Mine just 'went' on the way home from work this evening. All of a sudden there's lots of squeaking and grating and the front end shudders, then it's ok again for a while. What's the chances of me getting the 30 miles to Ducati Leeds on it without them collapsing ? How much can I expect to splash out to get 'em replaced d'you think ? Most importantly, is it a quick job - I'm supposed to be doing an evening session at Cadwell tomorrow - is it a ride in/ride out fix it while you wait kind of job ?
not sure about how much futher you could go on them, would stick to as slow a speed as possible, shouldn't take much more than 1/2 hour to change if the replacements are in stock.
Hour and a Half Old Yella, no job on the pit crew for you. I was impressed when Karsten Scmidt's pit crew took 12 minutes to change his clutch in the Fomula 1 TT, as they regularly take part in the world Endurance championship they certainly know what they are doing.
I've had a wheel bearing fail in a car whilst driving!
The failure of the bearing causes the axle and the hub to rub together which caused a massive amount of friction.
The friction causes heat and this high temperature is enough to result in the hub and axle "welding" together.
As the non-moving part is now welded to the moving part, the only thing that can happen is that the two will shear at the weakest point and the fused hub/axle will part company.
Luckily this happened to me at (only!) 20mph and the car slumped down at the back and the wheel bounced off down the road.
I'd hate to think what would happen if it was a front wheel of a bike!
As Old Yella says, use a bearing supplier to source some replacements and get a local garage to do it for you.