Wheel bearing replacement: how much at LBS roughly? Easy to d-i-y?

[beanzontoast]

Some advice on wheel bearings please.

I'm considering booking my secondhand road bike in to have the front and rear wheel bearings replaced and repacked with grease, as they are running a bit noisily and need sorting. Roughly how much do you think this should cost at a LBS?

If I decided to do it myself (I have the cone spanners etc., but not a lot of time unfortunately), presumably I'd need to buy a new set of bearings for each wheel. Are these a standard size? How many would I need? What would be the right sort of grease to pack them?

 

[numbnuts]

Have a look at this it is very easy to do
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help

 

[accountantpete]

New bearings will cost £3-£5 and £15 labour - so approx £20 assuming you have cup and cones.

You could do the job yourself reasonably easily.

One problem is if the hub races are worn - then you are looking at new wheels.

 

[Moodyman]

£1.50 for two sets of rear wheel bearings from my local LBS. No fancy packaging though, served in a small paper sweetbag.

 

[Tom B]

One problem is if the hub races are worn - then you are looking at new wheels.

New hubs surely?

 

[Moodyman]

New hubs surely?

Yes, but most cyclises don't have the knowhow to transfer existing spokes and rim to a new hub, so the next solution is to buy a new wheel.

 

[beanzontoast]

Yes, but most cyclises don't have the knowhow to transfer existing spokes and rim to a new hub, so the next solution is to buy a new wheel.

Yes - certainly true of me I have never rebuilt a wheel and am guessing it would take me a while and probably not lead to a happy result!

 

[youngoldbloke]

Just bought enough (+) ball bearings for front and rear wheels on ebay - £3.38, then you'll need grease. Reckon both wheels for <£4? - as long as you have cone spanners to fit, etc. already

 

[Smokin Joe]

Yes - certainly true of me I have never rebuilt a wheel and am guessing it would take me a while and probably not lead to a happy result!

Try it and you might surprise yourself.

 

[Tim Hall]

New bearings will cost £3-£5 and £15 labour - so approx £20 assuming you have cup and cones.

You could do the job yourself reasonably easily.

One problem is if the hub races are worn - then you are looking at new wheels.

Don't Campag hubs (or some Campag hubs) feature replaceable bearing cups? But in general, yes, stuffed bearing cup/race means new hub time.

 

[tadpole]

It's worth spending a little bit extra on the ball bearings, standard grade 100 (cheap) ball bearing are made from the same Chinese cheese steel as washing up sinks, and water boilers. where as the slightly most expensive grade 10 ball bearings are actually made from bearing grade chromium steel, they are also better made, machined to a higher spec, and likely to be more accurately finished as well.

 

[Cyclopathic]

New hubs surely?

Really depends how good the rest of the wheel is. If the spokes are old and corrodes into the nipples and hard or impossible to adjust and the rim is old then new wheels is the way to go.