Mavic Kysirium Elite pre-load bearings

alexul

Hi,
I have a set of Kysirium Elite bought at the beginning of the year and ridden around 2500km. On my last ride the front hub started to have a noise, kind of plastic rubbing noise. It was present even when just turning the hub with the bare hand and it was at every rotation. So after reading a little bit I found out that those plastic caps can be removed. I cleaned them and applied some small layer of grease and from just spinning the wheel with my hand the noise is gone. However I am not sure how much to tighten the bearings. I used their plastic tool to fit in the holes and hold the plastic cap on one side and a 5mm on the other side. I tightened until I felt some strong resistance, then backed off a little. I also used a short wrench so that I don't break something by having too much of a lever. I could say they are finger-tight although I don't have really strong fingers.
So how do I know if they are too loose? Or too tight? What are the risks of riding with them one way or the other?

Thanks

buckmulligan

No worries, it's pretty easy to adjust when you know how. Just put the wheel back on the bike and tighten up the skewer to your usual tightness. Grab the top of the wheel, say by the brake caliper, and try to wobble the wheel side-to-side. If that cap on the hub is too loose then there will be lots of play there, which obviously is not a good idea when you're riding around. Stick the special black plastic Mavic tool on the cap and tighten it up in small increments until you can no longer see any side-to-side play at the rim. No need to remove the wheel or anything. If you over tighten it then it could put too much pressure on the bearings in the hub, stop the wheel rolling freely and wear out the bearings prematurely. Good luck!

alexul

Thanks for your post.
I tried your tests. When pushing and pulling the rim I don't see any play at the hub. I do seem to feel a small play in my palm, like there is something rocking but it is hardly noticeable, I have to push and pull quite violently. In no case there is any visible moving parts at the hub. If I tighten more the wheel starts to spin slower. I think I'll leave it like this and check on the first ride to see if there is any difference. To be honest I never checked until now how the wheel feels when pressed laterally so it could be normal

I also realized that I didn't fix anything by cleaning the hub, not related to the noise. If I tighten too much there is a continuous rubbing noise as I believe the plastic cap is pushed too much against the wheel. If I let it looser, much looser than now, the noise is only per rotation, I think because the cap is too loose and not centered in position so it touches somewhere. Now it is somewhere in between, where it is silent.