Gritty Rear Hub - safe to ride for the time being?

samfailed
samfailed Posts: 82
in Workshop
Being the idiot I am I some how managed to wash some water/grit into my rear hub. After I washed the bike today I noticed there's a crunchy noise coming from the rear wheel whilst spinning.

Obviously I need to get the bearings cleaned out and repacked but I had a couple of big rides planned for the next couple of days. Am I safe to go ahead with these in the meantime? Will I cause any extra damage or risk my safety in someway?

Even though the wheel sounds like eating glass it still spins absolutely fine at the moment. You can only really hear the noise at low speed so hopefully won't be too irritating. Is there a chance the water will dry out and the grit work its way out or is that stupidly optimistic? I JUST WANT TO RIDE MY BIKE :'(

Comments

  • cruff
    cruff Posts: 1,518
    edited November 2019
    Impossible to tell you whether it will fail while riding it, but I can tell you from painful experience that, of it DOES fail before you service it, it will do so at the absolute apex point of your next long ride, on a Sunday, ten miles from the nearest rail station, in an area with no mobile reception, with only hills between you and salvation... ;)

    Take it to your LBS and get then to have a look at it
    Fat chopper. Some racing. Some testing. Some crashing.
    Specialising in Git Daaahns and Cafs. Norvern Munkey/Transplanted Laaandoner.
  • keezx
    keezx Posts: 1,322
    It won't fail during the ride, but it can be damaged by riding on.
  • cruff
    cruff Posts: 1,518
    keezx said:

    It won't fail during the ride, but it can be damaged by riding on.

    That might be true... If you knew what was causing the noise. If you don't, it could just as easily be the pawls on their way out as the bearings drying out - and you don't want to be riding 40 miles from home if the pawls break. If they break and fail to engage, you're screwed. If they break and 'jam', then you might be able to ride it fixie style, but you wouldn't want to put any force through it.

    Don't risk it. Get the wheel serviced. It's not 'likely' to happen, and in the grand scheme of things, I wouldn't ordinarily even consider it - but if I knew there was already a problem with it, and it was winter, and I was planning a long ride with a component I knew was already giving me grief... Well, I'd be a fool to ride on it.
    Fat chopper. Some racing. Some testing. Some crashing.
    Specialising in Git Daaahns and Cafs. Norvern Munkey/Transplanted Laaandoner.

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