Just had my 48,000K service and my rear wheel bearings needed replacement for the second time.

How many K's are you getting out of you rear wheel bearings?

Those are repackable... Are you repacking them with grease every so often?

I have had mine out to P/C the wheels and repacked them then.

Did they replace all three?


Cheers

Interesting - I have done 26,000 miles and am still on the stock bearings. Saying that I've probably just jinxed myself and they will seize on the way home from work...

I'm almost 21,000 and I just had the rear wheel off to change the sprocket. The bearings looked fine and the grease still looked new.

interesting, I never thought that's a wear item.
how about those ceramics bearing? are they worth the trouble to change them? i read articles from magazine about how it reduces friction and some motorcycle net up to 4rwhp, which is insane.

Have you priced those things???

Only TLRman has the dosh for that...

idk, how about shine some light on me and tell us how much they cost? i really have no idea.

17,500+ miles on the original bearings and they seem fine. I take care to grease them up well when I have the rear wheel off though... and I make sure the dust covers are clean and then lightly greased too.

Here is the first one I found...

Buell Firebolt Ceramic Bearing Wheel Kit Item #: 20-1399X2 $599.95

Do you need any special tools to repack the wheel bearings. I assume you need to at least remove the dust seals so you can get the new grease in but don't know for sure. The only stock bearing I have on my SV is the one pressed into the cush drive. I try to force new grease into it without removing the dust seal cuz I really don't know how the seal comes off and goes back on so I was afraid to remove it. Be great if someone could post a how to on proper repacking of the wheel bearings.

I put a dolop(sp?) of grease in my hand and smash the bearing into the grease and rotate and smash and rotate and smash until I have gone all the way around the bearing. The do make bearing repackers for open bearings and it presses the grease throught the one side and squirts out the other side but only for the open bearings. The hand method has always worked well for me though.

After 8000m sprocket bearing failed and got some play, probably due to previous owner riding with kinked chain. Replaced for totaly sealed one as stock bearings are not of a sealed type.

Can you provide a part number for the sealed cush drive bearing?

replaced my front and rear at 18k miles. they were toast.. but i ride in the rain alot cuz the ol sv is my only transportation.

You can get non-stock bearing sets from any bearing distrubutor. They will be better quality and cheaper than stock. You can get them with seals on both sides. Timkin is a common brand. I couldn't find the sizes in the shop manual, they should be marked on the bearing sets.
The ceramics are not worth the money and are designed for higher rpm/load applications. Just check http://www.yellowpages.com/ for a distributor near you.