ceramicspeed bearing maintenance

[Delorre]

Guys, this weekend I removed the encaps + seals from my wheel bearings (roval clx 32 equiped with CS bearings). Especially the front don't spin well at all and feels a little gritty. The plan was to completely flush the bearings with brake cleaner and re-grease. Thing is, there seems to be a plastic 'cover' between the seals and the balls themselves. Those are not fully covered, so degreasing should not be a real problem, but re-greaseing seems a lot harder. Have you also already encountered such plastic cover? And it's only at the front. At the rear, the balls are exposed as usual. Front looks a little like the bearings on the left:



So completelty degrease or not? Or will the new grease find it's way without problem if used enough?

[atakaoka]

Degrease and lube with light Oil.

[Ironbarista]

The cover you see is actually the ball retainer.

[Delorre]

Degrease and lube with light Oil.

Maybe good for dry climates, but here in Europe, winters (and even the other seasons) are fairly wet, so I doubt that oil is the way to go. I don't want to this every few weeks...

[kode54]

The cover you see is actually the ball retainer.

yup. use Ceramic Speed grease on the opposing side after cleaning.

[kavitator]

Are you sure problem is in bearing itself and not with hub- bearing too tight in place (i have some wheels Roval with that problem)

[Delorre]

Are you sure problem is in bearing itself and not with hub- bearing too tight in place (i have some wheels Roval with that problem)

It could be, but that will be clear once the bearings are free of any grease and contimination. If still way too stiff and/or gritty, I'll ask the Spec concept store where I bought the wheels to have a look at it. The rear axle is also more smooth and free than the front

[kavitator]

Almost new and front bearing spin very hard (on stand with tire wheel spins around 20s than stop)

[Delorre]

Almost new and front bearing spin very hard (on stand with tire wheel spins around 20s than stop)

I get between 30 and 40 sec with front Roval (+/- 4000 miles), front Bora spins almost 10 minutes

[kavitator]

I they put CeramicSpeed in hubs then must spin like there is no friction

I think many front Rovals has this fault - but you notice only if you try rotate axle itself. With trough axle it is haredr than with standard quick release

If you dont know it doesnt hurt

[blind76]

Are you sure problem is in bearing itself and not with hub- bearing too tight in place (i have some wheels Roval with that problem)

How did you pull out the bearings from front hub?

I have some grinding in front wheel...

Vanja

[cloud9blue]

I will be frank. Ditch these “ceramic” bearings and get some high quality steel bearings from NTN with proper non contact seals.


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[TonyM]

I will be frank. Ditch these “ceramic” bearings and get some high quality steel bearings from NTN with proper non contact seals.


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What is a “non contact seal”?

[cloud9blue]

I will be frank. Ditch these “ceramic” bearings and get some high quality steel bearings from NTN with proper non contact seals.


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What is a “non contact seal”?

A relative quick but comprehensive read:
https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-c ... icle-2.pdf

If you want to go full nerd on bearing, give this a try:
https://ntnamericas.com/wp-content/uplo ... 3E_Web.pdf