slight stiffness at steering center

[Nathan Dushman]

The steering on my bike has developed a slight stiffness with the wheel pointed straight ahead. I've seen this referred to as "brinelling" or "indexed steering." It's only noticeable when the bike is hanging on a rack, not when riding. I tightened the headset a few months back and haven't ridden it much since; I don't remember noticing this stiffness at the time, but maybe it was already there. I didn't think I tightened it that much, and I do feel confident in my ability to adjust a headset, so I don't think I over-tightened it. Loosening it now doesn't remove the stiffness unless it's much too loose.
Questions:
- Is there any reason to fix this? If so, how? Let a shop deal with it?
- I've never taken apart a headset. Am I supposed to lubricate or otherwise maintain it regularly?

Nathan

[Peter Chang]

2015-02-03 9:54 GMT-08:00 Nathan Dushman <n...@abtech.org>:
> - I've never taken apart a headset. Am I supposed to lubricate or otherwise
> maintain it regularly?

yes

[Nathan Davis]

Indexing generally indicates that at best the headset is possibly a little tight or in need of fresh lubrication or, at worst, was loose enough at some point that the bearings inside damaged the race. The latter will require a new headset, the former can be resolved by a mechanic.

-- Nathan

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[Ben Kochie]

Sounds like damage to me. :-(

--

[Scott Crosby]

most times "maintenance" of a headset is replacement, since they're cheap. unless it's chris king* -- everything is replaceable, and worth replacing -- but I know your Scott is not so equipped.

since easing the preload on the bearings doesn't help, just replace it.

*or campy or dura-ace and a few others.

[Nathan Dushman]

It's an integrated cup system, so if I understand correctly, I can probably fix this with a pair of correctly-sized sealed bearings, and minimal tools? Is that pretty much the same as replacing the entire headset, since the headset is mostly a pair of bearings? Or possibly, but less likely, I can fix it with some grease in the right places?

Nathan

[Scott Crosby]

the great thing about integrated headsets is there are so many standards!

the angles vary... I'd just buy the exact same part # on ebay and replace the whole enchilada. probably about $40.

[Jason Thorpe]

> On Feb 3, 2015, at 1:56 PM, Scott Crosby <scr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> most times "maintenance" of a headset is replacement, since they're cheap. unless it's chris king* -- everything is replaceable, and worth replacing -- but I know your Scott is not so equipped.

Not only that, but most headsets these days can’t be re-lubricated because they have sealed cartridge bearing units.

> since easing the preload on the bearings doesn't help, just replace it.

If you replace it, I can heartily recommend the Ritchey WCS headset — I have it on a few bikes and it’s great, and not terribly expensive.

> *or campy or dura-ace and a few others.

Only modern headsets I’m aware of that can be overhauled are the Chris King (requires special tool, right?) and Campagnolo (proper ball-in-cage headset).

-- thorpej

[Jason Thorpe]

> On Feb 3, 2015, at 2:04 PM, Scott Crosby <scr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> the great thing about integrated headsets is there are so many standards!
>
> the angles vary... I'd just buy the exact same part # on ebay and replace the whole enchilada. probably about $40.

And if you replace the whole thing, make sure you also replace the fork crown race. I have the puller and pressing tools if you need ‘em.

-- thorpej

[Peter Chang]

2015-02-03 15:51 GMT-08:00 Jason Thorpe <tho...@me.com>:
>
>> *or campy or dura-ace and a few others.
>
> Only modern headsets I’m aware of that can be overhauled are the Chris King (requires special tool, right?) and Campagnolo (proper ball-in-cage headset).

for most servicing, king requires an xacto knife for popping the seals
off. pulling out the bearing is a blind puller (or slide hammer, if
you have a replacement not servicing), but most people don't have
these sitting around.

\p

[Ken MacInnis]

Oddly, the headsets don't require any special tools.

The hubs definitely require a $400+ tool and I've already sent my current ISO disc hubs back twice for slippage, since most shops don't even bother to carry the tool (or say they don't).

