Question about dodgy wheel bearings

[Yellow Saddle]

Which of course is the one part that I might not have lubed! I'll whip the freehub back off tomorrow and sort that out.

Vesconite - I'd never heard of that before. Interesting material!

Tenacious oil ... would chainsaw oil be TOO tenacious? I have lots of that sitting around doing nothing!

Yes, it is wonderful stuff. I used to make all sorts of bushes out of it.

I used hypoid oil on the Mavic freewheels we worked on and it gave a satisfactory service life but I see @Glbalti say Mavic has now put spiral grooves into the hub nose and recommends a light oil. I won't argue with that, having been out of the game now for 12 months and not having seen the new design.

However, I think more frequent servicing is far more important than what oil goes in there.

Once the nose is worn down, you're in trouble. Mavic will say it is the end of the wheel's service life. However, we used to make an undersize bush from Vesconite to replace the worn, oversize one, which fitted the smaller nose. Sometimes the nose wouldn't wear evenly and that never had a good ending.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Cuyt cut cut cut
The nearest explanation I can offer is the horrible dry screech you get if you rotate a ground glass stopper in a chemical bottle or a decanter.

So Mavic owners need to strip the freehub off every six months, which is a simple job, then clean everything up and re-lube with light oil.

That's a nice description, I can picture it perfectly. I never owned Mavic wheels and hated them for a multitude of reasons, but my customers used to describe the noise as a wolf howl. Having never ridden a bike whilst it does that, it didn't occur to me that it could set up a vibration as Colin described. I learn something new every day.

 

[Globalti]

It would be interesting to take a howling wheel and remove the rubber seal then ride it again to see if the noise comes from that or from the free hub running dry on the boss.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

It would be interesting to take a howling wheel and remove the rubber seal then ride it again to see if the noise comes from that or from the free hub running dry on the boss.

Good call. Colin, here's homework for you. Tomorrow morning. First thing. Don't duff it.

 

[ColinJ]

Hmm, I would be annoyed if the hub IS worn out since it has done under 10,000 miles! Mind you, It has been somewhat neglected so perhaps I should take the blame ...

If I get away with it then I will put a note in my diary to fettle the hub again in August.

I might nip out later and do a short test ride up one of the big local hills and back. A fast 5 mile descent will be a good test!

 

[zacklaws]

If you've done 10,000 miles out of a Mavic rear wheel Colin, thats excellent, I normally get mine replaced under warranty at 2600 miles and 168 hours of riding, my last one went at just over 6000 miles and I'm on my 5th now in just over two years. If mine lasted 10'000 miles, I'd rip the spokes out and jump through the rim in excitement.

 

[User6179]

If mine lasted 10'000 miles, I'd rip the spokes out and jump through the rim in excitement.

So would I ! my box of mavic wheels

 

[Yellow Saddle]

If you've done 10,000 miles out of a Mavic rear wheel Colin, thats excellent, I normally get mine replaced under warranty at 2600 miles and 168 hours of riding, my last one went at just over 6000 miles and I'm on my 5th now in just over two years. If mine lasted 10'000 miles, I'd rip the spokes out and jump through the rim in excitement.

Mavic will save you the effort of ripping the spokes out because at 10 000 miles on a Ksyrium or similar, most spokes are already ripped out. These wheels perpetrated by the French are really not very good.

 

[User6179]

Mavic will save you the effort of ripping the spokes out because at 10 000 miles on a Ksyrium or similar, most spokes are already ripped out. These wheels perpetrated by the French are really not very good.

They are probably not that bad , just to many heavy weights like myself think 20 spokes is a good idea for to hold 20 stone

 

[ColinJ]

Thinking about it, my mate's Ksyriums ended up with cracks round the spoke eyelets!

I haven't actually examined the rims on my Aksiums for cracks ... For half of those 10,000 miles I weighed 15-16 stone so they got a good workout!

(I'll check them before my next ride.)

 

[zacklaws]

Its why all mine get replaced, the spokes rip out or the rim cracks, or as on my last one, both the plastic hub cracked and the rim cracked, and your same weight as me colin.

 

[ColinJ]

Its why all mine get replaced, the spokes rip out or the rim cracks, or as on my last one, both the plastic hub cracked and the rim cracked, and your same weight as me colin.

Same weight then or same weight now? I am currently about 12 st 5 lbs.

I just checked the rims - no cracks anywhere (so far!) and plenty of wear left on the braking surfaces. I'll check the plastic of the hubs next time I look at the bike.

No test ride yet, but I am planning a very hilly 100 km ride before the end of Feb, so I will soon find out if the fettling did the trick!

I think I will have to start being a bit more proactive with my bike maintenance. I tend to wait until there is a problem and then fix it, but that obviously isn't the best way to go about things. I wrecked the cones on my Campagnolo Protons by not looking after the hubs. (Which reminds me - I would like to see if I can get those sorted and put them on my Cannondale. If I did that then the Khamsins from that bike would become spare wheels for the Basso, for when the Aksiums finally die. Either that or use the Khamsins most of the year and keep the Aksiums for the winter?)

 

[zacklaws]

I'm 223.6lbs, can never work out all the Stones, pounds and ounces malarkey out.

The cracks can be very hard to spot sometimes and miss when their new and small, just scratch tight around the spoke and see if your nail snags, once you spot one, it becomes easier.

Trouble with Mavic's when it comes to servicing is, they do not tell you that they need lubing after 6 months heavy use which is nothing really when it comes to servicing so it is easily overlooked. We can talk about all our mavic woes on "Spring in the Dales" as its coming round quick and if your doing it.

 

[ColinJ]

I am down to the low 170s in pounds now so hopefully less likely to break bike parts, not that I have broken many apart from a front mech and a couple of cranks.

Subject to good health, I will definitely doing SITD, but praying for less windy conditions than last year!