Garage Night

It’s warming up in these parts and I’m getting closer to putting the swingarm back on my bike. Since Trent made me a linkage bushing in the last episode, I’ve been gathering new bearings and seals, getting the swingarm powdercoated and even fabricating my own chain slider out of a special hard-wearing plastic.

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Some bikes use simple bronze bushings in their various rear suspension linkages and pivots, but many use needle roller bearings. That’s certainly the case with my bike, which mixes caged needle rollers with “full complement” bearings.

Watch the video for all the details, but essentially the full complement bearing is the more compact of the two, capable of carrying higher loads for its size but prone to its fiddly little rollers falling out when handled because there’s no cage around them. Continue reading ‘Ep 15: Replacing swingarm bearings, part 2′