Help with bearings, clicking noises

General
1

I bought a used Nimbus 24 Muni a while ago. The wheel always felt slow to me, but I thought it was the heavy tire. However, I would spin it and it seemed to slow more quickly than my other unicycles. So I thought maybe the bearing caps were overtightened. I loosened them a bit and sure enough, the wheel definitely spins longer and rolls better. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that while spinning the wheel I can hear a fast ticking sound which I think must be the bearings. It’s a fast tick. And then when riding downhill I get clicks coming occasionally which I didn’t hear before. What to do? Should I just go ahead and replace the bearings? Could I have a clicking noise due to the bearing caps being too loose now? I don’t feel any play with them a bit looser - I think I loosened by about 1 full turn of the cap bolt. And maybe the click that I hear is another issue but it is suspicious that it started shortly after the cap bolt was loosened.

And is the bearing ticking noise anything to be concerned about? I do not hear this on other unicycles, so it seems wrong.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

2

I wouldn’t of said it was the bearing caps that where too lose. If you can’t move them that they should be good. I always use a little bit of blue loctite on the bolts to hold them in place so they can’t work they way loose

It could be that the bearing is damaged from being done up too tight, which will need replacing.
Have you checked the spokes?

Take the wheel out of the frame and check the bearings. Mine where running dry no noise but you can feel it though the frame and the cranks. Just removed the seal carefully and repacked with grease. All fine now.

3

I have the Hatchet, same thing on this unicycle. If i thigh the bearing cap properly the wheel feel a bit slow and if i loosen the bearing cap bolts then is easy to turn and feels good.When i do that a small amount of creaking comes from the hub area… So for now I’m using small shims in between the bearing cap and the frame to prevent any noise and have the wheel turning freely.