Cycological engineering – an unscheduled headset bearing cage disintegration…..

….Yes indeed, I like bike maintenance, I like it because it is simple technology that can be done anywhere provided you have the necassary tools. Of course this is a compromise as there are componenents that will wear out quicker and some that will last for as long as you keep the bike – the frame for instance, and there are some things that could happen that I might not be able to repair even with a bike, like a break in the frame for instance. That has only happened to me once and on a steel frame…….I have never had an aluminium frame fail on me and I have been riding aluminium framed bikes since  1992 when I bought my first cannondale a T600. But on the whole most maintenance problems can be solved even in the middle of nowhere and if it’s really bad then usually something can be done to keep you cycling at least until you find a bike shop.

So I was out cycling as usual an almost everyday occurance and I noticed that I really needed to have a look at my headset bearings the realisation had been building for the last few rides. Nothing bad, no horrible grinding, no sudden metallic pings just a slight tightness in turning the bars. I also got a puncture, but with only 2.5 miles from base…. with plenty of wind…..and rain…. I decided to walk back to fix the puncture, and thought well ok lets do the headset bearings too…..

What a mess…..

Now I tend to go with if – it’s not broken – don’t fix it philosophy……that does not mean I don’t look after my bike I clean it and check it regularly but the headset bearings have never given me any indication that they were in need of checking, partly I guess it is that they are integrated, sealed and internal to the frame so nothing obvious to see that is wrong. It was as I wrote just the feel of the handlebars that made me want to check them, so the state of them is really my fault for not checking them sooner.

What a mess…

Here are some images and a brief outline of what I did to keep cycling while I wait for new headset bearings to arrive. I shoiuld say as well that the headset bearings have not been changed or looked at since I bought the bike in February 2016.

So the puncture happened on 18 Jan 2021 I began dismantling on the 19th and no issues I was expecting the bearings to be seized but no they came out ok…..forks and bearing race cleaned up well…..

Forks and bearings removed – Lower bearing frame support cleaned

Upper bearing frame support cleaned and greased The lower frame bearing support also had plenty of grease applied. But for the upper race it was particularly neccasary.

This image shows the spacers and the split ring along with the top cap and bolt that’s the top row. The upper bearing – what a mess. On lots of youtube video’s they will say you cannot take these apart to clean them…..well you can… I have done so in the past and I have no choice but to do so now. I do not have any spare headset bearings and I am not going to miss my daily bike rides so here we have the upper bearing it actually was really awful I could see bits of the bearing cage in bits as I removed it from the  frame…OOOOPS… surprisingly it still rotated…after a fashion. To take the bearing apart I used a small scew driver to prize open the bearing careful not to loose any of the bearings and was then able to separate the individual bearings from the wreckage of the bearing cage. On the second row we have the lower bearing race – left, the seal – middle, and on the right the upper bearing race. They actually cleaned up well and were still usable. The third row – somewhat messy – are the bearings …..and what remains of the bearing cage…. a completely disintegrated set of chewed up bits of metal….so that was totally done and I would have to place the bearings back in the bearing race without the cage.

Bearings cleaned…..sort of….well as good as they can be….

Bearing race cleaned…

re greased…

Bearings put back as evenly as poss with lot’s of grease….

Upper bearing race located onto the bearings….carefully so as not to displace or loose any bearings….

Packed with more grease…

seal replaced

The lower bearing was much less damaged as you can see from the following images…..

from left to right lower bearing race, bearings in their cage still intacked, upper bearing race and seal….

Upper bearing race re greased…

Bearings in their cage cleaned re greased and placed into the lower bearing race…

Upper bearing race cleaned and put back…

Seal put back….

….And then it was simply a case of putting everything back together and while doing so re greased all the other spacer and split ring components to keep as much of the weather out…

Lower head set bearing back in the frame….

Upper headset bearing back in the frame…

Fork put back without the split ring…..

Split ring located….

Split ring and bearing cover/spacer…

Second spacer….

Third spacer…

Stem located…. after this it was simple to lock the stem/drop bars in place in the right orientation and in alignment with the front wheel with the cap and bolt, and all is well.

That was all two days ago….Yesterday I did a short 22 miles after this and all is fabaroo. I have a new set of headset bearings on the way but they are not expected to arrive until first week of February and with the weather and being on the Isles of Scilly it could be longer so I will report back to let you know how many miles I cycled with the what is left of the old headset bearings back in the frame. Yesterday’s ride felt great no stiffness in the handle bars. It all felt smooth No metallic pings or any problems at all….

as of the 20th Jan I have completed two rides with these bearings reinstalled – 53 miles and no problems. Still waiting for the new headset bearings to arrive. The only noticable thing is if I hold the forks of the ground and rotate the handlebars you can tell that the bearings are worn, but no metallic pings, no grinding, no sticking, no stiffness….

Another 30 bike on the 21st Jan 2021 ride brings the total mileage up to 83 miles with no problems, still using the old damaged headset bearings and still awaiting deliver of new headset bearings…

Another bike ride today 22nd Jan 2021……somewhat shorter due to the previous evenings enjoyment of much wine a little whiskey and two fab MCU films – Infinity War and End Game…… so a 15 mile bike ride same situation. No deteriation which brings me up to 98 miles on dodgy headset bearings……

Well as of the 24th Jan 2021 my headset bearings are done, that’s it the last short ride yesterday left no doubt in my mind as they was lot’s of play in the headset. So the experiment is over but it shows that with care even with some knackered components it is possible to squeeze out a few extra miles, in this case 141 miles. It’s a uaeful thing to know how to push things sometimes beyond the limits. In Europe I doubt very much I would have to cycle anywhere near that distance to get to a bike shop. But further a field knowing this could be a life saver……

In the past I have also managed this feet with the bottom bracket of my first Cannondale in the far North West of Scotland and the repair I did which was basically the same allowed me to finish that tour, get back home and have the bottom bracket replaced….