Got to work this morning and started hearing squeaks from somewhere down in front of me. On the way home, I could feel a sort of irregular crunching through the bars, then it would be smooth for a minute, then a little crunching, then smooth again. Took my hands off the bars and the front wobbled a bit, but not much. I think it's from the wheel, not the head bearings. So:

What should I do to check?

How do I change them?

Where do I get them?

I will search the forum myself, but any help will be greatly appreciated.

Craig

 

Sounds like it may be a wheel bearing to me.
Kind of hard to "check" sometimes. If there is obvious wear, maybe. Any play is not good in the front wheel. Also hard to see sometimes.
If you think it's shot, I'd replace it. You certainly don't want to risk complete failure.

I've never replaced them on my 1kf, but have on cars/trucks/trailers. A manual will show you.

Apparently they are a pretty standard bearing. #6004.

Shadow responded with some links and such on another post:

 

I havn't done a wheel bearing before, but I would:
Place the bike on the center stand,
Tie the back wheel down so the front is in the air
Play with the front, give it a shake and move it around to see if there is any unwanted movment.
Spin the wheel and listen for nosies, listen at the brakes aswell
Check the head bearing while you are there.

 

This is an easy one, don't be shy. Take the front wheel off and stick your finger in there !! If the bearings don't turn as smooth as butter, replace them. End of story. You can be done in less that 45 minutes.

 

Def a wheel related problem - could be sand in the calipers rubbing on the discs, too.
Replace the bearings to be safe. Quick and cheap. Buy shielded bearings to keep dirt out

 

Another thing that may make sound is when you have pretty wore out brake pads and wore out bearings - then the brake disks start to touch the brake calipers.
Ask me how i know[&:]

Anyway when i eventually took the front wheel out to replace the bearings one of them fell apart - not good:S it was a lot more difficult to get it out when the bearing was apart. So my suggestion - replace the bearings as soon as possible!
They are cheap and really all the work will take a 45 minutes at first time when you do it. probably around 20 if you have already done this.
I still get creeps if i think what would happened if the bearing had fell apart and blocked the front wheel at lets say 200km/h - ouch.

So again as the repetition is the wisdom's mother

Change the bearings as soon you notice a little slack on front wheel.

 

You shouldn't be doing 200km/h, should be doing 240km/h

 

Wheel Bearings cost bugger all so just change em anyway.

Leave them in the freezer overnight for easy insertion.

 

Hey now, there's a thought. I've never really had any trouble replacing them, but I can see how it would be easier to get them in if they were frozen.

Hey, lets take this to the extreme..., anyone have any liquid nitrogen . I'll bet they'd just drop right in. If they didn't shatter. Naturally just kidding on the nitrogen, but freezing is probably a good idea. Good one Trips.