Bad wheel bearing

[The Buddha]

How does a bad wheel bearing sound
I mean while riding, I have never had that happen, I have swapped a plenty of them while the wheel was off and I was doing tire swapping, but never had to ride on them.
BTW, my seca sounds like its got a looose loooose loooose chain but ... all the noise and the grinding type feel is all in the back and nothing from the case. Now chain is nice and good, oiled up, adjusted right and sprokets are in excellent shape.
Cool.
Srinath.

[GeeP]

click click click click

or

rumblerumblerumblerumblerumble 

[erbilabuc]

sealed or not you arent really going to hear a bad bearing because most of the time there is something "holding" the sound in. What is the best way to tell? Take it apart and look (not what you wanted to hear)........ second best way? Temperature, we have an infrared thermostat to dial in twin+ two stroke exhausts to tell when the jetting is right so this would be the same situation. Take the temperature from one side of the wheel after riding and compare it to the other side. Sounds crazy but it works, this is how you can also tell if your brakes are draggin more on one side then the other.

[The Buddha]

GP - I am getting a grind, grind, grind .... increases with speed, seems independent of engine speed (coasting or downhill seems to be same as accelerating at same speed) it also feels bumpy and a wee bit like I was running over a little bump on the road.
IB - I will try to feel 1 side and compare with other side by touch. I dont think this is in anyway, shape or form really sealed though. My brakes are not dragging and chain and sproket is good, I kow for sure.
Cool.
Srinath.

[sledge]

Very hard to describe the noise a duff bearing makes, but if your getting a "grinding metal on metal sound" its safe to assume its worn. Change it now before it collapses and damages the housing in the wheel, they are not expensive and its no big deal.

[kdogg84]

when i've heard it it's sounded like a distant motorboat, gettling louder and higher pitched as speed increased

[The Buddha]

Speed makes it go away seemingly replaced by a more vibratey feel in the back end. Tommorow its getting strung up and ripped apart. If its busted it will get fixed.
BTW, you see the irony of my situation, in 15 years+ with 25+ bikes total, never have I had a wheel bearing die while riding it. Changed a plenty, and thanks to werase - recently several swingarm bearings, neck bearings etc too ... but never had to ride on a bad bearing of any kind. That makes trouble shooting near impossible IMHO, but if its a knackered bearing, next time I'll know.
Cool.
Srinath.

[characterPi]

I had a bad front wheel bearing before on another bike. It squeaks (metal to metal sound) and groans when rolling the bike around at slow speeds. Can't hear it while riding. The steering at freeway speeds vibrated horribly. It was possible to see it wiggling around. Caused a lowside when I was quite a bit leaned over in a parking lot. Not fun.


Brought it to a mechanic. Turns out you could wiggle my front wheel side to side because the bearing was falling apart.
Replaced it, and good again.

[The Buddha]

Yup, yesterday it was acting tight in turns till you muscle it in, and then it would go loose. Perfect recipie for lowsiding. I motocross style dragged feet to keep from going into the ditch. Office pants and dressy (but walmart grade) shoes do not like to be treated that way I can tell you that.
Cool.
Srinath.

[ohgood]

On a bike, I'd assume the wheel bearing noise is EXACTLY what you're hearing/feeling.

In a car, a bad wheel bearing can sound like old tires. Hard, groaning, heavy rolling in a coffee -can sound.

It's very heavy, very bad, and very scary the first time you lose a wheel in a car.

I'd imagine on a bike it's much scarier.

I'm really surprised you've never heard one before Srinath. You've got alot of bikes in your time. I guess this speaks to the quality of motorcycle wheel bearings.

Thanks for sharing. Maybe you've saved a life or two in the process.

[GeeP]

Yup, yesterday it was acting tight in turns till you muscle it in, and then it would go loose. Perfect recipie for lowsiding. I motocross style dragged feet to keep from going into the ditch. Office pants and dressy (but walmart grade) shoes do not like to be treated that way I can tell you that.
Cool.
Srinath.

Had your leather-soled dress foot sliders on?   

[werase643]

quick easy....
pull the chain and spin the rear wheel in the air
pull the caliper also if you want
side to side movement?
grinding?

[The Buddha]

OK I lose ... anyone who guessed chain wins. I know Jared insisted chain, chain, chain in a PM to me.
But the bearings were perfect. The seals were nice and soft and bearings had no play and no grainy feeling.
Chain had one tight area and even there it was OK I thought, but I am swapping it first. See this bike had the countershaft sproket nut come loose 2 weeks ago. I get in there and see that nut rolling around inside the cover and the sproket cant come loose cos the cover is very very close to it. So I replace it and crank it down, only to have it come loose the very next day. Then I notice it didn't have the spline washer with lock tab ... and I buy it, replace it, tighten up the chain and ride it again and the chain may have gotten a kink from the sproket comming loose, and it just got worse and worse, but OK its getting a tire fitted too, so it should take care of all of its problems.
The weird handling may be from a square rear tire. Yep, square.
Cool.
Srinath.