I have a Specialized Hardrock mountain bike that’s been giving me problems and I’d like to know if it might be unsafe to ride.

At some point a couple years ago, the steering became “sticky”. The handlebar wouldn’t turn smoothly and would make some grinding sounds when I turned the handlebar back and forth. Last year, I partially disassembled the headset. I noticed the ball bearings in the top part and the lower part. The top part looked OK, but the area around the lower part near the fork looked very dirty. I figured dirt from the front tire got kicked up into there and was causing the grinding. The bearings were only slightly dirty and didn’t fall out. I cleaned the area pretty well and put everything back together. Steering was slightly improved for awhile until this year. Then it got sticky again.

Well, last night I took things apart again to do another cleaning. This time, the ball bearings fell out immediately, and they were all a dirty dark brown color. That studded ring they were mounted in was slightly deformed in a couple places, and a couple other plastic rings that were in that area were broken. Also, I found a couple of shredded pieced of metal. (They may have been smashed ball bearings. I don’t know). All I could do was take out the broken pieces and then put everything back together without them or the bearings. Was that a mistake?

Today, I took the bike out for a ride. The steering is still sticky, but not much different than before. If I leave things as they are and just “put up with it” since the bike is still rideable, am I looking at a catastrophic failure in the near future? I am currently using this bike as my rain and winter bike.

Hi-

As it is the bike is probably unsafe, because you need smooth unimpeded stearing to maintain control of a bike.

However, you may not need an expensive job to get it going again. If you're lucky, riding it the way you did didn't seriously damage the races, and you need only replace the balls, with or without the metal retainer.

Drop the fork, and inspect the headset races for damage on the track where the balls run. It's usually a grayish line down the middle of the polished area. If the track is OK, you need only replace the balls.

Headsets usually use either 5/32" or 3/16" balls. If you have any left over measure them or bring them to the LBS to compare and buy replacements. If you don't have any left, bring the entire bike & they should know what size you need.

You can skip the retainer, and go with loose balls. Work upside down because it's easier as the balls will stay in the cups. Put a bead of grease into the cup and one by one load balls until the track is full. Be careful not to put one too many in. If in doubt one less is fine, but one too many is a serious problem. Carefully re-assemble the fork into the frame, and spin it to make sure all is OK, then assemble the rest of the headset and adjust it so there's no play in the fork, yet it's still 100% free. Test for play by applying the front brake and rocking the bike forward and back checking for fork movement.

Good luck.

BTW if the headset is shot, decent ones aren't that expensive and any decent LBS should be able to do the job affordably.

Sounds like the caged bearings were put upside down in the headset. There is a up and down to bearing retainers, and sometimes there is a top and bottom bearing, depending on the brand of headset. Although, for your bike- an entry level Hardrock, that's less likely to be the case. Somewhere along the line, the bearing retainer was put in upside down in one or both cups. The races and cones chewed everything up. It happens- this will be the experience that teaches you how to put the bearings in the right way (and read this with a bit of gentle sarcasm- I'm trying not to be a jerk about it).

Your bike needs bearings in the headset to function properly. The steel 'studded ring' is not absolutely necessary, but it does make installation, overhauling and maintenance a lot easier. Bearings and retainers are cheap. The LBS prolly has em in stock for well under $10.

I'd inspect the headset cups, adjusting cone and crown race though. If any of them are gouged or pitted, it's time to replace the entire headset- cups, bearings, cones, crown race. The condition of the bearings and what's left of the retainer points to further damage to the bearing surfaces. A replacement headset plus installation will cost ya a little bit, but it will not be obscene.

If you want to protect the headset from dust and grime, Lizard skins makes a neoprene dues shield for lower and upper headset cups. A set of full coverage fenders will make a difference in headset life too.

I might give what you said a try. I have never really done much mechanical on my bike, although I've tried and then messed up some stuff. I watched a Youtube video to learn about how to take the headset apart.

I also had asked at the LBS about how much they'd charge for fixing my headset, and they said it'd be about $50. I don't know if that's too much for it or not.

Probably reasonable if it includes the headset, and depending on which. Totally unreasonable just for servicing yours and replacing the balls or retainer.

It's possible that what you said is true about things being put together upside down. I didn't do the installation, so I wouldn't have a clue. It was all put together at the LBS before I bought it. But I would hope that they'd know how to do things right. They may have gotten sloppy the day they put my bike together.

How much do you think would be reasonable if they were just doing the servicing and replacing the ball, etc.?