headset indexing?

[Richard Rose]

While doing a January tear down on my Clem I discovered what feels like headset indexing. The first time I ever experienced this was on my 1970's PX10. That was a Stronglight loose ball headset & you could feel and see the ball indents in the races from the headset being too tight. On the Clem I never felt it - the steering always felt precise. In the stand it felt fine. As soon as I removed the weight from the front of the bike - wheel, handlebars & stem, I could feel the headset was too tight and felt indexed. However, the races look ok to me. Pics of the races included here. My question is do modern sealed bearing headsets indent? If not, what else can cause the "indent" feeling? Crushed bearings? Is my headset toast or just not adjusted correctly?

Thanks for the help.

[Garth]

If it's the stock FSA headset with cartridge bearings I was told by someone at Riv that they send them out tight and that's how they feel. I thought it was too tight also. I haven't ridden mine but you have yours so if it's smooth when riding, leave it be as it was.

[Will Boericke]

I'm glad I came across this, as I have a very stiff FSA headset on a frame that I thought was screwed up somehow.  No indexing feeling though.

Will

[Richard Rose]

Very interesting. A sealed bearing could never “index”, correct? Do my races look ok? 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 11, 2024, at 1:32 PM, Will Boericke <wboe...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm glad I came across this, as I have a very stiff FSA headset on a frame that I thought was screwed up somehow.  No indexing feeling though.

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[Will Boericke]

The headset cups have no effect on the workings of a sealed bearing headset (unlike loose bearing).  They are just supports for the cartridges.  So indexing would be inside the cartridge, if present.  I don't know that I've ever felt a cartridge bearing index in any application.  Gritty feeling, sure, but nothing comparable to a really brinnelled loose bearing headset.

Will

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[Patrick Moore]

To get more use out of an indexed hs, try rotating the top bearing cup. The old loose ball Dura Ace headset I had on one my my nice mountain bikes started indexing, and I fixed it by rotating the top bearing cup by 90* and carefully re-adjusting bearing load. I daresay that the problem was caused by too much load when I first installed the headset.

On Thu, Jan 11, 2024 at 9:20 AM Richard Rose <rmro...@gmail.com> wrote:

... Is my headset toast or just not adjusted correctly?

[Patrick Moore]

Applies to loose ball headsets only, as others have indicated. Cartridge bearing hs's seems to last forever at least with a bit of care in initial bearing pre-load.

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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