pstock

a bike of mine with a Stronglight Delta headset needs new bearings. and it is proving a tricky task.

Stronglight directed me to a french supplier in Toulouse, XXCycle. XXCyle lists bearing cartridges for the Delta but when I received them, I found they were too big.

The ones I received measured: Interior diameter 1 3/8", exterior diameter 1 5/8" (~42mm) and the ones I am replacing measure : interior diam 1 1/8", exterior diam 1 7/16"

On recontacting XXCycle, they say they have done the best research they can (which presumably includes recontacting STronglight) but say they can't get the right item and so have refunded me.

which leaves me stuck.
I have recontacted Stronglight too and hopefully they can come through for me.

But does anyone have a lead on an alternative source?

clasher

Email V-O and see if the bearings they use in their needle bearing headset are the same size, and if they'll sell you a set.

Otherwise, take the bearings to an industrial supply place that sells bearings and they might be able to help you out. Failing that, a machine shop might be able to point you in the right direction.

dscheidt

A bearing supply house. Take the old ones with you. There's a roughly zero chance stronglight used a non-stock bearing.

JohnDThompson 

If these are the original Delta needle bearings, I'm not sure there is a standard industrial bearing you could substitute; they use cylindrical roller bearings in an angled retainer:


The newer cartridge bearing version probably does use a standard industrial bearing.

MichaelW

Delta bearings are the same as the A9.

Chombi

A9 replacement bearing sets, which I think is identical to what they put in Deltas have been available at eBay in the past and recently, Just do a search for "Stronglight" suction items. I believe they cost around 5 to 6 bucks.....pretty cheap, so stock up with a couple of sets.

Chombi

davidad

Try this one. https://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=2087

Iowegian

I think the A9 has changed to use cartridge style bearings like a Cane Creek S2. The old needle bearing A9's (and Delta's AFAIK) are no longer made.

Grand Bois

That's helpful.

It's strange that xxcycle doesn't have the correct bearings. I bought four A9's from them a while back. I'm sure they sold a lot of them because they had the best online price. Ben's Cycle was selling the bearings until recently for a very good price. I guess the supply dried up.

pstock

that's them!

pstock

Here is the somewhat unclear reply I got back from Stronglight:

"Dear Sir,
Thanks for your french answer,
Our company sell spare parts of headset 2011 to xxcycle but this spare parts are:
-spaces Alu or carbon
-expander
-ball bearings
If you want an other parts you must buy a new headset...

Best regards

clasher

The french word for the part you're looking for is roulements à aiguilles if that will help your quest at all. Check ebay.fr maybe?

pstock

thanks but Velo Orange replied that they didn't have any bearings. just an A9 headset. and I am not even sure that takes the same bearings. and I wouldn't ask them to strip the complete headset for my purposes.

Peter

pstock

I did receive what I thought was the correct replacement bearings from XXCycle but the package was marked with Stronglight part no. 260 085 (XXCycles part no is 11423) but the Stronglight part list shows this as "Set of NCS bearings 45deg- 41.??" (the last part is unreadable.)
but that 41.xx must refer to the outside diam which I do measure as about 41.5ish and which is too big for my headset.

stupidly, I have mislaid the original top washer (I've been working on this for about 6 months now) so I cannot exactly measure the original bearing set.
but my original notes say that I need something that measures about 36.50mm max 1 7/16" outside diam.

TimeTravel_0

stronglight delta a9 bearing dimensions that I get:

28mm ID
39.7mm OD

surreal

I consulted the magic 8 ball, and asked it if you'll find your bearings. "outlook not so good." I asked if you'd be buying a new headset. "Signs point to yes." And, will the OP be happy with this eventuality?

"Reply Hazy, Try again. Thanks for your French answer".

-rob

ps-what frame is this headset for?

TimeTravel_0

a solution:

buy the NOS A9 ben's cycles
use the bearings/races in your current headset.
put cannibalized A9 away until spare bearings/races inevitably come up on ebay.
sell complete A9 on ebay to break even.

or just get a tange levin.

JohnDThompson 

Bens' A-9s re newer production, with cartridge bearings.

Unless the old ones are obviously shot, I'd just keep using them.

Grand Bois

Doesn't Ben's still have the needle bearing A-9 in black for Paramounts? They did last time I looked. I can't look now because I'm at work.

canopus 

Bens looks to be sold out. That's where I bought some spares a couple of months ago. It seems they still have the headsets though.

davidad

That's what I get for just scanning the posting. It's a shame because it is a very good solution to the headset fretting problem.

davidad

If this will work. https://www.bicyclebuys.com/item/1604395/SZLA

pstock

Very Clever ...

this is for a Fuso.
But now that you remind me, given the Frankenstein nature of the current headset / stem setup (an extender stuck into the 1" headset...), I am wondering why I am beating myself up on this stupid penny-wise, pound-foolish quest.
A new FSA 1" threaded headset with regular boring BALL BEARINGS would cost about ... 30 bucks. Installed.

(although, before the ridicule starts in earnest, that headset is partially disassembled to remove the rusted bearing units that I started talking about....)

TimeTravel_0

they have a NOS black/paramount A9 for sale.

pstock

Update: I was up at Mike Barry's formerly-open-to-the-public-shop-now-basically-a-private-museum-and-clubhouse Bicycle Specialities, mentioned to Mike my maddening frustration chasing down these bearings and he looked at me askance and after a moment said: "why would you waste that much time phone Toulouse (XXCycle) and emailing Stronglight when you could have just asked me?"

and with that, he went to one of his drawers of NOS bits and bobs and promptly pulled out a pair of the bearings I was looking for.

But, his real point was that these bearings should not wearout and should not need to be replaced. He (and another ontime bike shop owner here) both felt that a good cleaning and maybe a bit of fine steel wool at worst and the originals should be as good as new. So, I will try that. (good thing I kept all the bits together.)

Mike also helpfully pointed out that these needle bearings are the same as those in a Miche Primato 1" threaded headset. So, for someone desperate to replacements (like I would have been if I hadn't held onto all the bits, like the upper and lower races) that might be another avenue. I've emailed Miche to ask if they can supply just the bearings for the Primato if necessary.

Finally, Mike also said "why don't you just swap out the headset for a new one?" and he's right. at this point it would have been easier and probably just as cheap.