I maintain my Sons Repsol 4rt & since moving up to National and road trials we are getting through wheel bearings at a Great rate, have used branded & cheap and had a dealer fit a set when changing a tyre makes no difference I even remove the dust covers and re-grease them. Obviously it is worse on the rear wheel. How long do everyone else's last please.

Not very long at all, best is about 3 months. I do tend to do single lap trials

Before you fit new bearings flip out the dust seals with a Stanley knife blade or similar and fill the voids with grease. Often water gets in corrodes the bearing which then fails.

Mattylad, already do that the rears lasted 3 S3 rounds.

 

Either they are cheap bearings or youre power washing water in. I actually find the fronts need changing more often on my gg. Mine last 6 months minimum.

Ive also seen dealers knock bearings in cold and by hitting the inner race...

Is your bearing spacer installed correctly?

Edited May 24, 20197 yr by faussy

Steve that NCB grease is well past its sell by date time to get the wallet out !!

Try using sealed bearings as they come. Poping out the seals can damage them.

High pressure water is number one enemy of greased items. Keep them out axle area.

Check spacer lenght. If they was smasched a bit. (For over tighten wheel nut) Bearings will be axial loaded.

Quality bearings used, don't pressure wash around bearings or other sensitive areas. All fitted correctly as I was a toolmaker prior to Pit fitter thanks for your comments think it's just the longer harder sections that's taking it's toll on them. My stock of NCB grease ran out a while back ?

So to put a different perspective on it. If you guys had ridden in Scotland you would have to change wheel bearings during the week? Wouldn't expect to (and generally didn't ) fit new bearings in a new bike for at least 12 months if it was ridden every week. Never owned a Honda but was always lead to believe reliability was their thing.

put some stainless bearings in, I fitted some last year after Dave Rowland trial and still as good as new.

ridden quite a few long trials over last 12 months so I can confirm they stand up to heavy use

everything gets hot pressure wash after every ride, even if water gets in no rust forms so no wear

if I remember correctly they cost me about £2 more each than standard bearings, I used to sometimes fit 2 sets a year so I am saving already!!!

Why not fit the bearings without packing them and see how they last .....

43 minutes ago, davy1 said:

put some stainless bearings in, I fitted some last year after Dave Rowland trial and still as good as new.

ridden quite a few long trials over last 12 months so I can confirm they stand up to heavy use

everything gets hot pressure wash after every ride, even if water gets in no rust forms so no wear

if I remember correctly they cost me about £2 more each than standard bearings, I used to sometimes fit 2 sets a year so I am saving already!!!

I favour SS food grade bearings too

You didn't actually mention the mode of failure of the wheel bearings on the 4RT. Without knowing why they failed it is hard to know how to make them last longer.

In my experience, trials bike wheel bearings last for many years.

https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/28664/dangers-of-overgreasing-

I am puzzled by this and have the same problem. I fitted new wheel bearings before going to Santigosa 3 day , then did 3 days of the SSDT opening the course before the first rider, didn't ride any sections.

The rear wheel bearings where shot when I got back home, I inspected one out of the batch of 10 I bought before fiting and there was plenty grease in the bearing so left the rest alone.

I've tried everything from £1 bearings to £15 genuine SKF and not seen any great variation in how long they last.

Might be age related but I don't think we used to change bearings this often 10 years ago. We have had the open hub design, where the bearing is exposed since the first watercooled Gassers I think?