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Headset ...
Hi guys,
Need to pick your brains again, this time about headsets. The bearing in mine seems to be worn, at least there is noticeable resistance when turning the handlebars and when I try to carefully adjust the headset I need to compromise between looseness and friction.this has been getting gradually worse over the last couple weeks.
The frame is a Scott scale 30 from 2006 and the headset is FSA (not sure which one) my understanding is that this is a semi recessed HS?
When these are worn, do you usually replace the whole unit or is it as easy as popping a new bearing in.
Wouldn't mind some background info and if someone could even point me in the right direction on CRC i'd be forever grateful...
thanks
s
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It amazes me what people will go through to avoid a trip to a bike shop!
After five years in your frame, your current headset is most likely dead and should be replaced. Forget trying to figure out which one you need and ordering from abroad. The fact that you're on this forum asking these questions tells me that you have niether the tools or the know how to change a headset. Besides, surely you value your own time enough to simply get the job done.
Just wheel your bike into a shop and ask for a Pro headset to replace your worn one. Pro is brand that is part of Shimano and it's good stuff. The whole job should cost less than $80. Depending on which headset you select.
There is a sense of satisfaction from doing things yourself. If time and money were the basis for doing things you'd catch a bus instead of riding a bike, or you'd buy a tin of tuna instead of going fishing. If he chooses to do it himself, give him the help he needs.
@ delicious.
I've never met you and I'm sure your frustration that you've included in your response, doesn't truly reflect your personality, but it does suggest you may have some involment in the industry, so maybe you could include that in your response. And I'm sure I've read on this site where you've carried out your own repairs and bike builds, this I'm sure is something you've learnt, before being paid for doing it.
Oh, just one last thing, "i before e comes after c", so niether s/be neither
Agreed, Zoom
scale00, If you do do-it-yourself, maybe post up a bit of a "how to" guide so others can try it themselves?
I like to try and have a go at things myself first, it's cost me time and money when I've buggered things up first attempt but now I do alot of things on the bike and car myself. The only way you learn is by having a go.
Chances are you require what is called a semi integrated headset. This is the type where the cups sit inside the frame. Other types include integrated where there are no cups - the bearings rest inside the frame and conventional type where the cups are plainly visible outside the frame. For the interested, go to the Chris King website and have a read about that company's dislike of reinventing the headset...
So, when purchasing your preferred headset from CRC, also purchase a headset cup remover, a headset press, a crown race remover and a crown race press. All these items are quite dear yet the good news is that they'll be used more frequently as time rolls by due the emergence of press fit bottom brackets. I've owned all these tools for many years and for a long time before I joined my current profession. Admittedly, these days I just do it at work...
Changing a headset is within the scope of most folk. It's not difficult at all. Youtube is bound to have lots of videos showing the procedure.
Remember; Use the correct tools, no short cuts or dodgy techniques.
Take your time
Use lots of grease
Don't install anything upside down.
A correctly adjusted headset should last a long time. I usually say the likely lifespan of a bike with the original owner, which is five years.
Through experience, most new bike buyers will upgrade within five years. The exception is die hard commuters. Just ten km each way to work adds up. After three years that's possibly 14000km, enough to destroy everything. These riders find it best to simply buy a whole new bike.
I do support those who wish to work on their bike themselves. I'm fully into the mechanical aspect of things which is why I can now disembowel suspension and build wheels. It is very satisfying indeed.
Kudos to those who pick up my spelling mistakes. I am the spelling/english language nazi and however I still get it wrong much of the time.
I seem to remember this website being posted up here (?) recently: http://www.canecreek.com/headset-fit-finder
As alluded to there are many tutorials and videos on the web, here's one as a starter: http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/workshop-h...
@ delicious - You made your point, in what seemed to be a unreasonably blunt manner for a community forum. You make some wild assumptions about the author and what their posting about. I've written on a few occasions to genuine newbies who come from the angle of 'I just paid $XXX to the local bike shop I want to do the work myself to save money', that;
(i) You'll take longer than bike shop mechanics will (what's the value of your time?) and
(ii) The quality will not be as high initially or, maybe ever (consider that this might be a problem, or it might not).
