Ricardo

Guys,

Last week I was looking for a new bike and liked a Kona Blast at my LBS. The salesman said that it doesn't have sealed bearings like my old GT. What are the pros and cons of having those bearings? Are there any maintenance issues I should be aware of?

All inputs highly appreciated.

Cheers,

Ricardo

alcahueteria

I would say they just aren't going to take as much abuse or if you give it the same amount of abuse they will just take maintenance more often.

nodnerb

A good local bike shop should replace anything you want at a minimal if any cost as they sell the other headset as new anyway. You can get a decent sealed for ~$40 and up even if you want to upgrade it yourself. I think it's more of just a maintenace issue and a sealed should stay perfectly clean and resist moisture and dirt.

d_D

The lbs bloke is probably getting cartridge bearings confused with sealed bearings. All but the lowest end mtbs will use sealed bearings.

Any part that does not have sealed bearings isn't likely to last long as dirt and water will easily contaminate the bearing causing lots of wear.

Ricardo

Is a Kona Blast a "lower end" bike?

Thanks for the info,

Ricardo

Peek the Geek

I definitely wouldn't call the Blast a lower end bike. Maybe lower middle, but for recreational riding (including offroad XC-style riding) the Blast will be a great bike. Lower end bikes in the Kona lineup would be the Lanai, Hahanna, Fire Mountain. Those are all still great bikes compared to what you'd find at walmart and such.

As far as cartridge (higher end) vs. sealed/adjustable (lower end), both are goind to eventually fill up with grit and lose performance. The cartridge bearings will take longer to do so, but you'll have to replace the entire headset/hub/bottom bracket unit when they do. The sealed/adjustable bearings will get dirty faster, but you just have to overhaul them (clean the bearings and races and repack with fresh grease) and they'll be good as new.