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I need new bearings and have worked out that my headset is a zs 56 zs 56. Are bearings that fit one zs 56 headset going to fit another or do I need a complete headset to definitely get the right ones.
You need to know what is in there already. There are different thicknesses of bearing and angles etc that you need to get right. Do you know what the headset is?
What Nixie said.
The majority probably are the same, but some brands (FSA are the main culprit) use a 36deg taper rather than 45deg on the inside, and different heights of bearings.
Generally they're all the same because manufacturers will use IS52 bearings (which are mostly all the same) and just put them in a cup, and generally most other brands use a 45deg taper.
If what you have is just a generic headset then it's probably easier and better to just replace it with something like Hope or a Cane Creek 40 (or whichever model you can afford/justify) and then buying new bearings will be easy as plenty of places sell either genuine hope or Cane Creek bearings, or various replacements that fit.
Have a look here https://www.kineticbikebearings.com/sealed-bearings/headset-bearings.html
If in doubt mail them - I've found them very useful for odd bearings in the past.
IME there’s only so many bearing sizes in use and you can normally* steal the bearing from one ZS56 (and in sometimes ZS55) and put it in a different headset, during the great Chiggle bankruptcy purge I hoovered up a couple of random Brand X and nukeproof headsets that we’re going for like 99p, just in case the bearings came in handy.
*note, that is just my experience YMMV of course…
easiest thing to do is probably look for the cheapest ZS56 lower headset you can find, they’re all much of a muchness unless you’re spending the big money.
easiest thing to do is probably look for the cheapest ZS56 lower headset you can find, they’re all much of a muchness unless you’re spending the big money.
The cheapest ones lack a wiper seal between the crown race and the cup.
Normally I upgrade the lower cup to Hope or some equivalent for that reason, the upper parts are subject to less mud and water so unless it's building a new bike from scratch I tend to just leave the OEM one in there and they rarely give any trouble.