Someone mentioned that I should grease the wheel bearings on my new bike before I take it for a ride (it has been sitting in someone's garage for 5 years).

How do I do that correctly? Is it a painful process or pretty easy?

 

jack it up. you can even do it with a car floor jack and a small plank of wood to go in between the frame rails.

uncsrew the axle bolt, slide it out, make sure you keep the spacers in the right order, slide the chain/belt adjusters back and you can slip the chain off the spokes and the belt off the pulley

then you just clean the axle and the parts that it slides through, thoroughly apply lots and lots of grease to every part, and inside the wheel hub getting into the bearings if they are not sealed. then reinstall everything and wipe the excess grease and lower the bike off the jack

i do it once a month to all my bikes becuase i put lots of milage, they wear faster than you think so it pays to do it more often.

edit

the hardest part of the job is getting some one to hold the wheel up while you slide the axle out, and getting them to hold it up again so you can line everything up to slide the axle back in


other than that, its just really messy more than anything

 

what year is your bike... you may have sealed bearings... if not... well put Joe!

 

That is absolute overkill. Just grease 'em every tire change.

 

overkill for someone who drives only on the weekends


perfectly normal for someone who puts 1k a month, sometimes 1k a week on their bike.

besides im tired of waiting until something breaks, I inspect everything now every chance i get to catch problems before they happen on the road

 

I average 1200 miles a month and pack at each tire change, about 15,000 miles. The key to doing it right is to use a bearing packer to ensure there is no air pockets left in the bearing. A packer like this is well worth the money IMO.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...0070921x00003a

 

Yeah, one of my bikes is over 30 years old and still has the original bearings. Checking them every tire change is all you need to do. The grease will stay there along time unless you wash it out, especially with a pressure washer or car wash.

 

My bike is a 2002. Do I have sealed bearings?

 

Yes and they will last a veerrry long time.

 

So basically, I shouldn't bother doing this at all to my bike yet.

Thanks for the info guys.