Setting headset bearings

On one of my bikes (A Breezer Uptown8 grocery chaser) the steering
head bearings tend to work loose over a few months of riding. It
first happened after the dealer set the bike up, so I reset the
steering head according to my own habits and it loosened up again.

My practice was to run the lower nut down to finger tight, hold it
and snug the upper nut to maybe 15 ft-lbs. Clearly that's not a
satisfactory procedure.

What's the customary practice?

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska

On 4/30/2019 8:32 PM, bob prohaska wrote:
On one of my bikes (A Breezer Uptown8 grocery chaser) the steering
head bearings tend to work loose over a few months of riding. It
first happened after the dealer set the bike up, so I reset the
steering head according to my own habits and it loosened up again.

My practice was to run the lower nut down to finger tight, hold it
and snug the upper nut to maybe 15 ft-lbs. Clearly that's not a
satisfactory procedure.

What's the customary practice?

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska




Your technique sounds workable.

You can check the adjustment afterwards by holding the front
brake on and rocking the bike fore/aft while feeling the
space between headset cups/races (either top or bottom).
Adjust to no discernible play as long as the fork still
turns freely. This normally requires two wrenches, for
locknut and top race. With only one wrench, it may not be
locked properly.

If you find that adjustment impossible, i.e., has play and
yet binds in places, replace the headset they're cheap.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

AMuzi wrote:
On 4/30/2019 8:32 PM, bob prohaska wrote:
On one of my bikes (A Breezer Uptown8 grocery chaser) the steering
head bearings tend to work loose over a few months of riding. It
first happened after the dealer set the bike up, so I reset the
steering head according to my own habits and it loosened up again.

My practice was to run the lower nut down to finger tight, hold it
and snug the upper nut to maybe 15 ft-lbs. Clearly that's not a
satisfactory procedure.

What's the customary practice?

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska




Your technique sounds workable.

This normally requires two wrenches, for
locknut and top race. With only one wrench, it may not be
locked properly.


Likely that's my problem. I need one thin 32 mm wrench. A thick
adjustable wrench is ok on top, but the bottom wrench has to be
thin. Time to go shopping.....

Thanks for writing!

bob prohaska

On Wed, 1 May 2019 01:32:54 -0000 (UTC), bob prohaska
wrote:

On one of my bikes (A Breezer Uptown8 grocery chaser) the steering
head bearings tend to work loose over a few months of riding. It
first happened after the dealer set the bike up, so I reset the
steering head according to my own habits and it loosened up again.

My practice was to run the lower nut down to finger tight, hold it
and snug the upper nut to maybe 15 ft-lbs. Clearly that's not a
satisfactory procedure.

What's the customary practice?

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska


One thing I have noticed is that the play in the threads is sufficient
on many bikes so that if you hand tighten the lower nut so that the
fit is just perfect and then tighten the lock nut, holding the lower
nut stationary, the bearing is too tight.
--
cheers,

John B.

On Wed, 01 May 2019 10:34:23 +0700, John B. wrote:

On Wed, 1 May 2019 01:32:54 -0000 (UTC), bob prohaska
wrote:

On one of my bikes (A Breezer Uptown8 grocery chaser) the steering head
bearings tend to work loose over a few months of riding. It first
happened after the dealer set the bike up, so I reset the steering head
according to my own habits and it loosened up again.

My practice was to run the lower nut down to finger tight, hold it and
snug the upper nut to maybe 15 ft-lbs. Clearly that's not a satisfactory
procedure.

What's the customary practice?

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska


One thing I have noticed is that the play in the threads is sufficient
on many bikes so that if you hand tighten the lower nut so that the fit
is just perfect and then tighten the lock nut, holding the lower nut
stationary, the bearing is too tight.

In that case you "back off" the lower nut. YMMV, but it has worked for me.
Effectively tightens the "lock".

On 01/05/2019 02.32, bob prohaska wrote:
On one of my bikes (A Breezer Uptown8 grocery chaser) the steering
head bearings tend to work loose over a few months of riding. It
first happened after the dealer set the bike up, so I reset the
steering head according to my own habits and it loosened up again.

My practice was to run the lower nut down to finger tight, hold it
and snug the upper nut to maybe 15 ft-lbs. Clearly that's not a
satisfactory procedure.

What's the customary practice?

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska

I assume it's a conventional threaded headset, in which case it's more
or less what I used to do. A few tips, just check the cups are nicely
seated and when you tighten it down, swivel the bars as far as they will
go in each direction, any hint of a tight spot[1] and change them for a
new set, they last a long time, but not forever.

I have to say I like the old quill bars, imho, A-headsets don't atually
bring anything.

[1] You might want to go around this loop 2-3 times, but you'll know if
you're not winning.

On 01/05/2019 02.32, bob prohaska wrote:
On one of my bikes (A Breezer Uptown8 grocery chaser) the steering
head bearings tend to work loose over a few months of riding. It
first happened after the dealer set the bike up, so I reset the
steering head according to my own habits and it loosened up again.

My practice was to run the lower nut down to finger tight, hold it
and snug the upper nut to maybe 15 ft-lbs. Clearly that's not a
satisfactory procedure.

What's the customary practice?

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska

Sorry for the double post, but Parks increasingly useful website has this;

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair...eadset-service

in particular step 7 Headset Bearing Adjustment.

On Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 9:32:56 PM UTC-4, bob prohaska wrote:
On one of my bikes (A Breezer Uptown8 grocery chaser) the steering
head bearings tend to work loose over a few months of riding. It
first happened after the dealer set the bike up, so I reset the
steering head according to my own habits and it loosened up again.

My practice was to run the lower nut down to finger tight, hold it
and snug the upper nut to maybe 15 ft-lbs. Clearly that's not a
satisfactory procedure.

What's the customary practice?

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska

If all the other advice doesn't work then check or have a shop check the front fork and frame for any slight bending.

Cheers

On 5/1/2019 6:02 AM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 9:32:56 PM UTC-4, bob prohaska wrote:
On one of my bikes (A Breezer Uptown8 grocery chaser) the steering
head bearings tend to work loose over a few months of riding. It
first happened after the dealer set the bike up, so I reset the
steering head according to my own habits and it loosened up again.

My practice was to run the lower nut down to finger tight, hold it
and snug the upper nut to maybe 15 ft-lbs. Clearly that's not a
satisfactory procedure.

What's the customary practice?

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska

If all the other advice doesn't work then check or have a shop check the front fork and frame for any slight bending.

Cheers


What they will do is turn the fork lock to lock, watching
the head cups to see if there's runout at the races. You can
do that at home.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

John B. wrote:
One thing I have noticed is that the play in the threads is sufficient
on many bikes so that if you hand tighten the lower nut so that the
fit is just perfect and then tighten the lock nut, holding the lower
nut stationary, the bearing is too tight.

I should probably emphasize that there's no problem with the workings
of the headset bearings, the bike steers just fine, there's no trace of
binding or sticking, no matter how tight I try to make the jam nut.

The only problem is that the adjustment won't stay locked. Possibly
this is a hint that I'm not really jamming the nut, merely tightening
the jam nut until I can't hold the lower nut without a good wrench.

Would anybody hazard a guess how much jam torque is typically needed?
I'm probably not exceeding 15 ft-lbs. If customary practice calls for
much more, then I'm simply not jamming the nuts and may in fact have to
back off the lower one to get correct adjustment _and_ a secure jam.

Thanks to all for reading and replying!

bob prohaska