Hey everyone, I've this old bike for a year now. Sorry for the bad pictures but I'm working in a basement. I use it as a daily driver so it does around 50/60 km per week. Recently the steering has gotten very crunchy. So I opened up the headset (is what I think it's called?) and the bearings were kinda falling apart and there was no grease to be seen, just rust. I have as a quick fix given it some wd 40 and removed the broken bits but i need to order some new bearings. Is there anything specific i need to look out for? Are there standard sized?? I know i should also get some grease. The bike is a Centurion basic 7005 series with an aluminum frame. Thanks for any tips
by KillerKiktor
1 Comment
Given your description, I would expect the races (the cups the bearings sit in) are pitted, which means a new headset is in order. That’s not too expensive, but it does require specialized tools to remove the old headset and install the new headset correctly.
If, on the other hand, it is not feasible for you to replace the headset because of cost or time, etc., then it is possible to get new bearings (there are different sizes–hopefully there’s at least one that’s still intact that you can use to match to new ones), clean out the races as well as you can, and pack it all in with new grease. This is far from ideal and not recommended, but it’s up to you. The good news is that steering does not require the same amount of rotation as cranks or hubs, so it’s possible to get by for a bit doing it the cheap way.
Good luck!