Brucey wrote:robing wrote:…. He adjusted it a bit and all is good. .
if water has got into bearings and they have become stiff (even temporarily) they will need more than 'a bit of adjustment' . In particular the corrosion (which is surely what has caused any stiffening) may well be ongoing and this will shorten the life of the headset. Wear rates in corrosive conditions can be x10, x100 or x1000 higher than when corrosion is not active.
The best thing you can do if there has been water in a bearing is to clean and regrease it pronto. If the component has a lube port you may be able to do some good by purging with fresh lube, but lube ports are (sadly) not often seen these days.
Most often bearings on bikes come from the factory loaded with poor quality grease (which is soon overwhelmed in conditions that favour corrosion) and not enough of it to boot. Repacking bearings with more, better quality grease is basically mandatory if you want poorly sealed components to last in the wet.
cheers
He didn't do anything to the headset. He said the bearings will need replacing at some point but was fine for now. It was the rear brake he adjusted. Thanks.