Replacing Headset Bearings

[robc02]

I suppose we all miss the grease nipples we used to have on the bottom race.

Pity they've gone. So simple to inject clean grease from time to time.

Some Campag record (recent) ones have a removable rubber ring around the lower cup. It conceals lubrication holes - you need the pointed type of grease nozzle to fit it.

One of the many projects I have thought of but not (yet) got around to is to provide lubrication ports/nipples for the major bearings - BB, headset, hubs. It shouldn't be too difficult.

A lot of old bikes had such ports, including a grease/oil nipple near the bottom of the head tube.

[rjb]

Many years ago,when CJ and I probably both thought we were young,he wrote an article in the CTC rag on headset bearings.
The details were undoubtedly correct,explaining that headset bearings needed to be of the roller persuasion.
All sorts of apparently plausible excuses for not taking the correct route,from Chris King downwards,were advanced over the ensuing years.
Years during which the roller bearing headset in my wifes tricycle failed to show any signs of wear.
In spite of the fact that it has a very short head tube,and that it wrecked a campag headset in 18 months previously.
I am however,a reasonable man.
and a curious one.
I have found that,possibly predictably,only the lower race matters.
In fact,i don't recall ever dismantling a worn upper race.
This was brought on by a recent workshop rebuild,during which a formidable collection of intact upper races were discovered.
albeit none of them with the correct TPi for a Carlton!
r

Well more by luck than judgement i had to find a low stack headset to replace a failed shimano 105 low stack headset on my pergeout 531 pro frame. Fortunately i found that a stronglight A9 needle roller bearing headset lower race could be squeezed into the available room. Unfortunately there was insufficient room to put the stronglight top race in so i have a spare set of rollers if they should ever wear out. (just need to remember to regrease them occasionally and not let them dry out like Colin531)

[Mick F]

That's a great idea.
No need to have the same make/model top and bottom.
Pick the best race and bearings for the job!
Bottom race is always the weakest race.

I often wonder if a brass bush system would do at the bottom - with a grease port too of course.

[Phil_Lee]

It's not so much that the bottom race is weakest as that it carries nearly all of the load.
The top race has a pretty easy time by comparison.

[squeaker]

I often wonder if a brass bush system would do at the bottom - with a grease port too of course.

Brass! That's so 19th century
Try Norglide®

[De Sisti]

From Bikeradar pages on How to replace headset bearings

[Beakyboy]

I am going to replace the ball bearing in my lower bearing on my headset. I am going to go with stainless steel as I am near the coast and it rains a lot here. However, my question is this:

Which grade of stainless steel would be best? There is a choice of 316 or 420, what is the difference?

Alright that's two questions but whose counting?

[Brucey]

316 is more corrosion resistant than 420 but 420 is hard and 316 isn't.

So use 420.

Get a headset with seals in it.

Use decent grease, too.

cheers

[Mick F]

Beaky Boy!
You're back!
How's the shoes and the helmet?

Decent grease?
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=42374
I've found it, thanks to this forum.
Perfect for headsets, and I'm using it for everything now.

[Beakyboy]

I'm am, never really been away but since being laid off I have never been busier (lots of cycling!), the helmet is fantastic. the shoes are only okay imo, a little on the tight side, but seeing as its always raining here I never really get a chance to give them a good airing.
How are things on here, have I missed much?

What is the link to buy the grease?

[Mick F]

What is the link to buy the grease?

You need to chat to 531colin.
He organised a bulk-buy of it as it is expensive per single tube.
Sorry.

My shoes are fantastic. They love a good application of dark brown shoe polish, but suffer in the wet. They dry out well enough, but are not waterproof no matter how much polish I put on.

Missed much?
Tons! --- and the grease.

Colin:
Is it worth getting another set of people to get another shipment?
What was the minimum order?

[Brucey]

re. grease; if I read it right (and please tell me if I don't) CJ's preference was for a grease with a high viscosity synthetic base oil, maybe 1500Cst @ 40C, which is very washout resistant. Others like a light coloured grease so that contamination can be detected easily, and still others like grease with extreme pressure (EP) additives and friction modifiers. However the latter generally excludes the light colour and furthermore smells terrible and stains everything it touches; I can vouch for this since I have a 20Kg tub of such castrol grease in my shed; cat wee would be pleasant by comparison....

So after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing a compromise was reached in which a gease with a lower viscosity base oil was chosen (400-500Cst IIRC?).

I don't understand why this http://www.finishlineusa.com/downloads/pdf/Teflon_Grease_Info_Sheet.pdf didn't feature in the discussion since it is; a) designed for the task and b) meets CJ's dream spec as far as I can tell. It has a base oil viscosity of 1600Cst* and doesn't dry out, stain your clothes badly, separate, wash out, degrade in salt water or discolour (in the absence of contamination) even after prolonged use. It isn't prohibitively expensive, either; a 1lb tub will last an average cyclist about ten years or so and costs about the same as just one assembly with decent bearings in it.

-or am I missing something?

* [edit; I was missing something; the base oil in this grease is 1600 SUS not 1600Cst, so is approximately 300-400Cst in fact; still quite high; higher than most but not as high as some others]

cheers

[Mick F]

I don't know.
You weren't in the discussion, but if you had been, we'd have listened to you.

The final outcome was the final outcome, and 531colin volunteered to buy a job lot and we all chipped in. I bought two tubes - and they will last me for as long as I need bicycle grease.

If the subject needs revisiting, great! Count me out of any more grease though, I've got enough of something which is fantastic. If there's any better out there, good luck.

[531colin]

I remember the to-ing and fro-ing.....something smelled like cats micturate* and something was silly expensive?
I ended up buying Mobilith SHC 1500, in boxes of six 400 gram tubes from Gannon Oils dot com .....(from my E mail record)
the thread is here http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=42374 but it seems to peter out on page 5 without getting to a "conclusion"...have we lost a bit?
As I said at the time, I'm not qualified to give an opinion wether a grease is "good" or not.

* Edit....this program is smart....I typed something that rhymes with "hiss", look what it prints!

[rjb]

Iv'e been using this Rocol grease for years. No idea how it compares with what colin decided but the spec seems ok.
http://www.rocol.com/corp/index.php?opt ... &Itemid=93
£6.75 on fleabay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROCOL-SAPPHIR ... 3370b375e4