A customer brought in a Bora WTO45 (rim brake version) for service.

I had inspected this wheel previously,
but the customer reported play in the hub that was affecting shifting.


The bearing adjustment was correct
and there was no lateral play in the hub axle.


The reverse-threaded right end nut that secures the freewheel body
wasn't loose either.


But just as the customer reported,
the sprocket had runout play in the radial direction.


When I removed the sprocket and shook the freewheel body alone,
there was considerable play.
When I removed the freewheel body from the hub axle,
the play disappeared.
Upon inspection, the bearing on the outside of the freewheel body had failed internally,
and metal had broken down into a sand-like material from rotation.
I've seen this symptom countless times in the past,
but I've never seen it on something this clean and with such minimal use history.


I removed the outer bearing from the freewheel body.
The inner bearing didn't seem to need replacement,
but I suspected it had taken damage from the runout condition,
and since it was a single-seal design,


I removed the inner bearing as well


and swapped it for the current double-seal version.

I reinstalled the freewheel body on the hub
and the sprocket as well, and when I checked,
the play was gone.

The fact that I've never seen this symptom appear in such a short timeframe—well, that's just an excuse.
The truth is I failed to catch it, so this time I'm paying my learning fee
and replaced the bearings at no charge.

The front wheel is also in for service,
and I checked both wheels on the truing stand,
but since they've barely been used since my previous inspection,
there was no runout.