Hey guys,
How often are you servicing the hubs on your road bikes? Do you do it yourself or send to the shop? I live in a dry climate so my bike doesn’t see a lot of rain. But I’m hearing of people doing it every six-twelve months? It’s never really crossed my mind until now.
When it wobbles excessively
Does just buying new wheels count?
Never.
Brake track is worn out first and it is new wheels for me.
Are you talking about bearings or freehub (pawls, etc.)? I clean/lube the freehub maybe once per year, but I ride a bunch. It’s normally just a part of checking over and servicing my bike about a month before any big event. I typically won’t service bearings until they start to feel a little rough, but I might just do all the bearings on a wheelset if one is feeling bad. Particularly on race wheels were I don’t want a failure. Bearings are reasonably cheap and not rocket science to install. But can be a bit more challenging than other DIY stuff. Requires pressing/knocking out old and pressing in new. And on DT swiss rear, there is a lockring to get access to the inner bearing that might have been the toughest fastener I’ve ever dealt with (but it eventually succumbed to my wrath).
I guess this? Not sure if I’m supposed to grease it or not. Have never done it. What about the front wheel?
For most modern wheels, they use sealed cartridge bearings that are meant to be replaced rather than serviced. Some people try to pull the seals out and service/grease those bearings, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Bearings are pretty cheap, I wouldn’t go to the trouble of removing a bearing without replacing it with a new one. Lot’s of good content on youtube for DIY bike service, definitely worth spending some time watching to see if things are in your comfort zone before you jump.
Thanks. Spent a bunch of time on YT struggled to find what I was looking for. Thanks. Will try and find something on freehubs. I do all other basic maintenance. Just never thought about the wheels.
I bought the DT Swiss wheel bearing tools (for their hubs) about 5 years ago. Still haven’t used them, still have the bike I would need to replace bearings on, but that’s just a backup, and have 4 years on the new bike’s DT Swiss hubs.
Search for your hub brand and maintenance on youtube, or check the hub manufacturer’s website to see if they have maintenance instructions.
I’ve ridden mavic wheelsets that cracked in the run by the spoke nippy before the bearings wore out. I also had a DT Swiss that the bearing did wear out, but after several thousand miles. I wouldn’t worry too much about it unless you’re like a 99th percentile user
+1
I ride ~10,000 miles a year with lots of climbing. 99% dry weather but am on the coast. Not sure where that puts me.
I usually don’t service them much, but I have a DT Swiss 240 hub custom built wheelset and I used the higher tooth count ratchet inserts, and they were skipping like an 8 year-old playing hopscotch. Sounds like a perfect excuse to service that hub. I think I have a stock ratchet kit somewhere in the drivetrain box.
That was a surprise too, it was skipping a whole 2 revs occasionally. Spooky. Too much grease, or too much weight?
It also depends on what type of riding you’re doing. I’ve got some zipp 404’s with DT swiss 240 hubs that have over 40k miles on them with original bearings. And I ride them in the rain all the time. But I’ve had bearings on DTswiss MTB hubs fail around 20k miles (but used in nasty/muddy conditions more frequently).
I assume you are talking about the 54 tooth high engagement ratchet? Almost certainly a result of too much grease. And that 54 tooth ratchet is sensitive to the type of grease used, I only use the pink DT swiss stuff on those.
Thanks for your reply. For sure the pink stuff, Official DT grease, and thought I didn’t put enough in the last time, so still have to tear that hub down. It could be interesting, what I find. They were in my Big Ride hubs, figured they might run better (and be used more often) in my ‘gravel wheelset’. It’s going to be a sloppy weekend, so perfect time to tear into that hub. I’m hoping it’s not a broken spring. I’ve heard of that happening too, (but would think it would be far less usable than it was). It’s probably an 8 to 10 year set.
I’ve yet to service my Dura-Ace cup and cone hubs. They’re about 7 years old now and I just keep putting it off.
Worth at least checking from time to time. Believe it or not, this was a road bike! The axle had loosened allowing a small gap behind the green, I got it in too fix when it would no longer drive the wheel..,.
Twice a year, which is once every 6000-8000 miles or so. That’s outdoor miles and a reasonable mix of wet. I serviced my Shimano hub cup and cone bearings today.
I’d neglected the rear hub for two years and this is what a neglected hub looks like. Two balls dropped out when I removed the axle, but you can see it’s not going to spin / roll that great looking like thst. The cup is what the balls are sitting in, in this photo.
You can see I’d left it so long the drive side cone got pitted. Sourced a smooth cone from an old wheel whose hub was still okay. The cup was fine as it’s the last thing to go and needs even worse maintenance gaps.
Then you can see hub with new ball bearings and grease after I’d cleaned it up.
Even grade 10 bearings are only 15p (UK). So new balls plus grease costs no more than £6 covering both wheels. Then the wheel is restored to spinning good as (or better than) new.
In terms of time to service yourself you are looking at about 45 mins total per wheel if you’re being methodical not rushing.
I was under the impression that newer bikes have closed bearings. Am I wrong?
