Front Wheel Bearing Options

I knew it!

 

I know a bunch of guys that run All Balls and swear by them. Thats good enough for me. A bearing is too important to cheap out on.

But thats my personal thoughts....

 

Exactly. RB Tech built a new factory in the 90's that's ISO9001 certified iirc.

 

I was going to type out a long response, but this is easier;

Barden Literature Page

Look under the "Tutorials" section. "Bearing In Mind" and "Why Bearings Fail" are worth reading.

Essentially, an inexpensive ball bearing is inexpensive for a reason. The dimensions of a bearing might be close enough for it to fit, but the world of ball bearings has a lot of "gotcha's". Some are obvious, some are not.

If I was repairing a hub on a garden tractor, I would pick inexpensive. On a high-speed high-load two wheeled vehicle where things can go terribly wrong if one wheel bearing fails, I'd go for the Honda part, simply because Honda has already determined what ABEC class of bearing and what type of grease is suitable to the application.

 

TOO much worrying and not enough riding going on around here.

 

quality post

 

Anybody know what the ABEC rating is on the OEM bearings? If it's higher than aftermarket bearings that may explain your premature failure ideas. Even then, it's a game of tolerances and not necessarily metallurgy in chemical make up sense.

 

I've found this thread interesting so far. It may be alot like a "best oil filter" thread in some sense. I think it is important to question the quality of a product but there should be some kind of data to back things up. I commend soundmaster31 for questioning the "norm" and easy answer. It would be interesting to get some data on how many miles people have ridden without a failure for some of the different bearing brands. I would think there are also some bearings that out perform the "stock" honda bearings as well.

The automotive world has stock OEM bearings, replacement (OEM equivalent) aftermarket bearings and even High Performance upgraded bearings (which sometimes are the same or cheaper than stock OEM bearings).

Does anyone out there have aftermarket bearings installed? If so, what brand and how well have they held up (how many miles)? I bought my vfr used but for those of you that bought a new vfr, how many miles have you ridden with no failure? Just a thought of how to get some real world data....

 

This is not an answer,but if we can find it them it may help. A few months ago I was reading an article in a motorcycle magazine about someone setting a national speed record on a new Kawasaki zx-250. The article talked a little about high speed
wheel bearing drag and how they replaced the OEM bearings with some special bearings that significantly reduced drag. I dont know what the longevity of these special bearings are but possibly it could lead to something interesting. eddie

 

The very interesting thing about precision ball bearings is that the higher ABEC ratings (7 & 9), although they are stupid expensive and rated for extremely high RPM use and very precise rotational consistency, may not a good choice for daily "wear and tear". Precision bearings need precision loads. A rotating wheel/tire assembly is fairly unbalanced, and all of the bumps and bashes they incur transmit all of their shock loading to the bearings before it gets passed on to the shock absorbing components further upstream, for lack of a better way to put it.

Like all mechanical designs, bearings are a compromise. Machine tool spindles, jet turbine engine rotational assemblies and the like are relatively easy to design because the loads are comparably easy to predict. Motor vehicles, on the other hand, are a complete clusterf*ck with regard to what they have to live through on a daily basis.

Sorry, gang. End of lecture. I relinquish the soapbox...

 

The best real -world test would be to install one new OEM and one cheap chinese crap bearing on the same front axle then ride 20,000 miles, and measure actual wear......

Another thing to consider is that my local industrial bearing supplier offered me Chinese wheel bearings at $6.50 each while his OEM-equavalent KOYO bearing was priced at $14......has the adage "you get what you pay for" been suspended ???

what ever happened to the anti-communist fervor so ingrained in the American character in the 50s and 60s ???

 

...chinese in the stem

...OEM on the axle - for me

It just seems $20 more for piece of mind of something that turns millions of times and could fail and kill you.

 

If one bearing froze up or failed, it wouldn't stop the axle from rotating... I don't see why you guys are so scared of a failure and think that they are so deadly if one bearing fails.

 

I got some cheaper (Chinese it turns out) when I bought the bearings for the front wheel on my 5th gen. We shall see how they turn out, but IMO $14 for a simple bearing is ridiculous,

FWIW the front wheel bearing is not a high speed bearing application as the wheel really doesn't spin at what are considered high speeds by industry standards, figure the wheel rotates at about 880 rpm at 60mph. Hardly high speed.

 

I'm certainly not intending to stir the pot here... Although the possibility of a catastrophic failure leading to the wheel locking up is slight, imagine being halfway through a corner in wet conditions and grabbing a handful of front brake...

It may not be probable, but it is most certainly possible. And even putting that situation aside, Murphy would suggest that if a bearing is going to self destruct, it will be at the worst time, worst place, and under the worst conditions. Just my two cents (which is worth even less than that at today's prices... :smile

 

That is hardly the best way to differentiate between the quality of two different manufacturer's bearings.
1) Even with a matched set (two OEM bearings) it is quite common for one bearing to fail before the other shows any significant wear.
2) You are not considering other factors such as unseen damage during installation, seal failure, etc..
3)You are not testing a large enough quantity. Testing one bearing does not give sufficient results to determine the overall quality or suitability for the application. For this test to have any meaning at all you would need to do it on at least a handful of bikes.



I don't think the Honda prices are too high, especially considering you know you are getting a properly spec'd high quality bearing. I certainly wouldn't be afraid to try an equivalent Timken/Koyo/NTN/BCA from my local bearing supply house, but they sometimes are not any cheaper than OEM.

FWIW, The Timken Company, one of the world's largest providers of aerospace and automotive bearings has been manufacturing in China since 1992. I suspect some of the Japanese companies do as well. China does not always = crap.

 

Wheel bearing

I fund this tread becouse front wheel bearing, on my 02 VFR, just gave up on my way home tonight. How about just over 20000KM (12-13000 Mls) on OEM bearing? I assume original (I'm not the first owner). Now I wonder what might be the reason (I've had few bikes with higher mls inc. Honda and it never happaned to me). I looked on the rim and I think one waight (ballance) was missing. Out of ballance and to much constance vibration? Hills and valleys (wayves) on the tire? Who knows, but 12000mls on OEM bearing does not seam to impresive to me...

 

I believe that was the Ninja 250, and it was one of the big name mags, Cycle World or Motorcyclist. They were racing a lime green version and I believe it said they replaced them with a ceramic model bearing and replaced the muffler.

 

How are you guys installing your new bearings? I think mine may need replacing, but I dont have any of the special tools needed. Is there a trick to getting them in without the tools?