Cheapo Formula 20mm Front Hubs: Rebuildable?

So I bought a new wheelset last spring with the intention of upgrading the hubs soon enough, so I opted for the cheapo formula 20mm hub on a mavic 729…worked for a while but now the front hub has an unreal amount of play in it, I looked online but couldnt find any rebuild information, can I replace the bearings in them?? Or am I stuck rebuilding my wheelset?

Kind of a piss off if they are not rebuildable.. both for the money and the waste of it.

any hope?

if I cant rebuild them - what is the failure mode for this sort of thing, will it all of a sudden lock up and kill me? Or eventually the play becomes so bad that its just embarassing to ride it anymore? Catastrophic failure mode or just performance turning to shit before I get hurt.

I have one of those hubs, You can easily replace the bearings, and failure mode is generally roughness in the rotation, followed by play.

i think they`re around 8 bucks per side…..cheap fix.

the rebuild is simple - insert the 20mm axle just into the outer cap and leverage down on it to pop it out. Pop out both sides and then remove the bearing (I stick something like a phillips screwdriver through from the opposite side and carefully tap around the exposed lip of the bearing on the inside - be very careful not to damage the inside of the hub). The bearings are nothing special, you can get them cheap at a bearing shop. Use a socket to press the new bearings back in.

Just fyi, the bearings are either 6804 (thin bearing with small balls), or a 6904 (Thicker bearing used on newer formula hubs)

thanks for the info, I'm guessing someplace like BC Bearing would be able to hook it up ? What other sort of store might have these items in stock?

Google ads just aint comin through for this thread, thanks for all of the information dudes.

any bike shop

thanks for the info, I'm guessing someplace like BC Bearing would be able to hook it up ? What other sort of store might have these items in stock?

Google ads just aint comin through for this thread, thanks for all of the information dudes.

BC bearing or Raeside, both have counter sales, and both should be cheaper than a bike store.

if saving 3 bucks is that important to ya

For me it is not about the money you could save by buying from BC Bearings, it is the fact that you can get better BB. I got a set of crazy Japanese sealed cartage BB for and old set of pedals I had. They were way better then the Chinese crap the bike shop had.

My LBS sent me to Raeside. Also said thanks for saving him the trip there himself :lol:

BC Bearing closed their shop in Burnaby so Raeside (Coquitlam) is probably the best bet (unless you live closer to Annacis Island where BC Bearing is now).

the less-than-10-bucks are most likely the china-made variety. the real industrial-type japanese-made bearings usually cost double if not more. raeside and bc bearings will not even know what brand "enduro" is.