Hello,
I’ve run into a problem. I was checking the linkage on my mountain bike because it started making a slight noise. I don’t ride that many kilometers on the mountain bike (I mostly use my road and gravel bikes). The MTB is only for XC marathon races.
When I took the linkage apart to inspect the bearings, I noticed that they all need to be replaced (6x 6901RS bearings). That’s not an issue, but what did stand out is that there are spacers on the upper bearings, but none on the lower ones. The spacers from the top actually fit perfectly on the bottom too, considering the space between the triangle and the frame. However, those spacers weren’t installed, and the frame has been rubbing against the linkage.
In the photos it looks worse than it really is — the frame is barely scratched. Still, I’m glad I found out in time. It’s not great workmanship from whoever assembled it, but oh well, not much to do about it now. Luckily, I don’t ride it often and caught it early.
Now my question: what kind of spacers should I get to place between the bearings and the linkage? And can I use the same bearings on the lower side as on the top? They have exactly the same diameter, and in terms of clearance, everything fits well. It would, however, rest only on the inner race of the bearings — is that okay?
Info
1st picture: Bottom linkage bearing
2nd picture: Top linkage bearing plus the spacer
3rd picture: Bottom linkage bearing plus the spacer from the top
by Chest-Hot