I'm a bit perturbed folks. My bike is 15 months old but has done less than 1000 miles. I was getting a noise which I narrowed down to the front wheel so took it to my local bike shop. Their verdict is that the bearings are shot and the hub surfaces rusty. They've cleaned it up as best they can and fitted new bearings. But what bothers me is the short lifespan of the hub and the rust. Am I expecting too much? I have never had this happen on any of my previous bikes on which I did many thousands of miles both winter and summer.
Secteur Elite
- Thread starter Nanook
- Start date
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When I got my Secteur Elite I had the same problem though I seemed to have caught it before any damage. What I noticed that there was hardly any grease in the hubs. Certainly not enough to protect and stop water ingress into the bearings. So now when I get some new wheels or new bike one of the first things I do is take the hubs apart and pack with grease.
I like Skol
A Minging Manc...
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- Sunny Ashton-under-Lyne
^^^This
I too fell victim to this with my GT road bike, noticed the front hub (a generic budget compromise non groupset matching item) was feeling a bit tight and rough while the wheel was off the bike (I always twiddle the axle when I have a wheel out of the bike). Opened up the hub to find it was too tight and not very well greased as Ian also suggests. The wheel had probably only done around 200 miles at this point but the cones were starting to get pitted. Luckily it wasn't very bad and I greased and set the bearings correctly and it has been fine since. In fact I had the wheel off today for a tyre change and checked this hub and it is silky smooth.
This doesn't help you unfortunately, but knowing cheap hubs are nearly always set too tight from the factory would have allowed you to do some preventative maintenance and saved the hub from being unnecessarily ruined.
It might be worth getting in touch with the bike supplier because this wheel was clearly not shipped/supplied in a fit state and has not lasted a reasonable time so should arguably be replaced under sales of goods 'merchantable quality' rules?