jrickards

30ish years ago, I regreased the bearings in my 10-speed's bottom bracket and since the one race was broken, I pulled the bearings out of the other race, added an extra bearing or two, added the grease and sealed it up again. (Did the same thing to both sides.) No problems.

Edit: the above may not be clear. The side with the broken race, I took the bearings out of the race, cleaned them, added one or two more to the lot and packed them loose. Did the same thing to the other side. (Better? LOL)

I've just been reading Sheldon Brown's article on regreasing axles and I've learned that the new bearings I added may have been out of tolerance with the others so "slap my wrist". However, it worked and it was only a cheap bike so who really cares. Now, I have a better bike (albeit, 15yrs old, new to me though) and I was recommended to regrease the axles since the bike was sitting for most of the 15yrs in a garage.

Should I keep the race or should I buy new sets of bearings and pack them loose? I haven't opened the axle yet so I don't even know if there is a race (late '80s Bianchi Strada LX).

I guess I should buy a book on bike mechanics (the Zen or Zinn one was recommended once).

Any suggestions to get me started would be good. I know that I should buy a set of cone wrenches, Phil Wood's grease, and Citrasolv (rags, Qtips, etc).

demoncyclist

You should have replaced the balls in the bb with all new, and should do the same with the hubs. You do NOT need Phil's grease- a tub of bearing grease from the auto parts section of any major chain store will be fine (the stuff i have is the same color as Phil's but cost a few dollars).

cny-bikeman

The bearing "race" often means the cup of the bearing, and in the case of a bottom bracket whether to replace them is determined by inspection, whereas the cups in hubs are rarely replaceable. Bottom bracket and headset bearing balls somethimes come in cages that make assembly easier - if that is what you are discussing there are differering opinions. You can replace the entire cage, pop the balls out and replace them with new ones, or clean the balls and reuse them. I always replace balls, and would never recommend reusing balls unless they have a mirror finish, and certainly would never mix old and new - false economy. As for cages vs. loose, many cages have fewer balls than if you use loose balls (11 1/4" in the case of the BB). Some would argue that the greater count gives longer, smoother service.

jrickards

Yes, cage is what I'm referring to, I thought it was called a race. I had to do something with the old bike because the cage was broken so I either needed to get a replacement or did as I did, repack them loose.

Yes, I know now that I should have used all new balls but I didn't then. Like I said, it was an old cheap bike and mixed bearings may have been the least of its defects. (About a year later, it was stolen so the bearings became someone else's problem).

OK, I have a weekend project for me. I'll start with the front axle.

sternforprez

If the bike is 15 years old and has been sitting for most of that 15 years I wouldn't replace anything at all. I'd just clean thoroughly and re-grease any of the moving parts. It does sound like the races you speak of are the rings or cages the ball bearings are held in such as on headsets and bottom brackets. If so, just take them out, douse them in WD-40 or charcoal lighter fluid (naptha), wipe them clean, and regrease. Save your time and money replacing things until you know you need to.

cny-bikeman

The above advice does not make logical or mechanical sense.

• It's a bike, not a car that has grease fittings that you just shove grease into until the bearing fails.
• There is no reason to give blanket advice for the entire bike when each part has it's own history of wear, adjustment and contamination.
• "Dousing" the cages without thorough cleaning or replacement, as well as inspection of the bearing surfaces, is simply a waste of time. One is better off not touching the bearings at all if the job is not going to be done properly.
• No, one does not necessarily have to overhaul everything because a bike has been sitting 15 years, but the odds are high that something is needed from the time it was ridden.

The correct approach is to do an overall check of the bike to determine whether there is anything that indicates it's not worth fixing. It's best to have an experienced hand do so - nothing wrong with getting a detailed evaluation/estimate at a shop. If you want things itemized do not be surprised if there is a nominal charge if you are not going to have work done. If it's worth fixing (meaning under $100 for everything, in my opinion) then it's best to start with brakes (for safety) and shift system (because it will very likely need attention after that long). The bearings are not going to be harmed by riding a few more miles, but at some point you need to check each one for smoothness, dirt, etc. Then overhaul as each one's condition indicates.

sternforprez

Nope. Read the original post. The OP said the bike is 15 years old and has been sitting in a garage for most of that 15 years. Let's not pretend there is more to this than there is. A good cleaning and re-greasing is all that needs to be done - for now. As the bike is ridden and things start to wear, then do whatever is necessary. While we all love our bikes, things just don't wear out by sitting in a garage - or even riding them for a few hundred miles.

