Roval wheel issue

[Jonowinter]

I have a 2018 Turbo Levo and covered about 500 miles so far. I could feel a bit of side to side play in my rear wheel so decided to take a closer look, it felt exactly like the preload was wrong on a cup and cone type set up. On removal I found that the hub axle was actually loose, looks like the hub axle actually preloads the bearings on this hub, so I'm guessing this is why the wheel had side to side movement. I have also been experiencing the free hub not engaging intermittently. I assume it is the free hub and not the motor re-engaging. So while I was there I decided to take the free hub off, on inspection I found some grooves on all three of the free hub pawls, Images below. Any idea how these would be caused? Surely not because the axle was loose? Don’t think they would cause any functional issue but I’m sure they should not be there. I will speak to the bike shop that I got the bike from tomorrow to see what they say. Any one experience / seen this before? The wheels are ok, they are both still true so don't really want to replace them yet.

 

[MarkH]

Same bike, same problem. Even though the thru axle is tight I've got some free play on the axle and additionally the cassette slides side to side about 2mm. I've not striped it down yet to have a look at the cause as I'm too busy riding it???

 

[Taffyteg]

The damage looks to have happened during assembly. I have also had problems with the rear bearings and pawls, where I actually ended up running on 2 sets of pawls. I have a post on here about it. The bearing arrangement is not a great design in my opinion and when you take the rear wheel in and out you can knock / loosen the lock nut and you get play in the shaft again.
I went to Hope hubs in the end and (touch wood) never had problems ?

 

[jwrx]

rear axle came loose on my bike and another levo in my group within 200km. 12 years of riding before that, and that has never happened before.
Tightened mine back to correct torque...it was loose again within 1 month...retightened and blue loctite it...been ok so far.

 

[outerlimits]

rear axle came loose on my bike and another levo in my group within 200km. 12 years of riding before that, and that has never happened before.
Tightened mine back to correct torque...it was loose again within 1 month...retightened and blue loctite it...been ok so far.

Just used loctite on mine, as it was always comming loose. Try and tighten the lock but and the other moves with it and preloads the bearings too much.

 

[Al Boneta]

We have had issues with the rear hubs locking up on expert level hubs, essentially becoming fixed gear hubs.

As for the rear thru axle coming loose, I check tightness of every bolt on my bike every week when I clean it. It’s a good habit to get into on any bike you ride on a consistent basis. Stuff gets loose, but it’s better to catch it early before damage occurs.

 

[Jimi]

Same bike, same problem - also here.
During one rocky section the thru shaft got completely loose, even I check those frequently...
Then I noticed the free play on the wheel. Surely it cannot be so that I have 5kEUR product and after every 200km the back bearing should be again tighthened? What a piece of...
As the bike is just four months old so there should no be issues with the warranty, but I won't be driving 100k's to lbs in the future so frequent.

So is there any way to fix this permanently, I have heard that switch to Kenevo's bearing would be wise?

I'm not wanting to spend more money, but what would the options here? How could this issue be solved, with what products?

 

[outerlimits]

Same bike, same problem - also here.
During one rocky section the thru shaft got completely loose, even I check those frequently...
Then I noticed the free play on the wheel. Surely it cannot be so that I have 5kEUR product and after every 200km the back bearing should be again tighthened? What a piece of...
As the bike is just four months old so there should no be issues with the warranty, but I won't be driving 100k's to lbs in the future so frequent.

So is there any way to fix this permanently, I have heard that switch to Kenevo's bearing would be wise?

I'm not wanting to spend more money, but what would the options here? How could this issue be solved, with what products?

Went to the local bearing shop yesterday and got a pair of NTN 6903 LU bearings for $19aud, and being Jap, they would be high quality. They have a double lip seal both sides.
The original bearings were XERO 6903 LBLU and only had the double lip seal on the outside LU (orange colour) with a single lip on the inside LB (black colour)
If the single seal lip fails then it’s open to ingress of moisture and dust. This is likely with hi speed hi temp bearings. With the dual lip seal, if the inner lip fails, which is the most likely, then the tougher outer lip still provides a positive seal.

I punched out the bearings from the back with a punch. Hit the new ones in with a piece of wood and a socket of the right size.

