My Bridgestone 150-70-17 Trail Wing 152 is finally worn out.....28K miles....this is the first time I ever wore the sides off a front tire before the middle. Makes me wonder 0of this tire has a tougher compound in the middle than the sides? I am replacing it with a used OEM sized front tire I removed the week before heading to Akaska last July and it only has 4K miles on it so its good for probably another 10K miles. The wear on the sides was getting to be a bit of a hassle when doing slow speed turns or even 15-25 mph twisties, it really wanted to dive onto that flat spot and you really have to hang on the bars. After wearing out this used tire I might entertain doing another rear/front......sure like the mileage !
While doing this swap, of course one checks the wheel bearings and sure enough I had one on the speedo pickup side seem a bit rough. Couldn't decide whether it was rough enough til I remembered a old trick to amplify the roughness and determine without a doubt it was time to replace. Simply stick the axle into the suspect bearing about 1/4-3/8 inch (don't touch the spacer), put a bit of side pressure on the axle and rotate.......won't be any question whether the bearing is perfectly good (smooth as glass) or rough and needs replacement. With the rough bearing still in the wheel, the roughness even translates into sound that is echoed through the rim.
I had spare bearings but not the seals, so I was careful to tap out the bearings from the inside and push the seal out at the same time and it doesn't deform the seal. I will order a couple of seals anyway and at the next front tire change do a replacement on the seals.
So I had my first bad wheel bearing (front or back) at 140K miles, can't complain!!!!
Ya gotta love these bikes despite not having as much torque as a 1500 GW with 2 carbs!!!....
PS.....why isn't my smiley faces not working any more, don't you just click on the "insert image" and then click the image you want?
