Quote:
Originally Posted by bialbero
Jenny you being a desert rat,
if potholes are such a big thing for wheel bearings and heasdstock bearings, i suppose on a Dakar you change them on a daily basis?
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Hi Bialbero - not necessarily - you might have to change them once or maybe twice during a long rally like the Dakar, but certainly not every day... on a shorter event like an FIM round, you'd be unlucky if you have to change them at all if you started the event with fresh ones.
You have to remember than dirt bikes have far longer and softer suspension travel, and are also much lighter, so the shock loading on bearings is reduced significantly... the trick is also to ride at a speed that minimizes the vibrations - for example on washboard piste (dirt roads with corrugations), if you ride at 50mph or more, it actually smoothes everything out, as the wheels are essentially skipping over the ridges, a bit like a speedboat planing on wave crests?
Even on my Tenere which I rode 23,000 miles across the USA over the winter of 08/09, and covered a lot of desert miles are quite high speed, I never needed to change the wheel (or steering bearings)...
Keeping them clean and adjusted is the key.
Jx
ps. As Rally suggested, this is an alternative method:
