Hi All,
I'm servicing my 9 month old Ridgeback Flight 02, which has integrated cartridge races top and bottom of the headtube. They had a reasonable coating of grease on them when I took them out, but now I'm refitting them I am not sure whether I should grease everything.
The headtube doesn't appear to have any cups in it, just a 45 degree chamfer machined into the aluminium wall at the top, and a 45 degree chamfer on top of the steerer.
Having read this article
http://chrisking.com/files/pdfs/Int2...sExplained.pdf
it reminded me of something similar I had read about the importance of *not* greasing bearing seats in other applications, the theory being that you want the race to be the part that moves, not the shell in its seat. Plus if the shell can move around easily on the grease, it will exacerbate the wear described in the article, especially if the grease picks up dirt etc. The article was rather scary regarding irreparably wearing out the seat!
But, equally I don't want to find the shell becomes stuck in the headtube the next time I service it.
So, what's the wisdom on grease/anti-seize for installing bearings (not inside the races themselves, just the fit to the frame/tube)? Grease the seats lightly or not, and should there be any grease on the steerer tube where there bearing touches it?
Many thanks!
Jon