Eric F 

If there weren't parts missing, advising him how to make the correct adjustments, or directing him to a tutorial video, would be a good path to take. In this case, there seems to be parts missing. There also seems to be a significant lack of knowledge that would make accurately identifying the missing parts, what replacements to get, and how to install them, much more challenging. Especially with something as critical as the headset, making sure it's right is pretty important.

big john

Some can learn these things, some can not. People on the forum sometimes will say everyone who rides should learn mechanical skills. For some people this is a mistake and they should not be wrenching.
What seems like a simple task to you may be an overwhelming chore for a mechanically inept person.

big john

One of the guys I used to ride dirt bikes with is a plumber. When it came to his motorcycle or cars, fuggettaboutit. From overtightening the triple clamp on the fork until it broke to assembling another bike with the brake caliper in front of the fork leg to trying to assemble an engine for his truck 3 times and giving it to me finally, the list goes on. Great guy, worldly intelligence on many topics, and a great dirt bike rider, but not a mechanic.

big john

I'm a retired car mechanic. I worked at a Chevy dealer where we hired a kid fresh out of trade school, I think he was about 20 or 21. He could not work on a car without damaging something. Since we are paid piecework they tried to give him easy jobs so he could get something on the books. Nope. There was a recall on the Volt for hatch struts, paid .2, or 12 minutes. After we showed him how to do it, pop two spring clips off with a screwdriver and snap the new struts on, he still couldn't do it. I did some of them for him, just to show him again and no matter what, he was not able to do it. He lasted a short time before they had to let him go. We all liked him and tried to help with everything but he could not work with his hands.

Worse was a guy hired to do engine work. Had a good sized tool box and supposedly lots of experience. He was there 2 weeks and left a trail of destruction in his wake that took some of the other guys a long time to fix. He was unable to complete any task given to him and damaged engines on 2 trucks.

It happens with bicycles, too. On a ride start a friend forgot to lock the QR on her front wheel. I saw it clunking around and got her to stop. A friend looped the front brake cable wrong so it got caught on the front of the stem, I think, and when she turned straight from a parking lot maneuver it pulled the cable and stopped the wheel and she fell.

A friend had adjusted his bars before a ride and he asked me to ride his bike around to check for a noise, or something. When I applied the brake from the hoods the bar rotated forward and only good luck saved me from falling. He had left the stem bolts loose.

PeteHski

I agree with big_john. The opening post suggested the OP doesn't know what he's doing here (and no offence to the OP, it's okay to not know). I would take it to a shop, get them to fix it and explain what the problem was for future reference.

Of course it is likely to be a simple issue that any competent DIY mech could easily resolve. But that requires a basic level of knowledge that the OP hasn't demonstrated.

smd4

And less posts.

big john

More is better.

3alarmer 

...first, this thread would probably stand a better chance of a positive outcome in the mechanics forum. But I suppose that's not guaranteed any more.
Second, and more importantly, if you reference my link to the sort of bike we're discussing, none of the bike shops in my town will take this on as a repair. It's economically contraindicated as a professional repair.

Even at the do it yourself bike co-op here, I would often give these away to the charity that repairs bicycles for the homeless.

Lastly, it's probably a mistake to judge the mechanical competence of someone whose residence is in Portugal, by whatever few lines of text he writes in his first post. I can understand someone's reluctance to offer online mechanical advice. I share many of the same concerns. But the mechanical advice portion of Bike Forums was one of the original components of it, and it seems somehow a little bit odd to me that there are now a number of people in this thread who have banded together in order to simply tell someone it must be beyond his capability. Maybe it is. But the existence of the Bicycle Mechanics forum here (not to mention all the other online repair information/forums about bicycles), seems to go in another direction.

If I'm still on your ignore list, no problem. I don't know anything anyway.

3alarmer 

...if I have learned nothing else from preferences in the modern bicycle gear train, it would have to be this.

Eric F 

Except for chainrings, based on current trends.

Eric F 

The OP clearly indicated a lack of knowledge about the assembly/adjustment of the headset and stem by their confusion about why the top bolt wasn't giving the adjustment they were looking for. The OP also indicated that there are missing bearings. There really aren't any unnecessary bearings in a headset, and a bike shop is a good place to go to get headset bearings. At the same time, they can learn more about how it works, so they will be more prepared the next time. That seems pretty reasonable to me.

big john

Someone who says this "I think when I was younger I pulled a wheel bearing from somewhere in frame between the handlebars and the forks, but cant seem to the get forks out anyways." should definitely get some in person help.

3alarmer 

...nowhere in this OP does it say that the person (as a kid), took out and lost one of the headset bearings. What it says is that he removed a bearing, in an attempt to drop the fork, and it didn't work. Presumably, he might well have put it back together, but incorrectly. Everything in this thread has been a classic example of a self reinforcing mindset that does not blend well with teaching. Somewhere along the line, someone made a judgement call that this question is indicative of someone who is incapable of performing this operation without in person, hands on instruction. Again, I reference the fact that the basic premise of having a mechanics forum here, is that many people can struggle through learning to do this, without in person supervision. I honestly do not know if this is one of them. What I do know is that he is unlikely to return to this thread. In his place, I wouldn't.

You might very well be correct, and this will not go well. All I'm really pointing out to you is that you have made a presumption, backed it up with anecdotal experience, and decided that a friendly local bike shop is the best option for someone with a relatively small problem with a very low end ATB.

I know from talking to the people who work in the repair departments of at least two of the remaining professional bike shops here, that they simply cannot justify the time and liabilities involved with working on BSO's. I know this, because they were very supportive of our co-op shop, so that they could send such cases over to us, as a workable alternative.

What might be more appropriate, in this case, would be to ask the OP for some clarification. But everyone who has attempted to encourage this new poster (now some years older), in his pursuit of knowledge, has been summarily shut down. This is a bicycle that will not get repaired, if the owner is not doing the repair himself. It's simply not valuable enough.

Like the OP, I'm out now.