Maybe Scale00 has 3-4 bikes and whole heap of mates that also are about to change headsets. If this is the case the investment in the tools is well worth it, maybe he'll change one headset in his life and decide it is to much hassle. You don't know and nor do I. Maybe he's unemployed or retired and has no 'value' to his time, or maybe, he's genuinely interested and is throwing this out as a topic for a conversation. I know I'm interested it his and I've thought about changing headsets before.
I think a good rule for working out the value of doing work yourself is determining the cost of the tools versus the cost of the labour at a bike shop. If you need a wheel trued once every few years then it is probably not justifiable to buy a stand, spoke key(s), dishing tool, spoke tension gauge etc. If you own four bikes and are dropping wheels off once a month then maybe it is worth it, or maybe, the person might want to have a go and learn for their own benefit. I needed my brake mounts machined to fit Shimano brakes when I have previously used Avid brakes. As a dual qualified tradesman I am _sure_ I could have done this myself. As I'd expect this to be a once in a lifetime occurrence I was more than happy to pay the bike shop the cost of labour as I could not justify buying the tool(s), or the effort required.
You made a good point about the tools (they can be quire expensive and definitely required). If Scale00 was take your argument to its logical end he'd never ask another question in his life. Maybe you were born with all the knowledge in your head that you ever required. Most people seem to accept the idea of lifelong learning - asking questions is a usually a good way to do this.
If I wanted to be pedantic I'd point out the word English should be capitalised in the context you used it. I won't, because that might come across as rude. Just as your forum post might have. I'm sure it wasn't meant that way.
Andrew
Pratters,
You used "their" in the first paragraph of your reply to delicious. Did you mean "they're"? And unreasonably should have been preceded by "an" rather than "a".
(Flees in camp Bugs Bunny style).
And Pete, give a bike bro a chance. When you meet him, he might be built like me.
Yeah, I is well bored like innit!
I think you'll find "their" (in the 3rd paragraph
) is correct (if I removed the word "about" at the end of the sentence). 
Agreed re use of "a/an". I would also note that I don't claim to be a spelling/english (sic) language nazi (sic) as some other members claim to be...
Of course, as a forum should be, we have moved along way from the initial question...
Maybe the next reply could be with regard to helping scale00 with their question...?
Andrew
where are you working at now, if ppl would like too get you to service there bike ?
This thread proved well worth my reading. Most enjoyable and informative.
I did help the guy with his original headset question. Really! I did! Eventually...
Hey, I'm extra impressed that I've managed to get at least some of you to take some care when posting. Some of the most horribly composed posts I've ever read are on bike forums. Mind you, those on 4wdmob aren't much better and the guys at machinegun&grenademob are truly the worst. None of them progressed much beyond primary school.
For truly beautiful prose visit mylovelygardenmob and knitafabcardymob. Now, these folk truly know how to string a sentence together without a struggle.
I was keen for the original poster to learn how to fix his own bike because in recent weeks I've seen two people carrying tubes with the wrong type of valves for their wheel, and one of those hadn't checked his tyre pressure since buying his bike a few weeks earlier,(low tyre pressure is a warranty job isn't it?). So its important that people learn how their bikes work so they can sort things out for themselves.
... been away for a few days just to come back to this...
who would have imagined that a simple question about a headset could really hit a nerve...
where do i begin... for starters i'm not actually the first owner of this frame. i bought it secondhand sometime ago and started building it up into a serious bike. took me about half a year, so that should give you an indication of how much i value time spent on fiddling with the bike.
also, i had pretty much no knowledge of mountainbikes when i started this bike and now i can service most parts on the bike, and with the help of this forum and the internet i've even managed to replace a rear hub and build a wheel up from scratch. (still true after 6 month FYI)
so, when i discovered that the headset was gone i even got a little bit excited about the opportunity to tackle more unknown territory.
i do not hold a grudge against local bikeshops nor was i trying to cheat them out of their profit margin on spare parts. was just trying to get an idea of what actually sits behind the frame. the crc website seems to have the widest range on things and you get a very quick idea of what things cost. had i wanted to just get a cheap bike, i probably would have bought a complete bike on sale somewhere as you would probably get a much better deal.
call me a bike nerd but i just enjoy riding the bike and knowing exactly where every part of it came from and that i am happy with it.
plus, i quite enjoy the research part of it too.
so, thanks everyone for your input.
cheers
S