Specialised had offered to do a warranty on the bearings as they had only done 2000km. They do not usually warranty bearings as they are considered a wear item and therefore not covered.
I chose to do it myself as the local dealer is a pain to work with and I know quality bearings went back in. Minimal cost minimal fuss, rated to 22000rpm and spins for days.

 

[BBK]

Hi all, found this post that relates to Roval wheels, but my issue isn't the bearings or the free play as discussed, but the failure of the free hub itself. I was out yesterday and thought the chain had snapped again as it had last week but found that the cassette was not engaging, I had a quick look and found that the tips of the pawls had damage to them and that there was several pieces of metal within the free hub, this bike has only done 300miles!! not very happy as have also had continual electrical issues within the 5 months of ownership.
This can't be classed as wear and tear and concerns me that the free hub is not adequate enough for the forces involved, its a 2019 Turbo Levo FSR, do you know if the higher specced bikes have better quality free hubs fitted?.

 

[outerlimits]

Hi all, found this post that relates to Roval wheels, but my issue isn't the bearings or the free play as discussed, but the failure of the free hub itself. I was out yesterday and thought the chain had snapped again as it had last week but found that the cassette was not engaging, I had a quick look and found that the tips of the pawls had damage to them and that there was several pieces of metal within the free hub, this bike has only done 300miles!! not very happy as have also had continual electrical issues within the 5 months of ownership.
This can't be classed as wear and tear and concerns me that the free hub is not adequate enough for the forces involved, its a 2019 Turbo Levo FSR, do you know if the higher specced bikes have better quality free hubs fitted?.




View attachment 12545
View attachment 12544

I have now put another 3000km on my bike after fitting the bearings as above at the 2000km mark. I did not do the bearing in the free hub itself, so still on the original.
So after 5000km of shifting under power, crapped out bearings and 120kg rider, my low spec freehub is still good.

 

[kungdog]

Noticed some wheel movement on my 2018 levo recently too, had the bike about 7 weeks. Took the wheel out and noticed the lock nut was loose. Didn't loctite it this time, will have to keep an eye on it

 

[sasha]

play in rear hub has nothing to do with your loose axle, unless you are stupid and ride with loosened axle though. if yer axle keeps loosening, then put some red loctite on threads, it works great and won't permalock it cos you got some grease on threads by default.
play in bearings is a different story and you can change as many bearings as you want and with this retarded hub design that specialized dares to mount on a 6300eur bike there's no help unless you lathe yourself a spacer to insert between the 2 bearings in the hub. without spacer, when you tighten the inner axle cones to not have play, the cones press inner reeses of bearings inside towards each other, therefore forcing bearing balls out of their running channel, and there go all your balls! i was to the point to tighten cones so much to not have play while wheel was mounted on the bike, that i couldn't even free spin the axle by hand! gone through 2 sets of bearings because of this and constant play in the wheel! lathed a spacer sleeve and solved the problem and it works!
spacer size is 53mm wide pipe. inner diameter 17mm, outer diameter 21mm and it works excellent!!!
i don't even wanna go into details on how dumb engineers are nowadays designing products that there's no way they could even function properly. not even to mention how i had to modify my kenevo chain guide after my chain kept falling off 5 times each run. i couldn't even ride rocky dh trails anymore and then i modified the stupid guide and chain hasn't fallen off once since!

 

[Beezerk]

My mates rear wheel on his Kenevo fell off mid ride last week. Apparently the bearings had seized so the axle had somehow unwound itself.
Could have been nasty but luckily we were going up a steep hill so not really going very fast.

 

[ImSundee]

My mates rear wheel on his Kenevo fell off mid ride last week. Apparently the bearings had seized so the axle had somehow unwound itself.
Could have been nasty but luckily we were going up a steep hill so not really going very fast.

That sounds more like bad maintenance, and he hadn't made sure his axle had a good layer of grease.

 

[Beezerk]

That sounds more like bad maintenance, and he hadn't made sure his axle had a good layer of grease.

Dunno mate, he's generally pretty meticulous with his bike but he's had a fair few issues with this one.

