Review on 6004RS Bearing 20X42X12 Sealed Bearings by David Romo

I chose this bearing on the recommendation of other Honda Goldwing owners. They didn't recommend a specific VXB brand, just a stock model number that corresponded to a very expensive Honda part. Using Revain, I made a list of sellers who had the correct stock number and chose VXB because they had good reviews and the best selection. Looks like they knew stock, that's all they sold. After a rather difficult removal of the old bearings, I installed the new VXB bearings. It seemed to me that these were high-quality bearings, and I was glad that I made the right choice and saved a significant amount of money on repairs. But these bearings failed after 100 km. This is quite dangerous on a 915-pound bike at freeway speeds, as bearing failure, especially front wheel bearing failure, can be fatal. I can't say for sure why they failed, but when I disassembled the front wheel I found that several bearing balls were missing and the inner race and bearing retainers were loose and could fall off. They were advertised as "sealed, factory lubricated". My only guess is that they either weren't lubricated or the bearing couldn't handle the load. Lesson learned, you get what you pay for. Luckily the total cost was less than $10, but the time wasted waiting for parts was worth about a month of downtime on the bike, which is my primary mode of transportation. The amount spent driving my SUV during that time could easily have covered the cost of buying genuine Honda parts. The potential loss of life from an uncontrolled front wheel failure wasn't worth the few bucks saved. I also bought a rear wheel kit to replace next tire change but those bearings are going in the trash.