randplaty

I am new to cycling and I've been riding a 1984 Miyata 1000 to work everyday for the last two months. I've been reading more about bicycle maintenance and I've learned that bikes need their hubs and bottom brackets overhauled every once in awhile.

Seeing as I got my bike two months ago and i have no idea the history or miles on it before then, do I need to overhaul the bottom bracket and hubs? The hubs are suntour sealed with qr. I've read in some places that sealed hubs do not need to be overhauled. Does this apply to my hubs?

Thanks for all your help!

miamijim

No, it does not. Dis-assemble them like any other hub with the exception of pulling out the bearings. Use a very small device to 'flip' out the bearing seal, thoroughly clean the bearings, regrease, press the seal back on and re-assemble.

Bheleu

I've always regreased the hubs, not touched my bottom bracket yet... need to find a good cheap tool I can use on them first.

Chombi

For sealed bearing hubs, make sure that you do not end up applying side loads to the bearing when you install the wheel back on the bike with the skewers. I always try to give the bearings a very very small amount of side play allowance between the bearing cartriges and the axle lock nuts so that the compressive clamping force that the skewer applies does not transfer on to the sealed bearings as side loads that can damage them.

Chombi
84 Peugeot PSV

ricohman

Depends on the sealed hub. I have sealed hubs that use cartridge bearing (that I still re-grease) and sealed hub that have loose ball bearings.
Take them apart and have look.

JunkYardBike

+1 My '83 Centurion Pro Tour came with Suntour hubs labeled 'Sealed Bearing Hub' and they are a cartridge bearing design. Just be careful if you decide to have an LBS change the cartridge they don't crack the hub body with the wrong size cartridge.

They look like this, with an aluminum locknut secured against the cartridge:

Charles Wahl

There is a difference between "sealed bearing" and "cartridge bearing" hubs.

The former may have fancier seal technology than traditional ball + cone hubs (o-rings, or molded rubber), but they still have balls that are loose and can be replaced (the part that wears out fastest). Next to wear is cones, typically, and then the "fixed" races built into the hubs. These bearings are adjusted like the traditional type, with cones threaded onto the axle, and locknuts that hold the adjustment.

Cartridge bearings may be serviceable to some extent, as miamijim recommends; but the individual parts are not replaceable. While they may, in fact, have the best technical seals, when the bearing goes, the whole cartridge (race, cone and balls) has to be replaced. These also differ from cone + ball bearings in that the adjustment is mainly built into the cartridge assembly, and only (somewhat sophisticated) side-loading is "adjustable."

The terminology is somewhat vague -- as JunkYardBike's example shows: cartridge-bearing hubs that were marketed as "sealed bearing."

randplaty

Yup, those hubs look like the ones on my Miyata. They have the exact same sticker. So are you saying these hubs are cartridge hubs? Seems like others are saying that the bearings are not cartridge bearing hubs but just have some sort of seal on them.

JunkYardBike

Do yours have the 4-notched aluminum locknuts (most clearly pictured in the foreground hub) which sit flush against outside of the hub flange?

If they are indeed the cartridge hubs, and they feel smooth, leave them alone. I attempted the DIY cartridge removal and it wasn't pretty. Also, if the aluminum locknuts are seized, they could be easily damaged without the proper tool.

See here: https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/240487-questions-about-suntour-cartridge-bearing-hubs.html

Maybe you can see the silver alloy locknut more clearly in this photo:

randplaty

yes my hubs have those 4 notches ... I'll take a picture of them when I get home just to make sure we're talking about the same thing.

miamijim

You are. They can be serviced without removing the bearing cartridge from the shell.