 

[ImSundee]

Dunno mate, he's generally pretty meticulous with his bike but he's had a fair few issues with this one.

Its usually one of them areas you forget unless you take your rear wheel out alot, and washing just removes it, certainly a pain.

 

[Wernher]

I've had this problem on my Giant as well where the axle keeps coming loose. Apparently there is a way that those over axles that keep the bearings in place can be fixed in place but I eventually gave up and Giant offered me an upgrade to a hub of my choice so I went for a DT-Swiss hub. End of my issues using the same axle. Just make sure you get a freewheel hub that's up to the power of the eBike.

I'm amazed at the low quality hubs that manufacturers fit on eBikes and especially on the more expensive bikes.

 

[Wernher]

Dunno mate, he's generally pretty meticulous with his bike but he's had a fair few issues with this one.

I agree. The quality of done hubs leave a lot to be desired. I've had the same issue on a different low quality hub and if you search in the forums you see it is a common issue with crap hubs. I've made a decision to only use DT-Swiss in future. Even if I have to ask the bike shop to upgrade my new bike. It's not worth the troubles and breakdowns later. Luckily Giant upgraded my hub for me.

 

[Benson]

Just replaced the bearings on my rear wheel, same freehub as the one shown in earlier images from my 2019 Comp Levo. Is the black non-drive nut the preload and the two silver the lock nuts?

 

[Mikerb]

On the non drive side you have an adjuster nut and a (silver) lock nut. The adjuster nut does not pre load the bearings ( they are cartridge bearings) it ensures the axle has no sideplay. On the drive side is a single silver nut. That is also an adjuster nut this time to ensure the freehub has no sideplay.

 

[Benson]

On the non drive side you have an adjuster nut and a (silver) lock nut. The adjuster nut does not pre load the bearings ( they are cartridge bearings) it ensures the axle has no sideplay. On the drive side is a single silver nut. That is also an adjuster nut this time to ensure the freehub has no sideplay.

Ah, that makes sense. So presumably neither the lock or adjuster need much more than finger tightness or remove the play?

 

[Mikerb]

On the disc side I tighten until I detect some drag on the axle then back it off about a quarter of a turn and then lock the outer nut against it. On the drive side I go finger tight llus a quarter turn.

 

[Mikerb]

Plus

 

[Benson]

On the disc side I tighten until I detect some drag on the axle then back it off about a quarter of a turn and then lock the outer nut against it. On the drive side I go finger tight llus a quarter turn.

That’s great, thank you ??

 

[Tyjay]

Evening all

Sorry to dig an old thread up
I’m after some help/advice please
My mates rear wheel spindle came loose and wrecked the freehub body, ordered new parts through Specialized
Came to fit it and freehub hub wouldn’t stay in wheel, we worked out that some how he has snapped the through axel that’s in the first pic on op post. It is a near perfect snap and hard to tell it’s snapped tbh

Anyone know the part no or a link to a replacement? Through axel
Also I removed wheel, cassette from my bike to have a look as we have same wheels but couldn’t get the freehub body to come off the through axel
I assume it’s the silver locking nut at the freehub end with an Allen key in the other end? To keep it from spinning. I couldn’t undo it on mine
Attached a pic of where it has sheared


Any help info greatly appreciated

 

[Mikerb]

That is the hub axle...not the thru axle. What year Levo do you have.
You are correct the silver nut on the drive side is what holds the freehub on and you can hold the hub axle using an allen key on the non drive side.............except of course your axle is snapped in two so that will not work!!
By "spindle" I assume you are referring to the thru axle.

Search threads on snapped hub axle in the Spesh forum for suggestions on where to get a replacement axle. It was covered only a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Tyjay]

That is the hub axle...not the thru axle. What year Levo do you have.
You are correct the silver nut on the drive side is what holds the freehub on and you can hold the hub axle using an allen key on the non drive side.............except of course your axle is snapped in two so that will not work!!
By "spindle" I assume you are referring to the thru axle.

Search threads on snapped hub axle in the Spesh forum for suggestions on where to get a replacement axle. It was covered only a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks for info and correct names ?
I’ll pass info on to mate so he can track down hub axel

It’s a kenevo expert 2018 I think (on year)