Conference noted::bicycle

    	One of the latest issues of Bicycling contained an article
    	about grease.
    
    	Scott

	The best cleaner I've found is mineral spirits (paint thinner).
	It cleans all the gunk out quickly and evaporates fairly fast
	so there's no residue to thin the new grease.

	chris

    I recently repacked all the bearings on my Shogun 500 touring bike,
    using regular white lithium grease.  This seems to do an adequate
    job.  However, after reading the recent article in bicycling, I
    probably would have chosen a different grease if I had to do it
    over again.  
    
    The guy who runs Chelmsford cyclery carries a grease called Bull
    Shot.  He uses it in his own bikes.  He said that he tried using
    it on the bikes he services in the store, but got too many complaints
    remarks from people because of its dark color.  So he went back
    to regular white lithium.
    
    Because Bull Shot was formulated especially for bicicyle bearings,
    I will probably give it a try the next time I do the seasonal
    maintenance on the bikes.
    
    Regards,
    Denis

After 5000 relatively dry miles, I overhauled the rear hub of my Schwinn
Paramount last night.  It is an RX100 hubset with a conventional ball and
cone bearing assembly.  It was my first time disassembling a hub and I was
surprised at how easy it was to do myself, once I had the right tools.

Anyway, I soaked and cleaned everything really well with mineral spirits and
packed new bearings back in with white lithium grease.  After fiddling with
the cone tighness, I couldn't get the tension to where the axle would turn
smoothly between my fingers, but not have any side-to-side play in it.
The best I could get was a very little play, but the axle felt rough in a
couple spots while rotating through my fingers.  Before my overhaul, the
axle had little or no play at all and felt smoother than it does now.

My question is, is this normal and will it go away after a break-in period or
does it indicate a problem with the hub or my work on it?

NOTE: the roughness is slight and I doubt I'd notice it while riding.  The
weight of the valve stem rotates the wheel if I hold the axle with my fingers,
but it does stop at one or two rough spots.

Any ideas?  Do better quality hubs behave better in this respect?

-Buddy

    
    The easy guide to adjusting cones is to tighten them so that they just
    start to restrict the axle and then just very slightly ease back. As
    with most bike mechanics it's an experience thing to know when you have
    got it spot on. If you still have a couple of rough bits ease until the
    point where it no longer restricts. There will be *very* slight
    sideways movement. If you feel that it's ridiculously so, then I'd take
    it to bits again to make sure that all the ball bearings are set deep
    into the grease and that no dirt has got into it while you were
    assembling it. Also clean the inside of the hub where the spindle does
    through with spirits.
    
    Graham.

Greetings Cyclists,

I repair things for a living. When, as a trained professional, I have
viewed any of these ball-bearing/cone arrangements I shudder at the
thought of depending on them! It appears to me impossiable for them 
(any of them... wheel, bottom bracket or cassete) to be reliable. They 
cannot be sealed enough to prevent dust or dirt to score and eventually
ruin the races the ball bearings sit in. I have gone to Phil Woods on
my wheels and shimano bottom bracket sealed bearings. They are wonderful
and smooth. I'm really surprized they even bother making the ball bearing
cone arrangements anymore. It would seem much easier to buy the sealed 
bearings and less machining to the axles. 

Fred Mudgett

Well, I'm not ready to spend the bucks on a sealed bearing set, yet, but
thanks for the professional insight, I'll keep it in mind for my next
wheel purchase.

Thanks for the tips, Graham - most useful.

Last night, I overhauled my front hub and used plenty of grease this time -
much more than the rear.  I was able to adjust the cone were the axle
spins very easily and smoothly, while at the same time didn't have any
play in it.

I'm going to re-pack the rear hub and see if more grease will make a difference.
One point of interest is that I used new ball bearings for the rear, but I just
cleaned and re-used the front ones and the front came out much better.  I don't
know if this has anything to do with it or not.

-Buddy

    Just a thought: if the rear cones had been scored even slightly by the
    old ball bearings, they should probably be replaced at the same time.
    I've found that bearing races and ball bearings are as closely coupled
    as chain / freewheel combinations (if not more so).
    
    	/Harry

I disassembled my Shimano 105 front hub a few nights ago to clean and
repack it.  Now, I could have sworn I was most careful not to
lose a bearing - but - I ended up with 19 instead of the expected
20.  I went to Goodale's at lunch today to buy some spares (these
hubs are lightly used and I don't think I need new cones and bearings).
The mechanic who sold me the bearings was pretty fuzzy about how many
were used - he said, the rule is to put in as many as will fit and 
then take one out.

Is it possible that the hub, as it came from Shimano, had 10 balls
on one side and nine on the other?

Looking forward to repacking and adjusting tonight.

Andy

     Some people like to "fill" 'em up, while some maintain the
     traditional "space".
    
     I don't what the difference might be, personally.

    Maybe they're track hubs, set up to always turn left.
    
    ;-)

Andy,

>Is it possible that the hub, as it came from Shimano, had 10 balls
>on one side and nine on the other?

I did my RX100 front hub last week (very similar to 105 from what I've heard,
some people even say the only difference is the finish) and I know each side
had the same number of balls.  I can't remember if it was 10 or 11, but it was
more than 9.  I think the rear had 9 per side.

-Buddy

I must have lost one of the front bearings down the sink
or something.  I think I'd better keep my day job for the
time being.

I was more careful when I did the rear - nine per side,
with no obvious gap.  Ten in the front did leave a gap that
might have been large enough to accomodate an eleventh (I
didn't try).

On to the drivetrain!

Try using a magnet to get out the BB next time. It's easier then plucking 
them out with tweezers.


Dave

    
    	Mine had 9. For the minimum expense, I always replace them.

    
    Instaed of a magnet, put some grease at the end of a screwdriver and
    place the screwdriver on top of each bearing. The bearings stick to the
    grease and come out easily...
    
    Graham.

    And you don't have the `och its aweful' expense of buying a magnet :-)

    
    Oh dear. Mr.Widdowson trying to copy a Scottish accent...  Anyway, in
    Fife it's "Tchawhoor sir! Amno buying that!"  :*)
    
    Graham.

I just noticed something funny about my freewheel after I rebuilt the rear hub.
It no longer makes that clicking or ratcheting sound when coasting or
spinning the cogs backward on the hub.  It makes the bike pretty quiet, now -
I can sneak up on anybody I want, but I'm a little concerned about it.  Does
this sound like there's something wrong?  The drivetrain seems to work fine.

Something too tight?

Could I have damaged the freewheel internals by getting mineral spirits in
there?  I may have done this when I cleaned the splines on the hub where the
cassette slides on.

Should I be worried?

-Buddy