Rear hub bearings falling apart under bike weight and torque

C

coinmaster

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Jun 13, 2017
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So I applied my cyclone 3000 kit to a walmart mountain bike, although the frame is welded together the rest is iffy.
The torque and weight of the bike has almost destroyed the bearings on the rear hub and I'm sending it to a bike shop for repair soon but I'd like to know if there is something I can do to prevent this from happening next time? Is there some special bike hub that can handle these kinds of stresses?
 
Those bikes are complete and total pieces of shit. Don't use one again, ever. Craigslist is your friend for getting good quality bikes at good prices.
 
I'd rather spruce up the bike I have, the frame is alloy with gobs of welding at the seems, the rest is meh. Which is why I am asking what I should replace the hubs with.
 
Ditch it on Craigslist for $50+ or return to walmart if possible and buy a decent hardtail MTB on craigslist for ~$200. Stick with actual cycling brands not department store stuff. Much easier, less expensive and overall way better strategy than sprucing up the walmart bike. The front fork is shit, the headset and BB are also garbage not to mention the bar mount, brakes, entire geartrain...it's not worth it to replace because you would have to replace literally everything on the frame.

If you rode my 90s Raleigh MTB hardtail that would sell on CL for like $150 max, you would crap yourself over the absurd value. The brakes are good enough to do a stoppie and lock the rear easily. Try that on a walmart bike...yeah right. What city are you in, or what major cities are you near? You HAVE to check the used bike market.
 
I tried craigslist a few times, the issue is I'm a bike noob and not sure what to look for, and what looks like decent bikes are all $400+

I already replaced the seat with a beach cruiser seat that has its own suspension, the BB is already replaced because the motor required it, I'm going to replace the drive train with these https://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/family/ex1#sm.0001r8lqfb4t8ejzxze2iii1vj9l4 because I hate having to shut off throttle every time I shift gears.
It has disc brakes already installed from stock. I'm not sure what constitutes a garbage headset and barmount but I can't spot any flaws in mine, I even have those ergonomic hand grips.

I'd like a better shock system but other than that I'm mainly concerned about the rear hub. Nit picky details don't concern me much, the main thing I care about is efficiency and durability. I need this baby to go very long distances.
 
Post an ad looking for a used 26" MTB rear wheel or visit a bike shop and ask about getting a used one. There are a ton of those things around with better quality than your walmart bike and a wheel should run you maybe $50 for a WAY upgraded one. If you got a hub you could get something from Shimano's midrange MTB line, but at that point you're probably paying as much or more than a used wheel and you have to rebuild it, presumably with the crappy walmart rim and hardware.

You can swap the cassette using a cheap splined tool to remove the lockring and a chainwrench or a bikeship will do it for really cheap.

I used to shift my cyclone under power at full throttle when it was stock power, but wouldn't do that now at 120v and 110 amps phase. You will be good to go on a midrange brand name mtb drivetrain but the chain will stretch a lot more and it's probably not good for the freewheel either.

Oh an the Cyclone crank has a awful freewheel and the freewheel on the motor isn't good either. I replaced both with sickbikeparts because they make drop in replacements that are much higher quality and reinforced.
 
How bout this one? https://hartford.craigslist.org/bik/d/26-inch-mountaun-bike/6330706303.html
The price is suspicious, but it looks nice.
 
coinmaster said:
How bout this one? https://hartford.craigslist.org/bik/d/26-inch-mountaun-bike/6330706303.html
The price is suspicious, but it looks nice.
Click to expand...

No, that's a low quality department store bike. Look for something like an older (1990's) Specialized Hardrock which is built from decent quality Chromoly steel. I have one I paid $80.00 USD for on Craigslist, frame is good quality, forks are solid. A 9C clone rear hub motor fit right in the dropouts for me, no filing needed.
 
All components on all bikes are inter-changeable. You can fit any wheel you want. Buy a used wheel with a cassette (free-hub) spline. That will be much stronger. You can normally find a complete used wheel with the cassette for about $30. Don't waste money on the one you already have.
 
d8veh said:
All components on all bikes are inter-changeable.
Click to expand...
Not really.

There's a number of different "standards" for quite a few different bicycle components, and while some of them can be interchanged with some work or change of other parts attached to them, others can't be at all. Some of the differences are documented on http://sheldonbrown.com in the various sections, if you're interested. There's probably other sites to help with that, too.




You can fit any wheel you want.
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Not quite true, as there are different axle diameters and lengths, distances between locknuts, etc., for different types of hubs. But as long as you're careful to match those with your existing wheel, and the rim is the same width and diameter, it'll fit your existing frame (and tire/tube).

Some incompatible ones can be made to fit with frame modifications, or spacer washers, etc., but some of them would be quite a bit of change to fit them, and beyond the DIY abilities of many (most?) people.
 
To simplify, if you find a quality wheel from a similar bike, it will swap out fine. ( 7 speed mtb to 7 speed mtb, single speed to single speed, whatever)

All you really need is a wheel that is moderately good, vs your current 20 buck wheel. Unfortunately when you buy really cheap bikes that were used, its always the rear wheel that's trashed. I mean was a good bike, but now its 20 bucks.

Decent excuse to find a decent deal on a good bike, used though. Replace the whole piece of crap bike with a good one. Paying 100-150 used, you can get a decent bike if you look hard. Just hard as hell to find a good deal on just the rear wheel used. So buy a whole bike that is better.

On the other hand,, just lubing a new cheap ass wheel might work wonders. It might be your original wheel never really got any, or was run loose. you can wreck a new hub fast if the thing is not snug.
 
