Have you riden through a flood on your unicycle? one that comes up higher than your hub? I went riding on my 07 KH 20 and went through a flood that came up to like the top of the tyre. I was wondering will I now need new berrings? my dad thinks that they will now be shot because water would have goten in. I know that a new set of berring wont cost much but I would rather not buy a new set. If you have been through deep floods what, if anything was damaged by it?
im pretty sure kh bearings are sealled, so they should be fine, i think…
you’re uni should be fine mate. dont worry about a thing(i think)
I think it’ll be fine. But if the wheel stops spinning as well…then you may want to buy new ones.
I rode on the beach and in the sea. Wheel stopped spinning later and I thought there might be sand in/on the bearrings. I took bearrings off and cleaned them, now I just need to put those back and try if wheel spins as well as before. Hopefully it does.
When you say you cleaned them, do you mean just cleaned off the outside of them?
is it a kh though?
sparky, im 99% sure that your sealled kh bearings are gonna get wreck,
do you honestly think that, the man himself, kris holm, would not water proof his unicycles???
So you think its not going to be ok now or do you still think its going to be ok, Im confused now :o
Generally, water is bad for bearings, but our bearings are pretty low-performance anyway; even if they’re not working very well, they still generally work well enough. I rode all of Moab this year with dead bearings; my uni sounded like I’d installed spoke beads, but it didn’t really affect my riding.
Just ride it and see how it goes.
it will most likely be perfectly fine. so dont worry about it aye.
I am worried about it, thats the problem. My wheel may stop spinning 
Water should not fully seize the bearings. Yes there very well could be damage done to them but your wheel is not going to lock up. If you are so worried about it just order another set so if there is any problems you have back up. An extra set of baerings isnt a bad thing to have anyway, as after a year of abuse on a wheelset you can definitely tell the differnce between new and old bearings, water damage or not.
I rode through flood with a torker (which is really the unicycle to do it with) where the water was so deep, I ended up swimming out, and I’ve also hopped off a dock into a pond with the same unicycle. No problems whatsoever.
The one thing I would do is get some WD-40 or something comparable and spray the bearing while the wheel is spinning. It will displace any water that may be in there, and prevent any possible rust. Also, keep riding it.
Even without that, though, your unicycle will be fine. They’re tough machines. They can handle a little water now and then.
I rode a 36" through the rain for a month, and the outside of my bearings are now a bit rusty, but that hasn’t affected performance at all.
a few weeks ago i rode through a 200m wide lagoon (salt water) that was just deeper than the hub. i also rode on the beach heaps. i had to replace the bearings, only one bearing got really screwed over, the other was fine, im not sure why it was like that. but yea, bearings are fairly cheap, if they start getting a bit stuck or sound a bit weird, just replace them.
It really isn’t difficult to take them apart and clean them though. Open it up, clean it with some WD40. If you’re really concerned. a new set won’t cost you more than $25
WD-40 is really not what you want. If you open up the bearings, you want to clean them with a degreaser (WD-40 does degrease, but it’s not the best degreaser), and then apply new grease. WD-40 is not much of a lubricant.
This is bad advice IMHO
These are universal bearings, common to many devices. I have used them on motorcycles for decades.
- If you remove the bearing, you must replace it. Pulling it off damages it.
- Do not open the seal. Test the bearing by turning it with your finger. If you feel any stickiness, it is damaged, replace it.
3 Properly installed, these things are tough and require no service. I have had many go for 50, 000 + miles on motorcycle wheels with no trouble. I just check and replace the rough ones at tire change time. I have ridden through enough water and mud to bury a million unicycles. The bearings are sealed. If you open the seal they won’t be sealed anymore. You will never get the seal back on right. - There is a bearing # on the side of the bearing. Almost every town has a tool repair shop. Or auto store. Give them this number and they will have your bearing for about 8$ US. There is no such thing as a unicycle bearing. They are all standard. As long as the first part of the number is right, and it is double sealed, it is what you want. There is some variety in the last letters of the number , these denote seal type, and it’s not to important.
5 . When you tap it onto the axle, use a socket or pipe to hit just the inner race of the bearing. If you drive it on smacking the outer race, you will damage it.
So don’t worry about your bearings. Just avoid blasting them with a pressure hose. Normal water is OK. If they pass the “finger turn test”, leave them alone. There is no advantage to replacing a good bearing, and if you open the seal you should throw it away. Blasting with wd40 is also a bad idea. That may penetrate the seal and dilute the grease.
Well yea, like most things, once you tamper with them, they’ll never be like they were brand new. I realize now I forgot to mention that you’d definitely have to apply another lubricant afterward.
^^he’s right though, you’re best bet is to replace them if they stop working. I just replaced the bearings on my Torker, which was a little bit more of a pain because they’re an unusual size…but UDC sells them now for $15 each.
hm
guess what
your pedals are going to have more problems than your other bearings
spray wd-40 in them spin them a few hundred times to get them nice and clean, then get some high quality wax lubricant and use that, or use some corrosion X. any silicone/grease lubricant should work, but i’m leaning toward a wax lubricant(thats what i do, there are obviously ppl who know more about it than i do, but it works)
wd 40 is not a real lubricant
in fact, it does quite the opposite, it removes and dissolves greases and liquids, leaving your bearings dry, it will work as a VERY temporary fix, but it is made to REMOVE lubricants and water(water dissolvant? 40) not to lubricate.
i jumped off a few diving boards (1 and 3 meter) with mine and it is fine
Pedal bearings
Come in 2 types, sealed and loose. You can service loose bearing pedals if you want. It is a greasy, messy job. A fair amount of work to extend the life of cheap pedals, but that’s your call. An alternative to Scrobos spray method would be to remove the nut from the spindle and clean the mess with solvent, and reassemble with grease. Loose bearing pedals are cheap, it’s a messy job, your call , this procedure may or may not be worth your time. Scrobos spray method sounds fast and easy. Another cool idea is DMR v8 pedals. These cost like 30 $, are fairly light, and come with a grease tube and have a grease fitting on them. Fast and easy. I never tried them though, it just sounds a lot less work then cleaning and reassembling the pedal.
Most better quality pedals come with sealed bearings. These may have better, lighter (magnesium) platforms. These bearings are not serviced, but rather replaced, just as wheel bearings should be. Only more often. You can get a tube of 10 pedal bearings for 25 $ here.
The downside of sealed bearing pedals, is if you don’t replace the bearings before they get to bad, the pedal may fall off. No biggy on a trials uni, but a pain perhaps in muni, if you have to walk far.