Wheel bearings

[mr waff]

Information to all XB riders re an 07 xb12s 6000 miles on the clock,the front wheel bearings were completely shagged and the rear wheel has also got a play as well so they'll need replacing as well, so check yer wheels for any play and roughness reg.

[Heritagebob]

Seems there's been quite a bit of discussion on the bearing issue on other sites. HERE Maybe some quality issues need sorting?

[grbrown]

Many thanks for that! Got just over 5k on my XB12R and due to change tyres soon, so will take a critical look and feel.

[mr waff]

Yes! the rear wheel bearings to the same bike were replaced the other day well shagged.

[nutah]

also worth changing the bearings in the belt tensioner , if you have an XB , easy little job .

[chopper]

checked mine when putting the new tyres on on friday were fine 7k miles on the Uly now and just over a year old

[nutah]

did mine at about 10k to 15k i think .
There's two bearings next to each other in the wheel of the tensioner, was about £13 for the bits, if anyone is needs to do it.

[Phil]

I talked to Alan Ball at Buell in Troy today about this issue, as we have had several.

They are aware of the issue & have made a running production change.

If your bearings have a yellow or orange seal they are the early type which can have problems. All the new bearings have the black seals.

This is odd as thay had a product program several years ago where they went from black to orange!

They have no plans to initiate a product program to switch out all bad bearings, just replace them as & when they fail.

[nutah]

yeh but TBH the bearings still only last a short time in the wheels, I have had both orange and black bearings, they still only last a short time , i know as i have done mine on average every 5k . have a look on UKBEG an see how often they change theres (on XB models only), I AM NOT trying to start a fight , just warning owners to keep a regular eye on them , i have an XB an intend to keep it for the long run

[mr waff]

My local bearing supplier asked me what application that these bearings were to to be used? when i said a 1200 cc motorcycle, his opinion was that they were undersized for that particular application.
Have always replaced with quality (FAG or SKF) bearings.
The bearings iv'e changed on mine and other XB's were the orange NTN bearings, there breakdown mainly due to water ingress causing the balls and tracks to rust.