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Hi all, went for a ride Saturday , came home and washed the bike as usual. Went to go for a ride today and felt something was wrong. The headset (tapered) is very crunchy and gets stuck when i turn the bars. It's unusable.
I'm guessing crap and water have got in when I cleaned the bike. So first lesson is, don't clean your bike.
Anyhow is this something I can fix myself? Take apart, clean, re-grease? I've never had this happen before and this is my first tapered headset.
Of course , I have a race on Saturday ....
Thanks in advance
If it's crunchy I'd be looking to replace the bearings but in the meantime take apart, prize the seals or with a Stanley knife blade and flush with degrease, rinse, dry and then repack with grease - it'll probably keep you going.
It's not a tapered bearing specific issue, just poor sealing and/or cleaning technique.
It may be that all you to do is replace the bearing at the bottom of the headset - IME they last about a third as long as the upper bearing, usually about a year, and whilst it can be a pain to find the right one, they generally only cost about £15
May vary on different bikes of course
1. How do you normally wash the bike?
2. I assume these are cartridge bearings? They surely must be if it's a tapered headset, but there's a slim chance they may be cage? If so cage are notorious for grinding away and seizing once you've got water anywhere near the bike.
Oh, and you didn't use GT85 or similar anywhere near the headset? 😉
More seriously though, another thought is whether the crown race is fitting properly. Which bearing is grinding, top or bottom? Typically the bottom gets more cruddy and worse if the crown race fit is poor or more often the seals are poor or even lacking. Other thing is if there's any play in the steerer/headset then it could be letting crud in.
All that said, it could just be it's shot naturally and just needs replacing. Fairly easy job if it's a cartridge bearing, aside from trying to find the right replacement bearing.
It's cage bearings yes. Took it apart and top cage was rusty . Bottom was fine. Bathed both in degreaser and scrubbed off rust from top cage and have packed with grease. Seems fine , a little little little rough but will do until next week.
I washed the bike in the same way as always really. I think that's why I was a little surprised , as this just suddenly happened. No hint of roughness at all then suddenly locked.
Bike I had years back came with cage bearings and after washing sometimes it would grind away badly and I'd constantly have to regrease the bearings. I didn't jetwash and was careful I didn't get water in there, but still happened. Eventually I swapped the headset for ones with cartridge bearings and never had that problem again.
fill it with toothpaste and ride it for a while - kill or cure IME