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[rayivers]

The axle was moving around in the frame and it was clear the bearing(s) had been destroyed.

Wow - so the bag got past the outer wheel seal and RH bearing seal in a matter of seconds?  Or was the bearing unsealed?

FWIW, my Ortech stainless/ceramic wheel bearings loosened up after 780 dirt miles and I replaced them with generic eBay stainless ones, which are holding up fine so far.  The bigger Ortechs in the swingarm pivot seem to be doing well too. 

The later big-bearing wheels are surely a good idea if you plan to keep the bike.

[quixotic]

Agreed.  I have never replaced a wheel bearing on a car. 

A motorcycle noes not need to have parts last as long since most motorcycles don't drive that much, but it would be sad to replace a wheel bearing before a car replaces a touring tire.

Sure there will be premature failure, but wheel bearings should last >50,000 miles.

I recall reading somewhere that the old BMWs had wheel bearings, which, if re-greased at the specified intervals, would last well over a million miles. 

Edit: guess I made a mistake.  Should be billion, not million.  https://w6rec.com/bmw-motorcycle-wheel-bearings-1956-through-84-repair-preload-and-spun-hubs/

[Richard230]

Agreed.  I have never replaced a wheel bearing on a car. 

A motorcycle noes not need to have parts last as long since most motorcycles don't drive that much, but it would be sad to replace a wheel bearing before a car replaces a touring tire.

Sure there will be premature failure, but wheel bearings should last >50,000 miles.

I recall reading somewhere that the old BMWs had wheel bearings, which, if re-greased at the specified intervals, would last well over a million miles. 

Edit: guess I made a mistake.  Should be billion, not million.  https://w6rec.com/bmw-motorcycle-wheel-bearings-1956-through-84-repair-preload-and-spun-hubs/

My daughter has a 1981 BMW R65LS with over 100,000 miles on the clock.  Her wheel bearings have never been greased or serviced and they are still working just fine.  I might add that she also has the original BMW factory tool kit under her seat and the tools, except for the fabric tool kit roll which is quite worn, still look like new.  Not a drop of rust.    The quality of BMW components were of a very high quality in those days.

[Doug S]

Wow - so the bag got past the outer wheel seal and RH bearing seal in a matter of seconds?  Or was the bearing unsealed?

It was a sealed ceramic bearing (see earlier in the thread), but I don't think the bag got inside the bearing. It just wrapped itself so thoroughly around the wheel/frame junction that it overloaded the bearings to the point of failure. The bike was obviously laboring, twitching heavily, and I was fortunate to be able to even get it off the freeway without dropping the bike. This was NOT a dry cleaning garment bag. It was very thick, heavy plastic, a large piece. Something like a factory might use to ship an engine block.

The later big-bearing wheels are surely a good idea if you plan to keep the bike.

Agreed. It's very clear those bearings are under-engineered. I was hoping a "better" bearing would be an acceptable cheaper fix, and it may have been if this incident hadn't happened. But it clearly didn't have sufficient margin for error to handle this unexpected load.

[rayivers]

Wow - you're so lucky the wheel didn't immediately lock up solid, it might've been real bad.

Yeah, the small bearings just don't have any safety margin at all, especially for dirt use or if something unexpected happens like your event.  I'll probably run mine till they start loosening up, then swap 'em out.

[togo]

> At this point, I'm considering taking Terry's advice and having the shop install a 2015 (or later) wheel on the bike. The larger bearings really appeal to me at the moment.

I'm going through this process right now.  I bought the 2015+ wheel, but it looks like it needs different spacers than my 2014 SR has.