I had my vintage bicycle (Debernardi) upside down to clean and check on it the other day and noticed that you can see the bottom bracket bearings. See pic. My question:Should these not be covered to prevent dirt from getting into the bearings?Is there some part missing? This does not seem right to me. Thanks in advance!

No, that's the way they were built...HOWEVER, I never liked that design, and neither did a company called Lizard Skins that made a headset protector made out of neoprene with velcro ends; so you wrap the Lizard Skin thing around the headset and it's good to go. I bought 2 of them over the years, they last a long time, one of mine is around 35 years old and it still does what it was designed to do...and that's keeping water and dirt out of that area.

Most headsets I've used have a smaller gap than that.
Not ideal, but since the headset just sits there and doesn't do much, it's not as critical as keeping BB & wheel bearings clean.

Yeah, some headsets are like that. BITD, before "Lizardskins," we just cut a section of old inner tube and stretched it over that part to cover the gap.

Worked fine.

First thing I wonder about is the lower stack (and not the bottom bracket...) ball diameter and count as well as whether a retainer ring is upside down. next up is whether a plastic gap sealing ring has broken and fallen offf. But using a lizard skin or tube section are good ways to keep most of the big crap out in the future. Do you know the headset brand or model? Andy

Seems a large gap and the ball bearings do not seem to be lines up in a circle.
Could be one too many in there.

I'm fixing up a 1979 Trek 510. It had a headset like that where you could see the bearings. I decided to replace it but I like JohnDThompson 's idea of using an old inner tube. You have to like a cheap and effective hack.

yes thanks , it is a campagnolo Veloce Headset. See new pictures below

thanks great scot I did not know that. That is good learning for me.

That space is to big, the seal is probably missing, see Campagnolo Spare Parts Catalogue - 1995 Product Range page 4

Is it possible the fork crown race is on upside down? The profile of the crown race seems very odd, IMO.

Campagnolo headsets ( of all levels) are more precise than this.

A retainer upside down or to many bearings( both mentioned above) may also be in play.

rusty

I agree with Rusty in the above post. It sure looks like the crown race is upside down.

thanks I will check this. I think I will have to take this all apart , take apart headset , remove fork to see inside what might be either missing or incorrectly installed. No way around this. The stearing does seem fine and is smooth so maybe a seal is missing as you say.

Thanks. I will have to take it all apart to see if this is the case. Oh well I guess it will be a good learning for me.

thanks. I agree. it seems odd.

Fork crown race is definitely upside down.