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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
