Hello Handlebar &

Yes, mine is a quick release. I didn?t have too much trouble disassembling the hub, but, reassembling was a little tricky - it is near impossible to get a cone wrench behind the seal. So, what I did was I loosely located the inner nut and then tightened the outer nut to it so that they latched together; at this point, the bearings were still loose. I installed the wheel with the quick release (not too tightly, just enough to hold the wheel in place) and then slowly tightened the outer nut, holding the outer nut on the other side. I had the front wheel suspended and wobbled it back and forth as I tighten the outer nuts until there was almost no play remaining, just a little. It worked out great, runs smooth, am happy!

Hello Handlebar &

It seems you were partly right, maybe! lol I disassembled the front hub wheel bearings and found them to be dry. When I looked at the races, they were fine, no damage, just a slight uneven wear mark on each one. Everything looked clean, like new, really and so I just added grease and in doing so, saw that there were two balls that were out of place and inside the inner cylinder. I assume I must have knocked them out when I pulled out the shaft and while that was possible on one side, it was less likely to be the case on the other (as the ball needed to travel in the opposite direction). In any case, I got to wondering if it was not the case that when they initially assembled the hub with bearings and spindle, if they hadn?t knocked one or both of those bearing balls out of place? When I reassembled, I was careful to leave just the slightest bit of play in the bearings, mounted the wheel and to my absolute delight and surprise, no more wheel wobble! So, it must have always been this way, I assume. It?s good to go, now, won?t bother with a hub replacement!

I?m happy! lol

Thanks for your input!

John

Chris, I?m in the same (Canadian) boat. You only need to undo the two nuts to access the bearing/s, but will need a cone wrench to do it. If my bearing is as beat up as the one pictured in the other thread, I?ll just replace the hub - I?ve seen them for as little as a $100, with cartridge bearings. According to the other thread, this seems to be a common issue with these bikes; the front wheel bearings as poor quality. I can?t get over how sloppy mine have become. 

Handlebar, I?ve had my RR5 for three seasons, now and this is the first I?ve noticed how sloppy the front bearings are; whatever the reason, it?s not from an initial poor setup, as it was not sloppy before. I will have to take it apart and see, but, if the race is as damaged as pictured in the other thread (for this problem to exist, the race must be very soft), I may replace the hub with one having cartridge bearings, especially considering how bad the roads are around here and how much of a pounding I tend to give it.

In recently upgrading the brakes on my RR5, I was shocked to discover an incredible amount of play in the front wheel bearings; I can?t imagine that they?d be anything but shot, given the level of movement. I understand these are cone bearings, that need regular greasing and adjusting. I?ve researched and there are hub alternatives with cartridge bearings, even with ceramic bearings and am thinking it might be worth upgrading the hub to one with more robust bearings. I?m not interested in racing this bike, can?t imagine it would be a contender of any kind, but, I do literally beat the crap out of it on our rough roads (the front shocks are showing signs of slight leakage). Apparently the rear bearings are higher quality, given they?re provided by the motor drive.

So, I?m writing to ask if anyone else has had problems with these front bearings and whether or not anyone has gone to the extreme of replacing the front Hub?

Thanks,

John

Hi, Chris and I also have a RR5 and in upgrading the front brakes, was shocked to discover the level of play in the front wheel bearings; I can?t imagine that they?re not completely shot, given the amount of movement and am already researching hub replacements, with sealed cartridge bearings. In my research, however, I discovered the following thread, which should answer your question:

https://www.radowners.com/index.php/topic,1522.msg7611.html#msg7611

Hope this helps,

John

Hi, Handlebar & yes, thank you, the problem was the cadence sensor, is working fine now!