# Saturday night maintenance



## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

As most of you have probably heard, we are in our 42nd day of rain. Tonight I intended to give everything a wipedown and check the rims for water. So far so good on the bottom bracket, way to go Phil, great product. When I tried to turn the back wheel, it mostly made a crunchy sound. I cracked open a beer and commenced disassembly of the rear hub. It is never a good sign when water runs out of the bearings. The non drive side was ok, but the drive side was completely rusted and full of water. My rear hub is a 10 speed ultegra with loose ball bearings. They all fell out when I pulled the axle. By pure dumb luck I had a set of campy non-drive side 1/4" bearings in my toolbox. They fit the drive side of the ultegra hub. Once I had it all together, the drive side was much smoother. Got some new wheels today, Roval is back. Here are some shots of those. I also included a shot of my bike on the park workstand showing how I get the fendered commuter on it. 
BTW, cracked another Salsa rim. I think my next back wheel will have a mavic 719 rim.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

*Weather is a funny thing.*



bigbill said:


> As most of you have probably heard, we are in our 42nd day of rain. .


We have pretty much gone more than a month without rain. It was so wet for the last year that a dry month is not all that big of a deal-yet.

It must be the global warming.

No, it is the return of an Ice Age.

Nuclear Winter?

Ah, the heck with it.....it must be Dick and Georges fault! ;-)

MB1
Not making the mistake of confusing weather with climate.


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## Gripped (Nov 27, 2002)

bigbill said:


> As most of you have probably heard, we are in our 42nd day of rain.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> My rear hub is a 10 speed ultegra with loose ball bearings.


I don't know about 10-speed Ultegra but the 9-speed hubs don't have seals as nice as the DA stuff. I like DA hubs for my wet weather riding and cyclocross racing and they have held up pretty well as long as I repack them every couple months.

If you don't recall, I'm in the Portland, OR area (actually Vancouver, WA).


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

Gripped said:


> I don't know about 10-speed Ultegra but the 9-speed hubs don't have seals as nice as the DA stuff. I like DA hubs for my wet weather riding and cyclocross racing and they have held up pretty well as long as I repack them every couple months.
> 
> If you don't recall, I'm in the Portland, OR area (actually Vancouver, WA).


The ultegra hubs have "seals" but they might as well not exist. I can't really slam the hubs that hard (although shimaNo bashing is fun), I don't think that any hub would have held up well in the weather we have had in the last month. I used to commute in the rain in the Pacific NW, but that was a constant light rain that kept everything wet, but was never really a deluge that produce streams and puddles on the street that were 6" or more deep. I rode several times in rain that was falling at >1" an hour. I should have checked the hubs sooner. The new Roval wheel set has sealed cartridge bearings and they will probably hold up better. They were designed as cyclocross wheels so I would imagine some engineering went into them. I will ride them tomorrow if the MUT continues to dry out.


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## Jesse D Smith (Jun 11, 2005)

How'd the front wheel and headset fair?


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

Jesse D Smith said:


> How'd the front wheel and headset fair?


The headset is fine. I use a FSA Pig downhill pro on the commuter so we aren't talking tight tolerance state of the art headset. It wasn't smooth out of the box. The front hub is still smooth, obviously the seals were ok back there. I think the front wheel parts the water and the rear soaks it up. 

The hubs on the new Roval Pave wheels are incredible. If you hold the front wheel by the axles and spin the wheel, you feel nothing, not even a resonance. The back wheel is just a little less smooth. I will ride them on Friday. The MUT still has a 100 foot section with 4" deep puddle that I cannot bypass. I don't want to break the new wheels in on that. The puddle should be gone by then.


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## bahueh (May 11, 2004)

*just a thought..*



bigbill said:


> As most of you have probably heard, we are in our 42nd day of rain. Tonight I intended to give everything a wipedown and check the rims for water. So far so good on the bottom bracket, way to go Phil, great product. When I tried to turn the back wheel, it mostly made a crunchy sound. I cracked open a beer and commenced disassembly of the rear hub. It is never a good sign when water runs out of the bearings. The non drive side was ok, but the drive side was completely rusted and full of water. My rear hub is a 10 speed ultegra with loose ball bearings. They all fell out when I pulled the axle. By pure dumb luck I had a set of campy non-drive side 1/4" bearings in my toolbox. They fit the drive side of the ultegra hub. Once I had it all together, the drive side was much smoother. Got some new wheels today, Roval is back. Here are some shots of those. I also included a shot of my bike on the park workstand showing how I get the fendered commuter on it.
> BTW, cracked another Salsa rim. I think my next back wheel will have a mavic 719 rim.



have you considered picking up some wheels with sealed / press fit bearings? your life will be easier...


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

bahueh said:


> have you considered picking up some wheels with sealed / press fit bearings? your life will be easier...


My new Roval wheelset has sealed cartridge bearings. As far as loose ball bearings, I like working on my own stuff and don't mind repacking hubs periodically. I think that the extreme conditions here in Hawaii in the last month are the main cause of the hub problem. If I was working with an unlimited budget, I would probably go with mavic 719 29" rims with Phil Wood hubs and 36 spoke.


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## PdxMark (Feb 3, 2004)

bigbill said:


> My new Roval wheelset has sealed cartridge bearings. As far as loose ball bearings, I like working on my own stuff and don't mind repacking hubs periodically. I think that the extreme conditions here in Hawaii in the last month are the main cause of the hub problem.


My Bianchi Pista has standard cartridge bearings in the Bianchi-brand hubs. I've burned through a couple of them during the past few years of commuting. Rather than spend $5-$10 a set at the local shop I bought a pack of 10 online for about $1.50 each. With a nice supply available I can just replace them as they go rather than wrestle into the bearing cartridge to clean/lube them. I probably have about 15 years worth of bearings...


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

PdxMark said:


> My Bianchi Pista has standard cartridge bearings in the Bianchi-brand hubs. I've burned through a couple of them during the past few years of commuting. Rather than spend $5-$10 a set at the local shop I bought a pack of 10 online for about $1.50 each. With a nice supply available I can just replace them as they go rather than wrestle into the bearing cartridge to clean/lube them. I probably have about 15 years worth of bearings...


I have to say that I really enjoy taking stuff apart and working on it. Taking my ultegra rear hub apart takes about 10 minutes max. It takes longer if you have to search the floor of the garage for the bearings. To replace a cartridge bearing wouldn't take much less time. I really enjoy the time I spend in my garage working on stuff, I turn on the radio, open a beer, and start wrenching.


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## YuriB (Mar 24, 2005)

bigbill said:


> BTW, cracked another Salsa rim. I think my next back wheel will have a mavic 719 rim.


I've got the 719s on my 29er - they're great.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

YuriB said:


> I've got the 719s on my 29er - they're great.


This thread has some legs, it may pass up my infamous "mormons" thread. I have a Fisher 292 mtb. It has some bontrager wheels with his brand rims and hubs although they look like DT swiss. I have renewed my Norba license to race this year, I look at the shape I am in now and remember when I was an expert. Now I am depressed, I think they have donuts in the other office.


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