regularly strips down their bike to check the bearings, you are going to find the odd issue. If you go looking for it, you’re going to find it, no matter what bike it is.

“Bliss in ignorance” applies.

Bearings are the same as suspension servicing to me, they slowly degrade over time in a manner that you don’t notice, they carry on carrying out their job just fine, no issues and will happily do so. It’s when you service them you notice how bad things got because things get instantly a lot better.

When were the bearings last checked on your lapierre? When was your suspension last serviced? I guarantee if you got them done, it would be like having a new bike. Id put money on atleast some bearings needing replacing even if it feels ok as it is.

Just cos the embed didnt work last time.

Hi dean, don’t usually keep my bikes for more than a year, so never had to think about stuff like bearings etc and my zestys have been brill on bearing front and on the suspension too.

On mtbr ppl were saying they were needing bearings changed about 3 times a year and that their customer service was pants, so that’s obviously really bad if that’s the case.

Nice bike btw

Dean, that is really nice. Even got proper tyres on for my sort of riding!

Dean – that looks very nice. Are they Pikes on the front? What’s the weight of the whole bike?