My 06 Ully 18600 miles all done by me. I snapped the belt a couple of months ago so I bought a Free Spirits belt tensioner. When I removed the tensioner wheel to swap over unto the FS one I noticed how dry and lumpy the two inner bearings were. I replaced them today £10 for the both of them.
These are sealed for life bearings, was I unlucky at 18K or should they automatically be replaced at say 15K. My tensioner wheel had some play in it, my friends 06 Ully has no play and he has 16k on his bike.

My bearings were goosed under 10k. When the tensioner wheel rubs on the fork, they are fooked...

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08 Specialized Langster

Had to do mine on my old 9R at around 8K too.

Sealed for life only means you can't relubricate them it does not mean the bearings have an unlimited lifespan , so depending on how much bad weather they are exposed to etc the mileage before replacement will vary greatly.

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2001 X1 2009 1125CR 2006 Uly X3 2010 Uly a fully Maz'd S1 and a 1991 RS1200 Westwind.

I know these bearings are sealed for life but I was wondering about the penetrative qualities of the likes of Muck Off and similar products ! We always go on about high pressure washers and not to direct them into the wheel bearings, so do the same rules apply?

Absolutely yes. Damn ye, ye destructive lance of the Devil.

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'98 M2 Razorback, it's a keeper.

Never used a jet washer on it and i'm still on the originals at 30k. Smooth as.

Your preferance.. but have worked in Maintenance for a few years and they allways poped off the seal (on the side without the code on) so I do too - add some of my friction reducing grease - pop the seal back in.. (you can buy the seals from a good bearing shop if you would rather replace with a new one) not had a problem yet and have 18,000+ miles on my tensioner bearings now... free spirit pivot shaft is worn out but bearings still good.

Back when i were a lad... (your comments here) a bearing used to be "well" greased but in these modern "computer aided design" days they are just grease for "x" rotaions.. ie well wear out in "x" time.

Changed the front wheel bearings in the Uly at 17,000 to my "extra greased" ones and now at over 42,000 and there still good... but then again I don't pressure wash