Wow, I've been away from this list for such a long time I feel like a newbie again . anyway, today I took in my beak for abs & clutch bleeding. The mech grabbed my bars and started wiglling it up and down. He says the bearing's bad and needs to be changed due to a huge play. I've been riding the bike for so long in this state I never even noticed the problem cuz i was so used to it. Long story short, the bearing was changed, and wow, feels like a different bike, going slow is soooo much easier now, hardly needed to put my legs down on a slow crawl. bike doesn't seem as darty anymore, especially on road surface changes. I am so amazed what that small bearing did to bring back the enjoyment i've already forgotten
In Philippines, BMW charged me equivalent to $85 for labor. They had the part for $120, but I found an equivalent outside for only $22. What was on my bike and what BMW was selling me was a KOYO 5204RS (Japan), what I found outside was a happy guy 3204B.2RSR.TVH (Italy). AFAIK, happy guy is a better brand than KOYO
Last edited by Lean Angle on Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
That's unusual for such a high quality double sealed ball bearing to fail. I have seen it and it is more rugged than a double sealed wheel ball bearing. Also, the shock loads it may see from the front wheel hitting potholes are partially absorbed by the Aluminum top triple tree. I suspect that water long ago got under the snap in cap and finally got past the top rubber seal to rust up the works.
I wonder if the failure might have been due to improper torquing at the factory....yes, it would been one of a very limited number.
Regarding bearing manufacturers, just about everything with a recognizable name, Fafnir, SKF,Timken,Toyo (Japanese made) have established their quality and durability.
STAY AWAY FROM CHINESE BEARINGS.......
Member #312
06 Suzuki Burgman 650 "state of flux"
79 CBX
What is the typical life of the head bearings? Is there recommended maintenance on them?
Back when i was in my late teens I worked for a bearing manufacturing company called Brenco Bearings, they manufactured a large line of commercial bearings including bearing assemblies for railroad car axles. I worked on that assembly line. I remember their largest competitor was Timken.
The Older I Get, The Less I know. (in honor of MikeCam
'05 RT
'04 R
'03 R
CB750
KZ750
HD 350 Sprint
In this application, with the geometry of the suspension, properly installed at the factory, with no wheelies and other shenanigans, the life of the bearing should be pretty, prety long. Certainly nothing to worry about........
Member #312
06 Suzuki Burgman 650 "state of flux"
79 CBX
Pretty long? Not on our roads. In fact, within the same week I had mine done, there were relatively low mileage R1200RT, R1200GS, and my relatively high mileage (as I said, it's been there for a long time, but I got used to it) R1150R that had the job done. All the same part broke, KOYO 5204RS. BMW mechanic said it was quite a common and frequent job for them. I guess our roads just suck .
Hi Riceburner, just grab the bars, wiggle it up and down left & right hand alternatively. If it has a lot of play, see if it plays where the mounting head mounts to under the center plastic round cover which you just pop off. You will see the wiggle or play emmanating from the bearing there. Let me know what brand and part number you have. Thanks
My guess is the engineers underestimated a single stout ball bearing's ability to survive repeated, light axial shock loads. They are great at radial loads, like wheel bearings see, but not so much with axial loads that are lightly transmitted by the TeleLever's damperless telescopic fork action. In a perfect world it ideally should have been a more costly pair of opposing tapered roller bearings instead.
FWIW, neither my bike's almost 64K miles or Boxer's ~78K miles caused that bearing to fail.
There's an old saying that goes something like, "Proper preload prevents poor performance"
Properly adjusting the preload on the head-bearing will help reduce wear from shock loads when you hit bumps and potholes. The rule of thumb I've heard is that the bearing preload is right when the handlebars slowly fall to one side or the other by themselves after you put the bike on the centersatnd.
The TeleLever system doesn't seem to have the conventional bearing preload/freeplay adjustment. It just uses 2 separate special ball bearings, very tightly mounted to support the upper and lower steering pivot points. IMO the TeleLever is the best front suspension a Std/SportTour/Touring M/C can have. The upper and lower steering bearings are some 22" apart!! The TeleLever design provides a great deal of stability, whether cornering thru bumps or going straight in a crosswind. It separates the braking load from the steering and suspension loading while allowing customization by changing only 1 shock absorber/strut. There is also zero braking dive. Never mentioned is the cleaner environment the fork seals enjoy due to their protected up-high location.
Too bad for the customers the stupid copyright laws prevent it being copied by other manufacturers right now today.
CycleRob wrote:The TeleLever system doesn't seem to have the conventional bearing preload/freeplay adjustment. It just uses 2 separate special ball bearings, very tightly mounted to support the upper and lower steering pivot points. IMO the TeleLever is the best front suspension a Std/SportTour/Touring M/C can have. The upper and lower steering bearings are some 22" apart!! The TeleLever design provides a great deal of stability, whether cornering thru bumps or going straight in a crosswind. It separates the braking load from the steering and suspension loading while allowing customization by changing only 1 shock absorber/strut. There is also zero braking dive. Never mentioned is the cleaner environment the fork seals enjoy due to their protected up-high location.
Too bad for the customers the stupid copyright laws prevent it being copied by other manufacturers right now today.
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Correction - there's a very small amount of braking dive. BMW put it in because the test riders were massively over braking when they first built the system because they couldn't tell how hard they were braking and just kept squeezing! I agree it's barely noticeable though - but it IS there.
I do have to agree with the rest though - I love Telelever and can't imagine having a bike without it.
My ultimate lottery plan is to commission a Telelever'd Monotracer from Peraves.
. anyway, today I took in my beak for abs & clutch bleeding. The mech grabbed my bars and started wiglling it up and down. He says the bearing's bad and needs to be changed due to a huge play. I've been riding the bike for so long in this state I never even noticed the problem cuz i was so used to it. Long story short, the bearing was changed, and wow, feels like a different bike, going slow is soooo much easier now, hardly needed to put my legs down on a slow crawl. bike doesn't seem as darty anymore, especially on road surface changes. I am so amazed what that small bearing did to bring back the enjoyment i've already forgotten 
.
BMW put it in because the test riders were massively over braking when they first built the system because they couldn't tell how hard they were braking and just kept squeezing! I agree it's barely noticeable though - but it IS there.