Best Wheel Bearings

[SnowBandit]

I am looking to replace my wheel bearings while I have the rims off to replace the tires. Can someone let me know the best ones out there. Should I stick with OEM? What should I replace at the same time?


Thanks
Brian

[squiggy]

The only ones I know of and would trust are OEM and All Balls bearings.

[tone]

Timken bearings !
made to a tighter tolerance than stock, oe bearings on plenty of bikes, cars etc & a hell of a lot cheaper if bought from a bearing factors rather than from a bike shop

[Jax]

All Balls is great...cheaper than OEM and from what I've heard better than OEM...also the kits come with the seals and they also carry Katana fork seals kit also...

[squiggy]

Timken bearings

Do they make them for motorcycles? I'm assuming they do since you posted it but they have a lot of links for their products but I did not see specifically one for motorcycle's bearings.

[tone]

Do they make them for motorcycles? I'm assuming they do since you posted it but they have a lot of links for their products but I did not see specifically one for motorcycle's bearings.

Just go off the part number a high speed needle roller bearing is a high speed needle roller bearing & made to very high standards so there is usually no need to look for motorcycle specific ones

I have always just wandered into the bearing factors with the number or sizes & matched them up but i usually specify timken where possible because of their known exellent quality

Having said all that you will sometimes find a bearing on a bike that is not a comercially available size, its rare & its usually a shock linkage eliptical one, i think they do this to try to force us to buy OE at 4 times the price, ive not had this on a kat yet & wheel bearings accross the suzuki range have never been a problem
tone

[thetable]

SKFs are very highly thought of in the Buell world (and the Uly is very prone to eating bearings.) In my Kat, I am running AllBalls, they come in a nice kit complete with seals for a very reasonable price.

a high speed needle roller bearing is a high speed needle roller bearing & made to very high standards so there is usually no need to look for motorcycle specific ones

Please don't run needle roller bearings on wheels, they really don't handle lateral load well.

[H-2 CHARLIE]

another bike fourm had the thread about ceramic ..they never were out and if you spin the whell hard it will spin 45 min. vs. 4-6 min. with reg. style bearings ... how ture ???? this is what i read but they are very pricey i here

[thetable]

If the Buell eats another set of bearings, I will be going full ceramic, and if it eats those, I will be getting a new bike. The Katana is not prone to wheel bearing issues, so a little grease added at every tire change should have you good to go for a long time; long enough that I really couldn't see the ceramics as much of an investment. I replaced mine at 40k miles and they weren't in horrible shape. As a matter of fact, I probably wouldn't have even replaced them if the new ones hadn't been sitting on my shelf.

[plupien79]

Is there a source of ceramic bearings for the kat?

[thetable]

Is there a source of ceramic bearings for the kat?

Not sure on specific vendors/manufacturers as I haven't done all that much looking into it, but from the little bit of looking I have done, you are looking at starting prices around $100/bearing, and they just go up from there.

[tone]

Please don't run needle roller bearings on wheels, they really don't handle lateral load well.

Oops you are correct of course, you wouldnt get any to fit anyway lol
note to self ... check typing before posting

[The CyberPoet]

another bike fourm had the thread about ceramic ..they never were out and if you spin the whell hard it will spin 45 min. vs. 4-6 min. with reg. style bearings ... how ture ???? this is what i read but they are very pricey i here

I doubt there's a 40-minute difference on spinning times, but there is some difference, in large part because of the difference in lubrication (steel bearings typically get greased heavily to keep the temps down; ceramics don't).

Normally, ceramic bearing are made from silicon nitride (Si3N4), followed by polishing in a plasma stream to make them incredibly smooth, with a much harder surface than a steel ball bearing, typically mated to a steel race and coupled with good seals. This is good for long life and low rolling resistance. The only place ceramic bearings tend to fail by comparison is contamination issues in certain environments, where the extra grease in steel bearings tends to hold contaminants out (say very light slurry of fine sand in rain water), plus in subsequent running temps if there are any contaminants (grease & steel are large heat-sinks).

I haven't found anybody selling ceramic bearings with titanium-nitride-coating races [or Si3N4 races] in the sizes for the Kats yet, but sooner or later, they're likely to appear.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[thetable]

I haven't found anybody selling ceramic bearings with titanium-nitride-coating races [or Si3N4 races] in the sizes for the Kats yet, but sooner or later, they're likely to appear.

Wow, just looked on my main bearing sources, and you are correct. That really surprises me, for the first time ever, the Buell runs a more common size...

[hardlydangerous]

ALL BALLS
the kits come with the seals too and 1/2 the price of OEM yet 2X the quality