ronfinch

Hi all,
I recently replaced my headset bearing races with some I bought from a local bike shop for about £4. Not sure of the different types available - I have a couple of years old marin point reyes tih original forks/headset etc - the type of bearings in there originally/that I bought as replacement are simply a small bearing retainer I think it is called which holds the bearings in place... (Hope that makes sense).

Anyway I took the old ones out, thoroughly greased the new ones and put them in place of the original ones, put the forks back through the headset, positioned the stem, then: tightened the (I think it is called) adjusting bolt until there was some resistance to turning, then tightened the stem to the tube to which the forks are connected...

Theat was fine - rode for about 20 miles until just now - started feeling very strange, walked home with bike, took the forks out of the headset to find the bottom bearing race was buckled, and a couple of the bearings were missing. I am wondering what could have caused this? At the moment I suspect it was either the adjusting bolt was too tight, or the bearing races were of low quality..

What does anyone think? Can they suggest any good quality bearing races?

Thanks in advance - hope the description above is clear, will clarify if necessary!

Cheers

Ron

edit - I have taken apart/cleaned/regreased old bearing several times (they finally needed replacing really) and didn't tighten adjusting bolt etc any tighter than I normally have done...

ronfinch

No-one..? Oh well...

JanMM

You replaced caged ball bearings with caged ball bearings? That's all you replaced?

ronfinch

Yep that was all. I have a feeling that I over-tightened the adjusting bolt to be honest - even though I have never done it before. Do you (or anyone) know if all caged ball-bearing are the same? Can anybody recommend any particularly good quality ones if there are differences.

Cheers

Ron

JanMM

If you put one or both of the caged balls/retainers in upside down, that could cause problems.

Joshua A.C. New

Also, you over-tightened the cap. It only has to keep the fork from wiggling. Any more and you'll squish stuff. It sounds to me like either JanMM is right and you put one it upside down, or you crushed the retainer and lost a ball, probably when you opened it up to look.

It requires surprisingly little pressure.

rmfnla

That's exactly what it sounds like to me.

ronfinch

Definitely didnt put either upside down - think I applied too much pressure.
I could only get fairly generic replacement bearings - does anyone know any decent ones - have looked around on web without much luck...
Cheers

JanMM

Look for grade 25 balls, either caged or loose, from a bike shop or online. Make sure they are the same size as what was in there originally.

ronfinch

Thnks JanMM will do that