A motorcycle wheel with individual ball bearings!

[Canuck750]

I took apart my 1958 Cardellino rear wheel today to clean the bearings and replace a worn tire, I was very surprised to find the wheel hub is just like an old school bicycle ( to be fair the Cardellino is pretty much a bicycle with a small motor, skinny 20" tires et all).



The axle is located into the center of the alloy hub with cups pressed into the hub, 10 loose ball bearings per side and cones that pas through the axle, the axle has centering nuts to keep the cones tight to the ball bearings just like a bicycle.

I guess it does the job well enough given the light weight of the machine and the relative slow speed it was designed for but I sure was not expecting that.

Anyone ever seen this set up on any other motorcycles?

[malik]

Same system on the steering head on my Enfield singles. Slather the grease in, load up the ball bearings one by one. Try not to lose any. Works well, and a lot cheaper than the aftermarket tapered rollers.

[F-22]

Well, these kind of bearings aren't necessarily inferior to the caged-in ball bearings, they even withstand way more sideways forces (like a tapered roller bearing does) and center the wheel. All older small blocks had them on the steering stem. But of course it's a lot more finnicky to assemble.

[moto-uno]

  You'd love working on old Harley wheel bearing then , rollers (not balls) , plus end shimming , and
then to add insult to injury , they put grease fittings on the hub , so owners could pump in grease
'til it would fill the brake drum  . Peter