Don’t get fool by the title, in deed we are replacing the bearings at the Phil Wood front hub for Brompton, but most front hubs using seal cartridge bearings follow the same formula. Hence same idea can be applied.
I had this Phil Wood hub since 2014. It was the third upgrade on my Brompton after the titanium handler bar and crankset, which I thought were essential. There are 2 major upside with the hub, it’s butter smooth and gorgerious looking. The downsides are it is on the heavy side, specially in today’s standard. The bearings were fully exposed on both sides without any dust cover to prevent the water and dirt from going into the bearings. Hence, bearings replacement are needed more than often. The good news is that they are fairly easy to get changed.
The bearing sizes and the codes are on the side of the bearing seal.
Make sure you are getting the correct bearing for the replacement.
Removing the securing nut.
“Pop” the bearing with any supporting axle/parts out.
We are now having the aluminium casing, steel axle, bearings and steel bolts and nuts all dismentaled.
You may want to use a bearing pusher to have the bearings installed correctly.
It’s done and ready to be rebuilt into a wheel.
