This was my trainer bike for quite a few years and unfortunately I neglected any maintenance on it and it saw a lot of sweat/salt. Is this hosed? Should I just get a new fork/headset assembly?
by Cheap-Internet-7162
This was my trainer bike for quite a few years and unfortunately I neglected any maintenance on it and it saw a lot of sweat/salt. Is this hosed? Should I just get a new fork/headset assembly?
by Cheap-Internet-7162
5 Comments
Bet you £100 you’re not getting that headset upper race off…
seen way worse. Not worried
I’d rather not worry about the steerer tube and take the opportunity to lose a couple lbs off the frontend. Ritchey and Columbus have some nice options in both AL and carbon steerers.
Headset should be serviceable.
For safety critical stuff “when in doubt, chuck it out” is a valid approach. I’d probably ride it as a town bike happily, but for long distance off-road touring naaah. Get a usb endoscope, basically a phone camera on a cable with a light. Cheap and ideal for inspecting inside stuff like this
Try wet and dry grit paper. I’d start with 600 grit and go coarser if necessary to remove the rust. You can go finer depending on the finish you want.
It should get it clean but there might be some pitting. This won’t matter at all if you are leaving it on your indoor trainer. My guess is the steerer will be thick enough that if the pitting is minor it should be ok.
If you can remove the fork you could add some rust protection using ‘cold bluing solution’. It’s used for some firearms. It will turn the steel black. The black coating will hold onto oil and stop rust.
If the headset is stuck to the steerer clean the steerer above it. You can place a piece of wood on the end of the steerer and tap it with a dead blow hammer. Don’t impact the steerer directly, always have a piece of wood on the steerer and hit the wood.