CYYJ
Michael
I wore my rear tire down to the steel belts in Southern Morocco, and ordered a replacement tire from Moto Plus in Casablanca. It arrived today by bus.
I removed the rear wheel from the motorcycle, and was horrified to discover that the rear wheel bearing on the brake disk side of the rear wheel had completely disintegrated. I guess that explained the occasional grinding noise I have been hearing for the past 1,000 miles of riding.
As far as I know, this bearing is the original one, but it was in fine condition (based on visual inspection and feel) when I last changed the rear tire 5,000 miles ago. The bike is a 2001 ABS model, with 130,000 miles (200,000 km) on it. I was very surprised to see how badly the bearing had deteriorated in such a short time.
This is where the story starts to get funny. I'm in the small town of Ouarzazate, population about 70,000, on the edge of the Sahara desert. When I saw the disintegrated wheel bearing, my first thought was that it would be weeks before I could get out of here, I'll have to get a bearing couriered in from Europe. I walked down the road to a moped dealer, rolling my wheel with me, and showed the staff the bearing ('roulement', in French). The mechanics there pulled out a vernier caliper and started to measure it... I was kind of surprised to see that they had a precision measurement tool. After some internet research, we discovered that the specification for the bearing was 6204UU - whatever that means.
The lead mechanic motioned for me to hop on the back of his moped, and we began a tour of all the small shops and souks in the town. After about 3 stops, we found a shop that specialized in wheel bearings. The guy running the shop came out of the back with three bearings, and recommended that I buy the 6204EE bearing, because EE means it is sealed on both sides, which he told me is also what UU means. The bearing was made by SNR, a respected French manufacturer - total cost, USD $4. Apparently this same bearing is used in some European cars.
Got the bearing installed, got my new tire mounted (cost USD $6 for the dismount of the old tire & mounting of the new one), was feeling quite lucky... so, I decided to change the oil.
I got back on the rear seat of his moped, and off we went to find a ST 1100 oil filter. After 2 stops, we found a shop specializing in oil and oil filters. Working only from the thread specification and physical dimensions of my old filter, the guy at the oil filter shop found an exact replacement - a 'Mando' (Korean) brand filter that is also used on some small Hyundi and Kia vehicles that are imported into Morocco. Cost of the filter: USD $7. He also had Motul brand 10W40 oil, non-energy conserving, but that was a bit more expensive at USD $30 for a 5 litre jug.
Got all the work done over a 4 hour period. The mechanic from the moped shop charged me USD $7 for 4 hours of his time, his moped mileage, and disposal of the old oil.
All in all, it was a pretty good day. I'm starting to like small towns in Morocco.![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Michael
What was left of my rear wheel bearing
![Bearing 1.jpg Bearing 1.jpg](https://www.st-owners.com/forums/data/attachments/102/102050-17c405dea46832bf52cde23f0ddbb4b7.jpg)
I removed the rear wheel from the motorcycle, and was horrified to discover that the rear wheel bearing on the brake disk side of the rear wheel had completely disintegrated. I guess that explained the occasional grinding noise I have been hearing for the past 1,000 miles of riding.
As far as I know, this bearing is the original one, but it was in fine condition (based on visual inspection and feel) when I last changed the rear tire 5,000 miles ago. The bike is a 2001 ABS model, with 130,000 miles (200,000 km) on it. I was very surprised to see how badly the bearing had deteriorated in such a short time.
This is where the story starts to get funny. I'm in the small town of Ouarzazate, population about 70,000, on the edge of the Sahara desert. When I saw the disintegrated wheel bearing, my first thought was that it would be weeks before I could get out of here, I'll have to get a bearing couriered in from Europe. I walked down the road to a moped dealer, rolling my wheel with me, and showed the staff the bearing ('roulement', in French). The mechanics there pulled out a vernier caliper and started to measure it... I was kind of surprised to see that they had a precision measurement tool. After some internet research, we discovered that the specification for the bearing was 6204UU - whatever that means.
The lead mechanic motioned for me to hop on the back of his moped, and we began a tour of all the small shops and souks in the town. After about 3 stops, we found a shop that specialized in wheel bearings. The guy running the shop came out of the back with three bearings, and recommended that I buy the 6204EE bearing, because EE means it is sealed on both sides, which he told me is also what UU means. The bearing was made by SNR, a respected French manufacturer - total cost, USD $4. Apparently this same bearing is used in some European cars.
Got the bearing installed, got my new tire mounted (cost USD $6 for the dismount of the old tire & mounting of the new one), was feeling quite lucky... so, I decided to change the oil.
I got back on the rear seat of his moped, and off we went to find a ST 1100 oil filter. After 2 stops, we found a shop specializing in oil and oil filters. Working only from the thread specification and physical dimensions of my old filter, the guy at the oil filter shop found an exact replacement - a 'Mando' (Korean) brand filter that is also used on some small Hyundi and Kia vehicles that are imported into Morocco. Cost of the filter: USD $7. He also had Motul brand 10W40 oil, non-energy conserving, but that was a bit more expensive at USD $30 for a 5 litre jug.
Got all the work done over a 4 hour period. The mechanic from the moped shop charged me USD $7 for 4 hours of his time, his moped mileage, and disposal of the old oil.
All in all, it was a pretty good day. I'm starting to like small towns in Morocco.
Michael
What was left of my rear wheel bearing
![Bearing 1.jpg Bearing 1.jpg](https://www.st-owners.com/forums/data/attachments/102/102050-17c405dea46832bf52cde23f0ddbb4b7.jpg)