something really stupid that reduces your power/MPG

[G-Superior]

My bike as been really heavy to pedal
At first I thought it was just me getting lazy but this morning when i got bored looking at it i dicided to check the wheel bearings and you probably know what was wrong!
NO LUBE!
Now after lots of cleaning to the old grease that is more like dried glue(cheap quality stuff!) and lots of REAL* quality wheel bearing grease my bike fells more like a Honda Gold Wing!!!
So here is a little summary:
Take 30 mins to lube your bearings so safe yourself lots of energy and time!(and fuel if you have an engine on it) AND even if your bike is fairly new it still is worth doing(my was full of sand grains!)
REAL* my friend used to go to china to buy engines and he told me that to make things cheaper chinese factories would put burned oil and other nasty thing in the bearings, gear boxes, and everything else they could stick in to reduce cost!
Good luck with yours

 

[motorpsycho]

well, that's just plain old common sense and preventative maintanace.

 

[G-Superior]

the bike was nearly new(got it 3 months ago) I think someone in the factory didnt put much grease on it or they probably are not alowed to put much to reduce cost

 

[motor_head]

i usually re grease all the bearing on my regular bike every year i will be doing it more often with my motorized bike since it will get many more miles

 

[cabinfever1977]

My new bike came with plenty of grease.

 

[Esteban]

Some of the new cheap bikes will not have more than a teaspoon of grease in the entire bike. They are CHEAP for a reason.

 

[G-Superior]

the problem is not always not enougt, the problem is its quality ands also where do you ride it
If you ride on a sandy/beach area you will probably have to clean them up and put some fresh grease because they are not sealed
i can probably fit a quality sealed bering in my bike . im going to try that as soon as i can get it apart again

 

[retromike3]

t0 grease or not, and how much

The thing I do is when I grease my bearings is really put in a lot of grease. so much that when you spin the axles it oozes out. Then you wipe the excess off with a rag and the remaining grease acts as a seal keeping the bearings fairly clean.

Mike Frye

 

[Lazieboy]

Hey. Has anyone had bearings in forks have issues. all i had was wd-40 worked for a while. do i just need grease. to lazy to take apart and look at them but they are feeln stiff.

 

[DougC]

My bike as been really heavy to pedal
At first I thought it was just me getting lazy but this morning when i got bored looking at it i dicided to check the wheel bearings and you probably know what was wrong!
NO LUBE!
Now after lots of cleaning to the old grease that is more like dried glue(cheap quality stuff!) and lots of REAL* quality wheel bearing grease my bike fells more like a Honda Gold Wing!!! ......

Your bearings are already well on their way to the trashcan, running with dry grease. Check them before every ride, they'll probably go completely very soon.

You can tell this has happened when you lift the bike wheel off the ground and spin the wheel freely; if you hear any rumbling or klunking as the wheel spins, then the bearings are ruined,,,,, even if they still seem to spin well.

The deterioration is slow, then very fast.
Bearing failure can result in seized bearings, twisting the axle out of the frame while riding.... a big nasty crash.
~