Originally Posted by
HillRider
I believe that ring is a dust/water seal to keep contamination out of the lower bearing. Did you install it upside down? Some of these seals have a required orientation and won't work if not facing the correct way. Also they may cause a slight drag when first installed but that should go away with some use.
Thanks for the help. The drag seemed pretty significant compared to without though. And by orientation, you mean rotating it left or right around the race (as apposed to flipping it upside down) right? Ill mess around with it a little and get back.
In the meantime does anyone have any experience specifically with this headset? Will leaving this ring out cause my bearings to wear out significantly faster or is it more or less superfluous?