Ventana bearing service

Winter is the perfect time of the year to bring that full suspension bike in for it’s annual bearing overhaul/servicing or at the very least an inspection to make sure that those linkages are running smoothly. On a typical service it’s very rare that every bearing is bad or seized but it is noticeable when one or a few have gone bad. Not detectable through the slow degradation of the bearing but VERY noticeable once replaced. So if you’re one of those guys or gals that hasn’t had your suspension checked at all for the last couple of years then there is a good possibility that one or more bearings need replacement. Plus it’s winter and i need something to do.

a bearing candidate, my 04′ Ventana La Bruja
remove brake caliper, chain, rear derailleur and rear der.cable
chainstay and seatstay removed which allows access to individual bearings for inspection and possible replacement
bearings ready for retirement
in my case six bearings were bad…..keep in mind that your typical 4 bar Ventana has 16 bearings in total.
ventana’s super nice and easy to use bearing press
bearing press in action
the tool also captures the bearing
and presses the new bearing back in, we like to lightly grease the surfaces of both the bearing and the bore hole of the swingarm.
bearings pressed and swingarm attached
Breg……puttin’ it all back together

while we had the frame stripped down this far we also decided to overhaul the Fox RP23 with a float air sleeve kit. Mine had been oozing sludge for a bit too long…..it’s okay to ooze a little bit but it’s not good once it’s stops as additional damage can be done to the shock stanchion from high amounts of friction.
maintenence finished and ready for spring.

By |2009-01-06T18:45:00-07:00January 6th, 2009|shop services, ventana|2 Comments

Ritchey Break away Frame

Brock brought his Ritchey break away frame by the shop to have the headtube faced and milled and it’s bottom bracket faced and chased before re-assembly.

globs of paint before:

during:

after:

By |2009-01-05T14:40:00-07:00January 5th, 2009|shop services|Comments Off on Ritchey Break away Frame

weekend

This past weekend was quite interesting and also a darn good time. Friday after work Brian and i headed toward Dillon MT (with our mtbs) to volunteer our services as mechanics for the annual RATPOD road ride which is a 140 mile, single day ride around the Pioneer Mountains and actually up and over them. On our way over to Dillon we stopped at the May Creek trail for a short mtb ride along a nice slice of smooth and mellow singletrack. It was a nice cool evening for a ride until you stopped long enough for the mosquitos to settle in. Damn Mosquitos !! So with pests at hand we quickly loaded the Toyota back up and headed toward the big hole valley…..and of course you can’t stop through Wisdom MT without stopping at Fetty’s for dinner (and a beer), and finally further down the road we ended up at Jackson Hotsprings to soak (and drink another beer) and to spend the night in one of their more affordable rooms which also happens to be a singlewide trailer parked out (far) back in grass that was 2ft in height. The cheap bed seemed just about right for a weary head.

Next morning came very early and Brian and i were back into the toyoter as we were expected to be in Dillon by 6am.

there was an early morning buzz as 500 cyclists all gathered for the 7th annual ride for Camp Mak-A-Dream fundraiser. Brian and i soaked up the excitement until our assignments were handed to us and then we SLOWLY followed small groups of cyclist until a nice view obstructed our attention and then we’d pull over for awhile as cyclists passed by….hoping that one or another would need our assistance.
an early view from the rearward mirror:
a picture of Joe, Rick, Brett, and Rick.

early am cattle drive

scenery over Crystal Park

so all in all it was a purdy darn good afternoon. Brian and i reckon to have worked on approx 25-30 bikes…some easy and some not so easy repairs. After the ride the ride organisers provided dinner, good music, and handed out awards for the top fundraisers (which was $18,000!!!).

The following sunday afternoon, Brian and i rewarded ourselves with a mtb ride in the Pioneer Mountains and on a trail that neither of us had been on (you know….since we were in the area we kinda felt entitled). And it was purdy darn good too !


By |2008-07-03T16:45:00-06:00July 3rd, 2008|ride, shop services|Comments Off on weekend

in the stand

1978 Schwinn Twinn with 5spd rear and atom drum brake, in for a full overhaul and clean/detail….(Navy Jelly is the cats meow for removing rust from chrome, just don’t get this crap on your hands as it’ll remove’em….yeah…your hands). This bike must have spent a little time in outdoor storage as there seems to be a little bit of rust here and there and the bearings were all in pretty rough shape. A thorough cleaning and re-greasing of the bearings brought them all back to life and none actually needed replacement. We also had to replace all of the cable/housing as they were corroded badly (to be expected for 30yr old cables). Pretty cool to see how tough these old bikes were.

By |2008-01-01T12:59:00-07:00January 1st, 2008|shop services|Comments Off on in the stand

phil wood bearing upgrade

Don’t trash those old cups !!! Send us your old external bottom bracket cups and we’ll replace the bearings with Phil Wood’s 6805X bearings…..Bearings with an “X” have the same seals as those specified for submersible motor/pump bearings, so you know the bearings are filled with MUCH higher grade grease and the seals are also waaaaay better than the OEM crud.

$55 gets you a set of new Phil bearings in your old bb cups SHIPPED free.

Raceface oem bearing on the left. Phil Wood replacement to the right.

By |2007-04-28T16:18:00-06:00April 28th, 2007|shop services|Comments Off on phil wood bearing upgrade

the starting blocks

step one. calculate spoke lengths, grab 16 of each size, treat spoke threads, and get ready to lace.
tip…start with a clean working area.
tip….right hand spokes are for driveside, left hand spokes are for disc side.

By |2007-01-30T19:04:00-07:00January 30th, 2007|shop services|Comments Off on the starting blocks

king overhaul


during a recent king rear hub overhaul i thought i’d take a couple of pics of their ring drive system….it’s a beautiful design that’s not as prone to typical pedal torque wear and tear. Why ?? Because much of the loads are displaced from their helical spline, between the spline and the engagement teeth they create a drive that can handle up to 800 ft/lbs of torque…that’s pretty darn good. But besides all of this technical information the true beauty of these hubs is how easily they can be COMPLETELY torn down for an overhaul with the use of the King Hub Service tool. This hub shown here has 4 years of use logged in and the teeth still look brand spankin’ new. The bearings, still buttery smooth. King hubs are expensive but we think they’re worth every bloody cent.

By |2007-01-30T12:32:00-07:00January 30th, 2007|king cycle, shop services|Comments Off on king overhaul