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[Peter Chang]

2015-02-03 16:25 GMT-08:00 Ken MacInnis <ken.ma...@gmail.com>:
>
> The hubs definitely require a $400+ tool and I've already sent my current
> ISO disc hubs back twice for slippage, since most shops don't even bother to
> carry the tool (or say they don't).

the tool is basically a blind puller / press. other than the freehub
body bearing the other bearings can be done w/o the tool. the bit of
the helical thing probably needs the tool too, but i've not had issues
w/ that.

otoh, i've found their bottom rbackets (british / threaded / sram) a
little rough. maybe it's the weirdness w/ the sram gxp stepped crank
thing, but the torque spec puts it at a place w/ noticeable
seal/something drag.

\p

[Patrick Kitto]

Cane creek does a damn fine job of having a headset for every conceivable standard out there. 

Their website has a pretty useful database as well. 

[Eric Altendorf]

Is it a beater?  If so, ignore it until it affects riding.  Then, ensure you maintain speeds over 20mph, so you never have to actually break out of the index.  If not possible, replace head set or rotate such that the index is elsewhere, if possible.

--

[Scott Crosby]

one man's beater...

I assume this is your Scott road bike, eh Nathan?

[Nathan Dushman]

It's the older of my two Scott road bikes, yes. It's almost 10 years old (an
'06 model) even though I haven't had it that long, so maybe not surprising
that some parts need replacement.

Nathan

[Nathan Dushman]

Finally got around to looking at this this weekend. It's a caged bearing system, with what appear to be press-fit cups in the top and bottom of the headtube. There was no grease left in the lower bearings, and I can see dimples in the cups and races. I cleaned and re-lubed everything, and it's definitely better now. I may also have rotated the bearings in a way that they no longer line up with the dimples. When I do finally replace the whole headset, how do I replace the press-fit cups, or is that best left to a shop? What's the recommended maintenance interval for a headset?

Nathan

On Wednesday, February 4, 2015 at 1:03:15 PM UTC-8, Nathan Dushman wrote:

It's the older of my two Scott road bikes, yes. It's almost 10 years old (an
'06 model) even though I haven't had it that long, so maybe not surprising
that some parts need replacement.

Nathan

On Wed, Feb 04, 2015 at 12:22:47PM -0800, Scott Crosby wrote:
> one man's beater...
>
> I assume this is your Scott road bike, eh Nathan?
>
> On Tue, Feb 3, 2015 at 8:58 PM, Eric Altendorf

> wrote:
>
> > Is it a beater?  If so, ignore it until it affects riding.  Then, ensure
> > you maintain speeds over 20mph, so you never have to actually break out of
> > the index.  If not possible, replace head set or rotate such that the index
> > is elsewhere, if possible.

[Peter Chang]

2015-02-17 17:24 GMT-08:00 Nathan Dushman <n...@abtech.org>:
> When I do finally replace the whole headset, how do I replace the press-fit cups, or is that best left to a shop?

screwdriver w/ a mallet if you don't have the real thing. replacement is some brass end caps w/ some bolts. the shop won't be that much better except that the brass bits will be better fit to the cups to avoid damage.

\p

[Jason Thorpe]

> On Feb 17, 2015, at 5:24 PM, Nathan Dushman <n...@abtech.org> wrote:
>
> Finally got around to looking at this this weekend. It's a caged bearing system, with what appear to be press-fit cups in the top and bottom of the headtube. There was no grease left in the lower bearings, and I can see dimples in the cups and races. I cleaned and re-lubed everything, and it's definitely better now. I may also have rotated the bearings in a way that they no longer line up with the dimples. When I do finally replace the whole headset, how do I replace the press-fit cups, or is that best left to a shop? What's the recommended maintenance interval for a headset?

When you’re ready to replace the headset, gimme a holler. I have all of the tools to remove the old cups, press in new ones, remove the fork crown race, and press on a new one of those. Also, decent set of speakers in the garage for entertainment (OG Black Sabbath goes well with bike maintenance).

This job is actually super-easy to do. My daughter (then 8) installed the headset on her bike.

As for recommended maintenance interval, “that depends”. A bike that’s exposed to the rain is going to need it more often. That said, most of my bikes have headsets with sealed cartridge bearings. I check them once in a while (whenever I decide to give the bike a strip-down cleaning, usually about once a year), but none of my Ritchey WCS headsets have needed a bearing replacement yet. I guess I should check the Tange headset on my vintage Cannondale (it’s a loose-ball headset).

-- thorpej

[Jacky Schuler]

> My daughter (then 8) installed the headset on her bike.

+1 if I ever have kids I'm going to go to you for parenting advice!