Bearings keep our wheels rolling resistance free, our steering tubes turning smoothly and our suspension moving freely through its travel. Too often these are ignored leading to damaged frames, hubs and components. Bearings should be checked at the least once every year, depending on the conditions you ride in and the km`s you cover.
It is an expensive mistake to ignore the service life of your bearings
All prices listed do not include the cost of the bearings or components if worn or damaged
This service includes an inspection of all bearings and the frame, a service/refresh and a replacement of any bearing if required.
For example:
Headset
Hubs
Bottom Bracket
Shock Mounts
Price: €149
For bikes with cable routed through the headset - Brake bleed incl.
Price: €199
This service includes an inspection of all bearings and the frame, a service/refresh and a replacement of any bearing if required.
For example:
Headset
Frame Bearings
Suspension Pivot Bearings
Shock Mounts
Bottom Bracket
Hubs
Price: €249
For bikes with cable routed through the headset - Brake bleed incl.
Price: €299
Please contact me at info@borubikeworks.com or +34641133463 if you cannot find an answer to your question.
This is really dependent on the conditions you ride in and the amount of km´s you do, but bearings need to be inspected for a service at least once every year. This way, if a bearing is worn or seized, it can be changed before it begins to cause irreversible damage to the frame.
Your wheel bearings should be inspected and serviced regularly, especially if you do a lot of kms or spend every weekend in the bikepark or running laps on your local trails. Most hubs on wheels will contain 4 bearings, two within the hub and two within the drive system. These are not expensive to buy, but require some specialist tools to service and change them.
As you can imagine, ignoring these bearings adds resistance to your effort when you pedal.
Your pedal crank arms rotate inside the bottom bracket of your bike via a series of bearings usually contained within a metal or plastic shell. I group these bearings with your wheels, as one needs to rotate smoothly for the other to rotate smoothly. Therefore the same service advice applies to your bottom bracket as to your wheels.
Bearings have an inner and outer piece. The inner rotates within the outer piece, allowing movement of the component attached to the bearing. When the bearing seizes the component will probably still move under force, but in two different ways:
1. It will cause the entire bearing to rotate inside its housing. With the outer piece now also rotating , it starts to carve out the housing until the bearing itself is loose and it may cause some cracks to form in the frame.
2. The component itself will rotate instead of the seized bearing, and the bearing will wear down the component until it becomes loose and needs to be replaced.
Both these cause severe damage and if you reach this point, it can be very expensive.
A lot of the time they wont make a noise and sometimes you wont feel play from a worn bearing. But this does not mean the bearing is not dry of grease, worn or even seized. Water and degreasers can enter a bearing from washing the bike and remove the grease or deteriorate it. Also, grit and grime can build up and chew away at the bearing, its seals or the frame while riding if the bike is not properly cleaned & maintained after use. For these reasons you should check your bearings and frame at least once a year or after any busy season of riding.
This involves an inspection of each bearing and its housing within the frame or pivot. More often than not, it is more economical at this point to change the bearing.
Sometimes the bearing can be refreshed with new grease. This depends on the age of the bearing and the type of bearing you have, but most bikes that come into me for this service have never had the bearings serviced so they require a replacement.
As with anything on a modern bicycle, you have different price ranges depending on your budget and type of bicycle. A single bearing ranges from €10 to €30, depending on the size of the bearing. For most mountain bikes, you can buy full bearing kits which include every bearing you need and these range from between €100 - €250. This largely depends on the amount of bearings your bike requires and the type.
On the other hand, for road/gravel or hardtails you will require less bearings since your frame has no suspension, so it can range from €50 to €150.
Then you have the high-end bearings. These can be expensive but have a much longer lifespan, some brands claim zero maintenance and they come with lifetime warranties.
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