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How do heat/cold cycles affect bearing lifetime? |
I ask this because I had owned a bicycle that I used on a daily basis. I stored it outside part of the day while at classes on campus, and then stored it inside my apartment at night. Both my front wheel bearing and my rear wheel bearing failed (the shafts would get loose inside the outer cylinder). Now, this was an el-cheapo Huffy bicycle with crappy parts, but will heating/cooling bearings reduce the lifetime further? It seems to make sense to me that expansion/contraction could be stressful, but I want to be sure. I hope that my newer, much better quality, bike will not suffer this problem. Forget about expansion/contraction stresses. For a bike, this is minimal. Look more at the thermal shock. It's the same thing for car engines, frying pans, etc. Every time you heat up metal and then let it cool off, the thermal shock is like hitting the metal with a sledge hammer. I don't think you have to worry too much about it, I ride a lot, too - I change my bearings with every maybe 5 years of use - when I think about it. But I use Campy bearings - very high quality. If your on a Huffy, I'd change those every year. They are much softer. I completely strip my bike down every year to regrease it. All bearings - headset, axles, cranks, brakes, derailleurs, etc. Moisture will degrade the grease - use Phil Wood water resistant grease and oil for medium to heavy duty use. I use Campy white grease, but if you are riding under harse conditions I wouldn't recommend it. It's not as water resistant. Good answer, above. May I add that you not use oil in the bearings, only grease. Bike bearings are rather light duty, but must be clean, installed properly and then protected. Weather temperature variations will cause insignificant expansions because the lengths are small and the metals are nearly identical. |
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