Measurement of the rear fork bearing?

[vespbretta]

Does anyone of you by chance know the measurement (mm) of the bearing in the rear fork of the Like?
Could not find anything in the parts catalogue. Don´t need it right now, just wanted to know for the future someday.

[Stig / Major Tom]

OK, Robo - you might owe me a box of donuts for this....

I did some page capturing ......computer image enhancing work.....google image searching......monster part # searching......and e-chatting with a bearing warehouse tech.......
I think we need a 6203 LU NTN bearing for the rear fork.

My evidence : 1)  kymcoparts monster notes that Kymco uses NTN bearings
                    2)  front wheel bearing is a "6201 (U) NTN"
                    3)  enhanced cyclepedia photo of our bearing in rear fork shows, admittedly - faintly,
                         "6203 LU" bearing in there...pretty sure
cyclepedia image


internet image


How certain am I ?? For $10 I'll order one.

Robo, what do you think?

Stig

[vespbretta]

Hey Tom,
Congrats! You are really good! Phenomenal investigator! 

I also did some intense internet search today and finally came to the same conclusions. 
That rear fork bearing (1x) is indeed a 6203. Sealed on both sides. 17mmx40mmx12mm
And the front wheel bearings (2x) are 6201. Sealed on one side only. 12mmx32mmx10mm

Brand:
Well, in case I would want to go with a really good high quality brand bearing. So probably from German or Japan. FAG, INA, SKF, SNR, NSK, NTN, KOYO etc. No chinese noname stuff.

So far I found a quite interesting new bearing series from FAG (C-series) with new and better seals against dust and water.

FAG 6201 C 2HRS or FAG 6201 C 2ELS
FAG 6203 C 2HRS or FAG 6203 C 2ELS
(both are permanently sealed on both sides and lifetime greased)

FAG Generation C
http://www.fag.de/content.fag.de/en/products_services/rotativ_products/deep_groove_ball_bearings/generation_c/generation_c.jsp?

Searching for bearings is a real science and a challenge. When you check different bearing manufacturer, you will also find different labels, names,terms for the same bearing. But there is  a conversion table available to "translate/transform" from one brand to another. Interesting stuff.

I will continue my research for a while, until I made my decision and then I am going to order some for my next tire change.

So Tom, thanks again. You have done a great job again! And your NTN6203LLU/5K is basically the right one. You might consider a different brand though...



Quality Bearings Online
http://www.qualitybearingsonline.com/

[Stig / Major Tom]

I purchased a Japanese made NACHI bearing which I will install in the fork when I do my rear tire and brake R&R in a few days.


I've used this brand of bearing with good success on my Burgman....here in the CVT cover. It helps support things back there, and is an easy installation.





Stig

[vespbretta]

Congrats! Good choice. I ordered last week the imho pretty expensive FAG... (20,-€!) Overhere there is mainly one brand more or less easily available, which is SKF. Will also change it then with the new rear tire, when the time has come, probably this year.

Edit:
Hardwarestore (rich and famous) closed at 12AM noon on Friday for the weekend and I arrived too late..., so I decided to cancel my expensive FAG bearing order there and bought a set of SKF bearings at another store for half of the price of the FAGs.

SKF wheelbearing set €21,-
FAG wheelbearing set €41,-

[vespbretta]

Today by removing the old bearing I found out that the absolute correct OEM bearing would be a TPI 6203 LU C3 bearing.
C3 stands for a little bit more clearance. I didn´t know that until today, so I bought the "wrong" one. And installed it nevertheless. And the old bearing was still good, could have left it in there for some more thousands of miles.

Here are two pics of my old one where you can see the C3 mark on the outer race:

[Texxan]

Kymco parts catalog has all the dimensions and numbers(6304,6204,etc) of all bearings and seals.  300GTi uses TPI bearings throughout

[Stig / Major Tom]

The Nachi bearing I used was very nice Japanese quality for less than the Kymco part. Fits and working great for 2 yrs now.
Stig