| Author | Message | ||
     Gobadgers |
This photo is of my 2010 Uly rear rim. In changing the tire I check the bearings and notice there is a bit of a pronounced ridge on one side between the bearing and the inner axle area, while on the other side it is smooth. The below picture from the angle may look a bit exaggerated but there is definitely a ridge to touch. Is there any concern with this? I do not notice anything while riding the bike, yet imagine that the wheel might turn slightly out of true.  | ||
| Hughlysses |
I think you're looking at the inner spacer, a metal tube which fits between the bearings on each side of the wheel. That tube is somewhat free to move with the wheel off the bike, but the axle will push it into alignment when you install it on the bike. If the wheel were actually that wonky, I'm pretty sure it would have self-destructed in the first few miles of riding. It sounds like you've had it on the bike for a while. | ||
| Griffmeister |
You should be able to notice if the wheel were out of true. Even lacking a dial indicator, if you mount the wheel on the bike and tape a piece of wire to the swing arm so that it just touches the outside of the rim, you could spin the wheel and check out of round. If you do that, I'm sure you'll see that the wheel is okay. Could just be the difference between the rough casting and the final machining process. | ||
| Griffmeister |
Edit that last post. The picture was a little out of focus, I though that was without bearings looking down the bore. Now I see it, time for new glasses. Yeah, most probably the spacer, no issue. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Yup, that supports the inner race. You don't have to worry about that unless it is gone.  | ||
| Gobadgers |
Ah, thanks. You are right as the inner spacer is in there that could be somewhat free to move a bit and would account for that. The bearings were fine so I did not remove them and I should have remembered from diagrams the spacer. Brain lapse. The wheel felt true and takes little weight to balance, yet that ridge bothered me. Thanks again. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Until I pulled apart a motorcycle wheel and looked inside one, and really thought about the what kinds of loads are safe for a ball bearing, I had no idea how clever people had to be to make the whole thing work. It's actually a simple and elegant solution to a really complicated problem, and not at all obvious until you understand the limitations of a ball and race bearing. As evidenced by the rear wheel bearing failures on the Uly, which I don't think are related to bearing "happy path" capacities, and instead are related to spacer issues. So a really deep topic actually. | ||
| Xbimmer |
That's a front wheel, I believe. My front wheel spacer moves around when unloaded, rear does not. My front wheel is also machined slightly off center, at the hub, for the bearings, though it is in spec at the rim. The hub is visibly cast off center. I attribute that to awesome Chinese quality control in the manufacturing process. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Never even thought to look at that Xbimmer, but I suppose it makes sense. Its the bearing to rim tolerance that matters, not the bearing to inner hub. But seriously, you are going to all the trouble to cast a motorcycle wheel, take the effort to keep it from being visibly off center. |
