Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Wheel Bearing Service Bicycle Repair Tutorial


bike bearing

Learn to lubricate and setup your cup and cone wheel bearings. Keep your DIY recumbent bike running like clockwork. This tutorial includes 45 high resolution photos and 9 high definition videos.

Although most of your bicycle pedaling efforts will be thrown to the wind (literally), some of your energy will be eating up by friction from moving parts such as bearings, chain links, and even the compression of the tires on the road. Bearing friction does not account for much of your power loss as long as your bearings are in good working order and properly lubricated. This basic tutorial will show you how to remove, clean, reinstall, and then set the clearance on your bicycle hub bearings for optimal performance. Here, I will be using a 20 inch BMX from wheel with a 14mm axle, but this tutorial can be applied to any front or rear bicycle wheel that uses the very common cone and cup style bearings.
Figure 2
The term cone and cup refers to a type of bicycle hub that has a set of ball bearings sandwiched between a cup that is built into the hub shell and a cone shaped nut that is threaded onto the axle. Basically, the cone and cup are the bearing races that the balls ride on. With the exception of some seriously beefy mountain bike hubs that include large diameter hollow axles, most bicycles will have a cone and cup style bearing system. It is easy to identify this type of hub by looking for a locking nut sitting on top of another nut that has only two flat sections as shown in this photo. The nut with the flat sides is the cone nut, and it reaches below the sealing cap you can see and into the hub to connect with the ball bearings.
Figure 3
To disassemble a cone and cup wheel, you only need two wrenches, but one of them is a special kind of wrench specifically designed to remove bicycle cone nuts. This wrench is of course called, a cone wrench! As you can see in this photo comparing the cone wrench along with a crescent wrench, from the top, it looks similar to a box wrench. The crescent wrench will be used on the locking nut, and the cone wrench will be used to grip the flat sections of the cone nut it was designed to fit. There are several sized of bicycle cone nuts, and for the wheel I am working with, I needed a 19mm cone wrench.
- See more at: http://www.atomiczombie.com/Tutorial%20-%20Wheel%20Bearing%20Service%20-%20Page%201.aspx#sthash.iBJFJUxt.dpuf
Although most of your bicycle pedaling efforts will be thrown to the wind (literally), some of your energy will be eating up by friction from moving parts such as bearings, chain links, and even the compression of the tires on the road. Bearing friction does not account for much of your power loss as long as your bearings are in good working order and properly lubricated. This basic tutorial will show you how to remove, clean, reinstall, and then set the clearance on your bicycle hub bearings for optimal performance. Here, I will be using a 20 inch BMX from wheel with a 14mm axle, but this tutorial can be applied to any front or rear bicycle wheel that uses the very common cone and cup style bearings.
Figure 2
The term cone and cup refers to a type of bicycle hub that has a set of ball bearings sandwiched between a cup that is built into the hub shell and a cone shaped nut that is threaded onto the axle. Basically, the cone and cup are the bearing races that the balls ride on. With the exception of some seriously beefy mountain bike hubs that include large diameter hollow axles, most bicycles will have a cone and cup style bearing system. It is easy to identify this type of hub by looking for a locking nut sitting on top of another nut that has only two flat sections as shown in this photo. The nut with the flat sides is the cone nut, and it reaches below the sealing cap you can see and into the hub to connect with the ball bearings.
Figure 3
To disassemble a cone and cup wheel, you only need two wrenches, but one of them is a special kind of wrench specifically designed to remove bicycle cone nuts. This wrench is of course called, a cone wrench! As you can see in this photo comparing the cone wrench along with a crescent wrench, from the top, it looks similar to a box wrench. The crescent wrench will be used on the locking nut, and the cone wrench will be used to grip the flat sections of the cone nut it was designed to fit. There are several sized of bicycle cone nuts, and for the wheel I am working with, I needed a 19mm cone wrench.
- See more at: http://www.atomiczombie.com/Tutorial%20-%20Wheel%20Bearing%20Service%20-%20Page%201.aspx#sthash.iBJFJUxt.dpuf

Although most of your bicycle pedaling efforts will be thrown to the wind (literally), some of your energy will be eating up by friction from moving parts such as bearings, chain links, and even the compression of the tires on the road. Bearing friction does not account for much of your power loss as long as your bearings are in good working order and properly lubricated. This basic tutorial will show you how to remove, clean, reinstall, and then set the clearance on your bicycle hub bearings for optimal performance. Here, I will be using a 20 inch BMX from wheel with a 14mm axle, but this tutorial can be applied to any front or rear bicycle wheel that uses the very common cone and cup style bearings.


typical bicycle bearing


The term "cone and cup" refers to a type of bicycle hub that has a set of ball bearings sandwiched between a cup that is built into the hub shell and a cone shaped nut that is threaded onto the axle. Basically, the cone and cup are the bearing races that the balls ride on. With the exception of some seriously beefy mountain bike hubs that include large diameter hollow axles, most bicycles will have a cone and cup style bearing system. It is easy to identify this type of hub by looking for a locking nut sitting on top of another nut that has only two flat sections as shown in this photo. The nut with the flat sides is the cone nut, and it reaches below the sealing cap you can see and into the hub to connect with the ball bearings.


wrenches to disassemble bearing


To disassemble a cone and cup wheel, you only need two wrenches, but one of them is a special kind of wrench specifically designed to remove bicycle cone nuts. This wrench is, of course, called, a cone wrench! As you can see in this photo comparing the cone wrench along with a crescent wrench, from the top, it looks similar to a box wrench. The crescent wrench will be used on the locking nut, and the cone wrench will be used to grip the flat sections of the cone nut it was designed to fit. There are several sized of bicycle cone nuts, and for the wheel I am working with, I needed a 19mm cone wrench.

bike plans