Front wheel bearings for '97 Valkyrie

[snakemeister]

 What's a good brand of wheel bearing for the front and how hard is it to replace the bearing?

[Earl in Pensacola]

BUt the OEM bearings!!  I replaced mine at 87K, "just because" of the 87K.  Those replacement bearing now have 187K on them and are still running nice and smooth!  Just be sure to follow proper wheel installation with each tire replacement.

[Patrick]

What Earl said.    The key is in proper installation. They are easy to replace, just knock out the old and drive in the new. Don't forget the spacer. Don't drive or press on the inside of the bearing, use the outer race. And drive them in completely, you'll hear it. Then make sure to install the wheel correctly, there is a proper procedure. Completely insert the axle fully, bounce the front front to center everything then tighten it up.

[hubcapsc]

When I first got my bike I replaced the bearings (dumb dumb dumb, don't fix what ain't broke).

I knocked them out with a hammer and a punch, put in the new ones with a properly sized
socket as a driver. I've since gotten the Honda tools and helped several other people
with them... they are awesome 






I totally trust the OEM bearings. I also trust bearings from a good bearing supply house.
NAPA probably has good bearings, but when I was shopping, I found them to be $$$...

I don't know from bearing brands, but don't feel warm and fuzzy about Chinese bearings, though
they can obviously make a lot of good stuff when they try (iStuff, Lenovo, ...)

-Mike

[Ricky-D]

Wheel bearings are not a maintenance item and should only be replaced when shown to be bad.

There have been reports occasionally about screwing up a wheel when attempting to replace a wheel bearing.

***

[F6Dave]

When I had to replace the 6204 rear bearing on my Tourer, the dealer sold me one with a seal on only one side (6204-1RS?).  When I got the wheel off and saw the difference, I took it back, but he didn't have the right one.  So I went to NAPA and bought a generic 6204-2RS for about half of what the dealer wanted.  That was at about 50K miles, and the bike now has 170K on that same bearing from NAPA.  These bearings can last a very long time.

BTW, I know of multiple cases where a Honda shop used the wrong bearing (like they tried to sell me) as a replacement.  They all failed quickly.  I have to wonder if there was an error with Honda's fische or labeling.