2012 XTR 26" wheels with wheel bearing wear and hub failures

[Warwick]

Yes this high end 'race bike' is 4 years old, but I bought this bike from a friend a few months ago, and I know just how little use it's had.

It's done so few k's it's still not even halfway through its first set of Racing Ralph's, yet apparently the bearings have worn badly

and taken the hubs with them. Unbelievably poor design and bloody annoying.

Anyone have any suggestions how or who to improvise and repair the hubs/bearings?

 

[link1896]

The duckmeister is the man for this questions definitive answer. I believe xtr hubs steel race is pressed into the hub, if the balls have dinted the race it's game over, new hub time.

 

[spoozbucket]

If they aren't adjusted correctly the seals won't work properly and crap gets in killing the bearings.

The XTR was supposed to be quite reliable, the XT, not so much.

 

[Flow-Rider]

Front and Rear hubs at the same time ? That's a bit strange.

 

[redbruce]

Front and Rear hubs at the same time ? That's a bit strange.

Yep. Pointing the hose at them will do it and/or poor adjustment..

My old touring wheels had over 30,000k on XTR (circa early 90's) hubs with regular maintenance (went through a few rims though - rim brakes).

The hardening on the cups (front wheel) eventually wore through. I removed the cup hoping to see a square machined bearing seat to fit a sealed bearing but its curved like the steel cup.

I replaced it with a Joytech sealed bearing hub which had to have the bearings done on a more regular basis than the XTR.

 

[The Duckmeister]

The duckmeister is the man for this questions definitive answer. I believe xtr hubs steel race is pressed into the hub, if the balls have dinted the race it's game over, new hub time.

Yup. Cups are not replaceable. One they're stuffed it's new hub time.

Cup-&-cone hubs are great, but do need to be looked after properly. If the bearings aren't adjusted and there's a bit of play, they'll pretty quickly get smashed to bits bouncing around the trails. But if they're properly maintained, they will last years.

 

[Warwick]

Thanks for the knowledge guys. Under 2000 km's is a piss-off, but there you go. I suspect the damage was done before I bought it : I should have serviced them, but didn't suspect it would be necessary so early.
On other bikes I am running 3 sets of Crossmax, and the things are unkillable and unbendable. Yes the freehub bushes wear, but they are easy to service/replace (10 mins), and when the wear gets too bad you can rebuild the hub/freehub assembly with a non-gen kit that removes the slop once and for all. Yet, these things seem to be quite out of fashion?
What can I buy for $7-$800 that's gonna be suitable for a fairly gentle non-big -jumping XC rider. Light, durable, tubeless and 26" ?

 

[tasty.dirt74]

What can I buy for $7-$800 that's gonna be suitable for a fairly gentle non-big -jumping XC rider. Light, durable, tubeless and 26" ?

I have a set of Crossmax SX wheels that are UST. Would part with them for less than $600.. PM me