The axle of my Semcycle seems to have quite high friction. At least
when not under load, I must admit that when I ride it is not
noticeable to me, but maybe it would be noticed by someone who rides
“lighter” than I do.
If I put the uni upside down on the seat, turn the wheel by hand
(holding one pedal) at 1 rev/second and then let it go, it completes
barely 2 revolutions before coming to a standstill. Is this still in
the ballpark of normality? Anyone want to try this to their uni for
comparison? The tyre diameter and width will matter somewhat, mine is
24 x 1.75.
Tip: turning the wheel at one revolution per second is easily done by
syncing with one of those quartz clocks that do tick-tick-tick. You
see what I mean. A clock that screams non-stop in Arabic is no good
for this
Klaas Bil
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked automagically from a database:”
“Refah, Hillal, Halibut”
Is it a Semcycle XL or Semcycle Deluxe?
If the bearings are clamped too tightly it is easy to adjust that on the Sem XL. But on the Sem Deluxe it’s not so easy to adjust.
I don’t know how many spins my wheel will make. I don’t have my freestyle uni with me right now. But one way to check if the bearings are too tight is to spin the wheel and watch as it comes to a stop. It should come to a stop gradually and smoothly. If it jerks to a stop then the bearings are worn or are too tight.
That sounds like bad bearings or something rubbing. Does it make any noise? Does the Sem sit on two sealed ball bearings (what do they call the housings, main cap?) If they are clamped too tight they will bind like that. If loosening doesn’t help, can you pull the wheel off and turn the outer bearing races by hand? They should turn smoothly and easily and not wobble around.
>Is it a Semcycle XL or Semcycle Deluxe?
>If the bearings are clamped too tightly it is easy to adjust that on the
>Sem XL. But on the Sem Deluxe it’s not so easy to adjust.
>
>I don’t know how many spins my wheel will make. I don’t have my
>freestyle uni with me right now. But one way to check if the bearings
>are too tight is to spin the wheel and watch as it comes to a stop. It
>should come to a stop gradually and smoothly. If it jerks to a stop
>then the bearings are worn or are too tight.
It is a Deluxe. I don’t know about the technicalities of bearings but
there is a square metal plate on each side fixed with 4 hex screws.
Those are tight and they look like they should be tight.
The wheel decelerates evenly to a stop, as far as I can see. The cycle
is 1.5 years old and has not been used heavily, so I would not think
the bearings are worn out. That leads to the conclusion that they are
too tight and it is not so easy to adjust. Oh well, I see technical
people of Semcycle every now and then.
Harper:
The bearings don’t make noise other than a very soft reassuring whirr.
I don’t know how to pull the wheel off. The wheel has only one degree
of freedom with respect to the frame, which is rotation. No wobble, no
play, nothing.
Klaas Bil
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked automagically from a database:”
“22 SAS, klm, 32”
loosen up your bering caps slowly with the wheel upside/down,if it takes longer to stop then tighness could be it.loose them one at a time to see if its one side or an other.sould be noted that one bering can ware out befor the other aswell.
Sorry but what are bearing caps? Are they under the square metal
plates I described? Can I remove those temporarily without causing
anything to fall apart? As I said I’m not familiar with bearing
technicalities but these plates are thick and strong, to me they look
like an integral part of the construction and not merely a cover.
>
>loosen up your bering caps slowly with the wheel upside/down,if it
>takes longer to stop then tighness could be it.loose them one at a time
>to see if its one side or an other.sould be noted that one bering can
>ware out befor the other aswell.
>
>
>–
>jagur - Random Member
>
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“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked automagically from a database:”
“rita, Hillary, Glock 26”
The Semcycle Deluxe doesn’t have the split bearing caps like the Sem XL so it would do no good to try to adjust them. Wait till you can find someone familiar with the Sem Deluxe bearing setup to look at your bearings. Since the bearings are not binding or being rough there is no immediate need to replace them.
Sometimes when the bearings get pressed on the axle the bearings can suffer some damage that causes them not to spin as well as they should. When the bearings are pressed on the hub it is important to only put pressure on the inner race in the bearing. If the person installing the bearings is not careful they might put too much pressure on the seal or on the outer bearing race. That little slip can cause the bearing to not spin as well as it should. I’ve messed up a few bearings when installing them. It’s easy to goof up. When it happens I almost always end up needing to pull the bad bearing off and replacing it (being more careful while pressing the new one on).
