Front wheel bearing - replaced

[mattye]

Hi all,

Just had to have a front wheel bearing replaced and wondered if anyone else has had any issues with wheel bearings.
My bike is a 2010 with 18,700 miles on and I ride all the year round. Even so seems a bit early for wheel bearing problems.

Cheers

[Richard]

Hi

New to bikes, but if I had to replace a wheel bearing on my car before 80,000 miles I would be disapointed 

[SirToU]

Mattye, 18,000 miles is about right for the GTR.   Average is 20k.

Not a hard job to do.

Neil

[Martin#30]

Yep, my 2010 needed the front bearings replacing at the 28k service. I had not noticed any symptoms, but the tyre fitter showed me how shot they were at 27k when he replaced the boots. I too was a bit disappointed at the time, but it was not huge money to replace them.

Martin

[Boomer]

Car wheel bearings are huge and don't suffer from being grit blasted like bike wheel bearings do.
The rears on my 98 Honda Legend were replaced at 140k miles. The fronts are still the OEMs at 160k miles.
Considering its a 3.5 litre V6 front wheel drive car that ain't bad,..... but the bearings are HUGE!

The fronts on the 1400 can last to 25k miles. The rears should do 50k miles.
That said, my GTR1000 has much bigger front wheel bearings than the 1400 and they last over 50k.
I think the obsession with reducing unsprung weight has resulted in wimpy undersized bearings being fitted to many new bikes.

[1ka]

I'm on my fourth set of front wheel bearings after 28K.    Just had the rear ones replaced too.

[Richard]

I'm on my fourth set of front wheel bearings after 28K.    Just had the rear ones replaced too.

  thats terrible

[Rusty]

Blimey Richard .. 4 sets after 28K 

What on earth are you doing to the poor bike ?? 

[Boomer]

Are they fitting the dust seals correctly?
I bought the Wemoto front wheel kit and fitted them at around 27k miles.
http://www.wemoto.com/bikes/kawasaki/gtr_1400_zg_1400_a8f_a9f/08-09/picture/front_wheel_bearing_kit_with_dust_seals/
They are still going strong.
Rear bearings are still the OEMs but I do have a set on the shelf ready for when I get the wheels powdercoated.

[SirToU]

+1 Boomer

Riding style has a lot to do with it.....  And if you think I'm being harsh, I've done Motogymkhana on my GTR, extreme braking, acceleration, unplanned wheelies, using the ABS, scraping the pegs both sides.......  I don't have that sort of usage, that includes two up. 

Neil

[1ka]

I doubt it's riding style, I rode the FJR1300 on the same roads, same speeds and don't recall having to replace either the front bearings or discs and that did 60K miles!

It's probably some aerodynamic design issue that causes the front wheel to collect crud.  After a week of riding it is unbelievably mucky, full of grit and road  .  I suspect the bearing seals are not man enough to stop the infiltration of grit and that acts like a grinding paste.  The FJR just collected brake dust and a little bit of crap.

[SirToU]

Actually, IMHO, dust seals are. Waste of time :-)

The nature of he hollow wheels, means dust and crud go through the hole in the hub...... The dust seals then hold the dirt inside the seal..... If you don't believe me, take thE dust seal out and tell me there isn't small stones in there. :-(

Over time, riding style will have a bearing (excuse the pun) on ANY wear that happens on a vehicle, whether its paint rubbed of a frame through your boot, wear on the bar ends, or tyres / brake pads, if you don't think so, please let me understand why?  Humans are not mechanical beasts and every single one of us do things slightly differently to get the same result!  Whether its speaking or riding a bike!  It's the beauty of the human race. :-)

Neil

[dokterdave]

These are my front wheel bearings, replaced a few years ago.
The clean bearing was ok and was fitted to the left side.
The dirty bearing was fitted to the right side. It is my belief that the dirt was pushed in by jet washing the bike.

Bucket and sponge is now the norm.

[Burchy]

REckon sealed bearings is the way to ge next time, then

[Richard]

REckon sealed bearings is the way to ge next time, then

I think they are sealed bearings, picture shows them with the bearing seals removed (red) and the outer seals (black)

Pressure washing would explain it

Richard