Crunch and Munch.
I bought my LeMond Revolution in the fall of 2010. Actually, I preordered it before it hit the market. I abused it for almost 10 years, and even bought a second one when I started traveling for work. The Revolution never failed me once. Sure, it was noisy as hell, but it was smooth and durable.
The noise issue led me to replace it last fall with a Wahoo Kickr Core. It's not lighter than the Revolution, and isn't smoother. It was quieter, though. My coworkers didn't comment anymore about the jet engine sounds they intermittently heard when they passed my room. All was relatively peaceful. Until it wasn't.
The other day I was cruising along on Zwift, not putting out any impressive numbers, and crunching noises started to come from my trainer. Not a good sign. I ended up taking apart the trainer to find the cause, and discovered the outer flywheel bearing had disintegrated. These are sealed bearings pressed into the frame, so I'm sorta out of luck. I coud press out the bearings and source new ones, but there's no guarantee they'd arrive before I leave here. Also, I would be without a trainer- even a crunchy one.
So, I put it back together and rode it until the grinding and crunching smoothed out a bit. It's been that way for three days now, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better or worse.
I did a little research on the interwebs. Seems bearing issues with Wahoo Kickrs is nothing new. You'd think they would have replaced the bearing by now with something not made of Fruity Pebbles, but I guess sourcing quality bearings like LeMond did isn't a good business model. LeMond went out of business, and Wahoo is experiencing exponential growth thanks to every cyclist being locked inside to avoid getting sick, so there may be something there.
When I get home in three weeks, I'll probably fix it or send it in for a warranty replacement. I'll probably also leave it at home, because I don't know if I trust it. The trainer is my main positive recreation when I'm out at the sites, and life will go downhill fast if I can't burn off my frustrations on the bike.
Back to my noisy old Revolution.
The noise issue led me to replace it last fall with a Wahoo Kickr Core. It's not lighter than the Revolution, and isn't smoother. It was quieter, though. My coworkers didn't comment anymore about the jet engine sounds they intermittently heard when they passed my room. All was relatively peaceful. Until it wasn't.
The other day I was cruising along on Zwift, not putting out any impressive numbers, and crunching noises started to come from my trainer. Not a good sign. I ended up taking apart the trainer to find the cause, and discovered the outer flywheel bearing had disintegrated. These are sealed bearings pressed into the frame, so I'm sorta out of luck. I coud press out the bearings and source new ones, but there's no guarantee they'd arrive before I leave here. Also, I would be without a trainer- even a crunchy one.
So, I put it back together and rode it until the grinding and crunching smoothed out a bit. It's been that way for three days now, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better or worse.
I did a little research on the interwebs. Seems bearing issues with Wahoo Kickrs is nothing new. You'd think they would have replaced the bearing by now with something not made of Fruity Pebbles, but I guess sourcing quality bearings like LeMond did isn't a good business model. LeMond went out of business, and Wahoo is experiencing exponential growth thanks to every cyclist being locked inside to avoid getting sick, so there may be something there.
When I get home in three weeks, I'll probably fix it or send it in for a warranty replacement. I'll probably also leave it at home, because I don't know if I trust it. The trainer is my main positive recreation when I'm out at the sites, and life will go downhill fast if I can't burn off my frustrations on the bike.
Back to my noisy old Revolution.
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