A few months ago, I attempted to clean out the bearings as they felt quite gritty inside when spinning by hand. This ended in disaster, the bearings inside were absolutely tiny! And they were encased in some sort of fragile plastic (SRAM AXS Rival factory wheels). End result was having to buy a set of new jockey wheels. Now that’s it’s time to clean again, I don’t want the result to be the same as last time.
I’m wondering if these bearings I have are even supposed to be serviced, given how difficult they were to take apart last time, if that’s the case though, surely they should not have grit ingress?
by Dionlewis123
4 Comments
https://youtube.com/@Bikespeeds?si=HQo8uaAQmBVlO5vl
It’s the dudes favorite part of cleaning every single time.
It looks like you have sealed bearings. They are well protected from the elements. To service them you can clean the surface with a damp rag and maybe add a bit of surface grease before you add the cover.
Removing the seal to clean them with degreaser and new grease tends to do more harm than good.
If the bearings feel rough, you can buy new ones and replace them.
Acetone and compressed air. I ride em dirty though
Those bearings are sealed. Unless you are extremely skilled, trying to service them will only make them worse.