Front drivers side bearing exploded at 80MPH!

[Petrol Pete]

Years ago my brother and I were tooling along , he on his Kawasaki Z1000J , me behind on my Kawasaki Z1000R Eddie Lawson Replica (number 008, how I wish I could find that bike now ££) . All of a sudden his rear wheel bearings suffered a catastrophic failure and total collapse. A bit of skill and lots of luck plus a dry and a straight empty road saw him come to a juddering halt in one piece. Both bikes were bought brand new and my brother was a mechanic. Bearing probably damaged during a ham fisted tyre change at the local tyre place.

Fast forward some years and as I listened to my Honda Fireblade on the Dyno I hear a clicking noise above the roar of the engine and exhaust = rear wheel bearings on the way out due to slightly out of spec spacers.. on a Honda ! Never !!

It happens. + may MOT places use a pit and the wheels never leave the ground during the checks.

 

[Larkone]

Given that there is no such thing as a totally uncompressible material

So it was you who told my wife that then - she uses that mantra when packing suitcases.

 

[GeeJayW]

Not all front wheel bearing are taper roller bearings, so different fitting and adjusting techniques are required depending on the type actually in use.

Unannounced catastrophic failure of wheel bearings is as far as I know pretty unusual. They usually grumble a bit for while beforehand especially whilst cornering, so the OP was unlucky.

As for the MoT station, they can't really do much other than a wobble and rumble test under no load.

 

[Auto-mobile]

Someone has over tightened the wheel bearing.