Santa cruz Bearings 1st owner lifetime warranty

[haasbroek]

 

This one is all business!! Definitely redirecting all tech questions to you from here on.

 

Piet you're quite right, SC replaces the bearings free under warranty. 

I think many shops and bike owners (not all) are ignorant of this and also ignorant of how to look after their pivots in the first place. 

 

The SC frames come with a grease gun, use it!! A bearing swamped in clean grease will never go bad. Pump some grease in from time to time until all the old brown grease oozes out the side. It'll last forever, and that's why SC warranty it for life! It's one of the best pivot systems out there. 

 

Original SC bearings are angular contact, not what you get from standard bearing man shops. Angular contact bearings work differently, they are loose until you tuck them in (preload) with the pivot bolt. The result is a vastly stiffer interface than standard deep groove bearings used in most other brand bikes. Generic bearings in a vpp frame will collapse under the lateral load and that is how you will damage the frame.

 

Another thing, the original bearings have no inner seal. That is how the grease gets from the grease port into the races to flush out old grease. Basically you never need to strip your pivots, just pump in the good stuff and it oozes out the outer seals. Genius design.

[piet70roux]

If you are in greater cape town area there is a guy in Paarl who is brilliant

Llewelyn at Velosport 021 8711580

Honest and extremely helpful

If you have anything Santa cruz, mavic or Giant id go him

[piet70roux]

Piet you're quite right, SC replaces the bearings free under warranty.

I think many shops and bike owners (not all) are ignorant of this and also ignorant of how to look after their pivots in the first place.

 

The SC frames come with a grease gun, use it!! A bearing swamped in clean grease will never go bad. Pump some grease in from time to time until all the old brown grease oozes out the side. It'll last forever, and that's why SC warranty it for life! It's one of the best pivot systems out there.

 

Original SC bearings are angular contact, not what you get from standard bearing man shops. Angular contact bearings work differently, they are loose until you tuck them in (preload) with the pivot bolt. The result is a vastly stiffer interface than standard deep groove bearings used in most other brand bikes. Generic bearings in a vpp frame will collapse under the lateral load and that is how you will damage the frame.

 

Another thing, the original bearings have no inner seal. That is how the grease gets from the grease port into the races to flush out old grease. Basically you never need to strip your pivots, just pump in the good stuff and it oozes out the outer seals. Genius design.

Thx for this excellent reply

My last 5 cents worth ...

I think i will from now regularly grease my bearings as in every week or two but i think whats also important is to check the torque on the bolts ( 35 inch/lbs/3.95N.M) and cap screws( 50inch/lbs/5.65N.M)

If you do this regularly i think you wint have any squeeks or problems with your VPP)

I have been doing this and my bike has been running better than any LBS service ive ever had...

For you guys that want more info heres the assembly instructions from Santa cruz with Layout and torque settings

http://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en/us/node/450

[Skylark]

If you are in greater cape town area there is a guy in Paarl who is brilliant

Llewelyn at Velosport 021 8711580

Honest and extremely helpful

If you have anything Santa cruz, mavic or Giant id go him

Did he arrange for your Sc bearing warranty replacements?

[piet70roux]

Yes he did

[Flashfozzy]

http://catalog.nomabearing.com/viewitems/single-row-angular-contact-ball-bearings/7900-angular-contact-bearings?

 

7900 and 7902 depicts angular contact bearings in any catalogue

 

I can get them in JHB from SKF or FAG. The price is around R850 excluding seals and the spacers.

I paid R1250 in December from Mikes bikes for a full set of bearings seals and spacers.

The couple of Rand saving aint worth the effort.

[Skylark]

http://catalog.nomabearing.com/viewitems/single-row-angular-contact-ball-bearings/7900-angular-contact-bearings?

 

7900 and 7902 depicts angular contact bearings in any catalogue

 

I can get them in JHB from SKF or FAG. The price is around R850 excluding seals and the spacers.

I paid R1250 in December from Mikes bikes for a full set of bearings seals and spacers.

The couple of Rand saving aint worth the effort.

That's the point, angular contact bearings aren't unique to mtb, it's a Std industrial bearing, they are just not as cheap as normal bearings?