JeanCoutu

So I setup my bike all nice like, with a new wider range freewheel, but the chain was too short in the big rind/big cog sombination and I figured I'd be smart enough to not use such extreme cross chaining... Long story short a few days later I bent the frame and the axle pretty bad, the cone got mangled also, the wheel's bearings that were just right got a bit of play in them. Since I have acces to frame and dropout aligning tools I've repaired all these things, but the hub's DS bearing race has a crack that goes pretty much all around it. That can't be good. However the new (salvaged) axle and cone spin evenly in it and if I didn't know there was a crack there then I really couldn't guess there was anything wrong at all with this wheel, it runs smooth, even, and quiet. Last time I rode on a wheel that had a crack in the bearing race it ended up locking up hard after a bb broke a cap off it and wedged into another bb, but that one rolled pretty rough. Prospects for longevity of this one? Spokes and rim seem A1, really don't wanna lace them into a new used hub tho.

Garthr

There is no point in riding it. I assume the bearing races are not replaceable and the crack is in the hub itself, yes? Cracks don't repair themselves.

As you say ..... that can't be good. Trust your instinct. Take a deep breath over the loss..... but time for a new hub. A better one!

HillRider

I wish this quote could be added to every posting asking if making a chain long enough to cover big-big is important.

JohnDThompson 

You're probably right, but the OP didn't mention what type of hubs he's using. The old Campy "Record" hubs, for example, had replaceable races. They're hard to find separately these days, but if you have a donor hub you can pull them out of the donor and use those. It's often cheaper and easier than buying/building a new wheel, in any case.

JeanCoutu

Well, I would argue the point in riding it would be to get around, since that's what I use this bike for. I'm most likely gonna ride it until **** happens, for now it's flawless.

It's some cheap hub that fits a freewheel, bolt on axle. The wheel it's built in is better then wall mart grade, but still very basic. I'd guesstimate lower end of what would have come out of a bike shop ten to fifteen years ago. ****ty part in this story is, I'd been collecting leftover bits of HG-40 chain from new chain installs at work in order to make me a new one for free for this bike, and I'd almost gotten there when this happened.