My new bearing removal tool arrived today, so I thought I'd try it out... to begin with I worried I may have just wasted £35 as the buggers wouldn't budge from the front wheel. I was just about to give up when I thought I'd have one last go, and ta daa (piccy below). Turns out it was user error, namely I hadn't spread the bearing extractor wide enough

The tool works well for removing the bearings - I used the slide hammer. Takes a bit of effort, but extracts the bearings cleanly with no risk of damaging the hub

The bearings themselves didn't look too bad for 37,000+ miles, but I thought I'd be proactive and replace now whilst I have a few days off & the weather's pants. Just need to install the new ones tomorrow, starting with the clutch lever (left) side

[Edit: just discovered you can't type 'h e y' as in 'h e y presto']