Bearings are a bit of a given in the KiteATB world, especially as most fly at the beach. The beach is a very salty place, and metal doesn't get on too well with salt. In a matter of 2 weeks you can seize a set of brand new bearings by riding at the beach, and at £10 a set that soon adds up through a years kiting. There is something you can do about it though! Cleaning and greasing with a salt retardant grease will make your bearings last a very long time, saving hassle of spending more money and replacing them so regularly.

The best time to sort your bearings out is when they're new. This means there won't be any damage already there and removing the factory grease will be easy. Bearings with rubber seals can be done easily, but with metal seals it's recommended you buy a new set with rubber seals as it is easy to damage a metal seal. Wear suitable clothes and do all of this outside away from ignition sources as petrol is used. Using rubber gloves is strongly recommended as you will be handling petrol and marine grease, both are known to cause skin reactions for some people. Its all common sense!

Here's how it's done:

You're going to need the following:

Stanley Knife: Fresh blade does help a lot

Container: This will be filled with petrol so an old tub will do

Petrol: Enough to cover all you bearings in the container

Toothbrush: Old one, don't use it afterwards! Used for scrubbing the old grease out

Marine Grease: Very thick nasty stuff, available at any boat chandlers very cheaply

• Take your bearings out of the wheels, you may need to push a screwdriver through one side of the wheel to knock them out. On a board there will be 8 bearings and 6 for a buggy.

• Using the Stanley knife (be very careful as it is extremely sharp!) gently push the blade down the outer edge of the rubber seal and level the seal up. It should pop up very easily and cleanly. Do both sides of the bearings for all of them. Keep the seals safe and don't loose them.

• Put everything into the container and pour some petrol over it until everything is just covered.

• Using the toothbrush clean the inside and outside of all the seals and lay them down to dry. Make sure all the grease and sand is removed.

• The bearings will now have had a little while to soak. For each one scrub the old grease out of the bearing on both sides until none is remaining. The bearing should be spinning freely. If it isn't then spray with some WD40 and work it loose until it is spinning freely. When all are done, set aside to dry for a while.

• Once everything is dry get your marine grease and generously fill each side. Overfilling isn't a problem as some will seep out after the first few sessions as the grease settles into the casing. Under filling is more of a problem as it leaves room for water to sit inside.

• Firmly push the seals back onto each side of the bearing and make sure they're in place. Push back onto the hubs and fit to the board.

  Doing this should mean the lifetime of a set of bearings will increase dramatically. A single set may last the lifetime of the board! It is recommended that you replace bearings after 18 months anyway. Wear can't be prevented so doing this will ensure you board runs smoothly for a long time.

  After every session its recommended you hose down you board and spray the bearings with a Teflon based lubricant. This is available at any bike store and is excellent for you ATB. It doesn't dissolve grease and doesn't harm anything on the board. WD40 should never be used! It's properties are taken for granted but it does other things: it will dissolve the marine grease away, causing the same problem to start with. It also eats into metal (this is what it was designed for - undoing rusty things!) so can damage board parts. So always use Teflon or Nylon based lubricants, both are cheap and readily available.

  Written by Sky-Blu.

  This entry was posted on Friday, August 18th, 2006 at 8:21 pm and is filed under Setup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.