What do you think about using ceramic bearings? From what I've read it seems they might give better range due to better efficiency and last longer.
Also what about tire size? The e-bike simulator suggests that lower tire size give significant range benefits, is this true?
 
You can't buy a good quality used bike but you want ceramic bearings? You don't need those just regular hardware designed to do something other than fall apart when it leaves the store will suffice.
 
There's nothing about the weight and torque of your bike that wrecked the bearings. I've put ludicrous overloads on bike wheel bearings for decades and never once has one failed from overload due to riding. They fail from incorrect adjustment or contamination. When you say "walmart mountain bike", you might as well be saying "incorrect adjustment", because in my many years in the bike business, I've never seem one correctly adjusted as furnished. Not a single hub, ever.

Fancy expensive bearing balls WILL NOT HELP at all, because that's not the rotten part of your system. If you must keep your garbage quality wheels, get yourself some new axle kits and some normal grade 25 bearing balls (1/4" rear, 3/16" front) and rebuild those suckers. Get them as clean as you possibly can before packing the grease and balls. Pray you haven't destroyed the hub races, because that's normal for BSO hubs-- up to and including collapsing the race and pushing it into the hub shell.
 
You can't buy a good quality used bike but you want ceramic bearings?
Click to expand...
You haven't given me any real reason why my bike is insufficient. My back wheel is already getting replaced with a much better one as I speak, the brakes are disc brakes, the seat is good quality, I'm going to use an ebike specific drivetrain https://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/family/ex1#sm.0001r8lqfb4t8ejzxze2iii1vj9l4 and tubeless tires https://www.schwalbetires.com/GT-Tour although I'm not sure if I should pick 35c, 38c, 45c width.
 
coinmaster said:
You can't buy a good quality used bike but you want ceramic bearings?
Click to expand...
You haven't given me any real reason why my bike is insufficient.
Click to expand...

You did. Walmart only sells insufficient bikes. They're all imitations of actual bicycles, pretty much like all other bikes you buy from a retailer who won't repair them or sell you replacement parts.
 
You still haven't told me why my bike is insufficient for e-biking.
The "imitation parts" argument doesn't hold up i you read my previous posts.
 
Swap out your rear hub for pretty much anything other than a $5 chinese special and you should have a better result.

Walmart bikes often have good frames but the components hooked up to them are disposable quality.
 
Just go ride a decent bike for 10 minutes you'll understand why the walmart bike sucks. Food for thought, a used bike will have all good components already on it and cost about the same as you'll send on the SRAM geartrain groupo alone.

And why on earth do you want to go tubeless? For your use it will just be a messy hassle, but you should probably figure that out on your own. I'm seeing a pattern here with all your posts. You constantly think you've found some way to save money by avoiding good components. You need to get it thru your head that there is no free lunch (except used bikes, they can come pretty close tbh).
 
When in this ebike hobby, its always good and I mean ALWAYS GOOD to lay out more money then cheaping out.
Look at the Chinese battery that burned down an ES members garage.
When looking for a bicycle to convert to an ebike, your best bet is to buy a used bicycle from the online classifieds, such places as Kijiji or Craigslist or Pinkbike or Your Local Pawn Shop or Your Local Crack Head JK JK JK

I saw a commercial today that said Hilti has a LIFETIME warranty on batteries.
 
Just go ride a decent bike for 10 minutes you'll understand why the walmart bike sucks
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I've had this bike for years. I've never riden a mountain bike that felt magically different than any other.
And why on earth do you want to go tubeless?
Click to expand...
Since I'm going to be going thousands of miles in one go, I want to minimize flats.

I'm seeing a pattern here with all your posts. You constantly think you've found some way to save money by avoiding good components.
Click to expand...
It has nothing to do with saving money, it's about longevity and sense. I'm not going to buy another bike when the only thing my bike needs at this point is tires and a drivechain. I could waste money on a new bike and not have as good of either as what I would be buying for my current bike.

If you looked at those links I showed you you would notice the drive chain was specifically designed for low cadence high torque applications and the tire is made specifically for ebike durability and avoiding flats. I already told you I was going on multi thousand miles trips with the bike. I'll take the ebike specific components over a 20 year old used bike.
 
markz said:
I am waiting to see how Chalo responds, should be interesting.
Click to expand...

Why? What more could he possibly say that would contribute to the discussion?

Unless he capitulates, which ain't gonna happen.

He thinks "X"; and thus it is so. Logic and evidence do not enter into the equation.
 
A better hub, with proper adjustment of the bearings should help a lot.

We have no idea yet which Walmart bike you have. They do actually sell some ok bikes online, ship to store. But the ones on the rack there tend to be pretty poor, and typically assembled wrong. especially in the under $200 price. I've seen the fork put on backwards, for one thing.

Last summer we replaced my wifes beloved electra townie with a much cheaper schwin Candis from Walmart. ( the townie burned in my garage) I was really quite amazed that the bike had been assembled properly, and was totally adjusted properly right out the door.

NEVER SAW THAT BEFORE FROM WM. Some guy that rides bikes a lot must have had a summer job there. But I'm not so sure that cheaper Schwinn wheel would stand up to a powerful mid drive. Its a decent wheel, not a good one. But way better than you find on a wm 100 buck bike.
 
coinmaster said:
I've never riden a mountain bike that felt magically different than any other.
Click to expand...
That about says it all, I think.

The problem here is you clearly know absolutely zero about bicycles but you're trying to substitute your own judgement over people who have spent way more time doing what you are thinking about doing and know more about the subject. Forget the unnecessary solutions like ceramic bearings and ebike specific human powertrains (lol) and just build a badass ebike. Most people here just want to see you accomplish the latter.
 
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