Oh, and the "dousing" is part of the cleaning to get rid of the old grease. They will likely shine like new and can then be re-greased. Liberal amounts of whatever degreaser does magical work.

jrickards

I have taken it on a couple of 5km rides and it generally seems to be fine. Yes, the brakes did need work: they needed adjustment and the pads needed replacing (both jobs done) and the shifting needed adjustment (mostly done, the rear derailleur needs a bit more playing with). Someone suggested that perhaps with the time spent in the garage (a bit of rust buildup) that the grease may have dried out and needs replacing(of course, I heard that after the couple of rides) so that is why I am considering the effort.

cycle_maven

Yeah, regreasing everything can't hurt. I'd do the hubs and headset as well, while you got it on the stand and your tub-o-grease open.

sternforprez

Based on what you've done and/or will do, just clean the wheel hubs and re-grease, clean the BB and re-grease, and maybe clean and re-grease the headset. Rust build-up, if any, is not wear. Dried grease, if any, is not wear. Just clean 'er up and go.

cny-bikeman

Have no idea what "Nope" means, but I did read the post, and there's a discrepancy. Late 80's Bianchi = 25 years old, not 15. MOST of 25 years still means several years of riding.

Neither you nor I nor the owner know what needs to be done right now. Of course things don't wear in a garage, but neither do they improve, and we don't know the condition when it was stored. I did not say one had to do everything, but rather that it's wise to get a sense of the bike and then prioritize. Saying one can just clean out grease and reassemble is pretending you've done something, and dousing does not well describe what needs to be done. I stand by what I said - it's not useful to overhaul a bearing without inspecting the parts

Again, either leave the bearings alone or do them properly, meaning inspect for wear and replace parts as necessary. Cleaning and shoving in fresh grease is not an overhaul but rather make-do, and the OP will have to invest in tools to pull the cranks, and adjust the BB bearing, plus the tools required for the hubs. Brakes and shift systems on the other hand can be done with general tools he probably has on hand or can easily borrow.

cny-bikeman

Perhaps you are already doing so, but it's best to follow proper procedures for derailleur adjustment - the first order of business being to confirm proper cable operation, because the free movement of the derailleur depends on it. You will learn little by "playing" with the derailleur. Trial and error without thought just leads to a lot more error than necessary.

The grease may be dried out, rust is a separate issue from the bearings - if they are actually rusted inside they may be gone, but that's fairly rare.

I recommend just doing an online search for what you want to know about, and then check the Parktool and Sheldonbrown results first. If you develop a preference for one of them you can just Google something like overhaul rear hub sheldon. If you get stuck Bikeforums is always a good resource, but until you get your hands and mind engaged on the bike it's better to get the tutorial first and the finer points (here) afterward. Videos are helpful for seeing the actual procedure being done, but be careful as many leave out important steps or info, and some just plain use incorrect procedures.

Bill Kapaun

New bearings are $1-2 per axle/spindle.
Why bother taking the time to clean & inspect them. You still might miss something.

sternforprez

I stand corrected. A 25 yr old bike garaged for the past 15 years is certainly different than a 15 year old bike garaged for 15 years. Maybe Bill Kapaun has it right - just replace the stuff and be done with it.

gyozadude

FWIW, I just serviced an old first gen "hybrid" from the late 80's and the BB was a tiny bit loose last Friday in prep for this week's Bike-to-Work-Day in the Bay Area. Not a fancy bike and clearly, the BB spindle had a very irregular wear-groove on the bearings, but the owner thought, what the heck, let's change the bearings. I had some old caged units, but no matching spindles that the owner wanted because they all looked cheap and rough. But I had a 127.5mm el cheapo Taiwanese sealed cartridge unit for $12. It was a no brainer. We swapped out the unit, and put in the $12 BB. Done and silky smooth. The guy came and told me that the bike rides like it's night and day. I just smiled because I personally couldn't really tell the big diff in resistance. In fact, I thought the loose BB with traditional caged bearings was easier to turn. The spindle might have had elliptical bearing grooves worn onto the cone portion, but it wasn't like it was pitted. But they guy insists now that his bike rides awesome. Who am I to argue? And for $10 more than a set of decent caged bearings and an old spindle, the new cartridge BB seems to have made one happy customer (even thought this was a pure volunteer thing I did at the company in prep for the BtWD which was yesterday).

cny-bikeman

Even at most of 15 years you can't assume what is needed or not. Bill is referring to the bearing balls, not necessarily everything. My advice still stands.

jrickards

LOL, yeah, my math was wrong.

dddd

As highly loaded as hub and bb bearings are, there is a considerable amount of compressive elasticity going on.

So I wouldn't worry about tolerance differences in different batches of high-quality 1/4" ball bearings.

Lightly loaded bearings at very high rotation speeds would be another matter.

And I think the smoothness of minimum GR25 balls is perhaps much more important.