Every year, I break down the Yellow Maserati: remove the pedals and cranks, remove the bottom bracket, replace the chain (or at least take it off and clean it, if it's not ready for replacing), remove the stem, drop out the fork, check the headset bearings and move 'em so they don't get all brinelled from wearing in the same place. (Most years, I change all the cables, too, but I've done so much of that this year that they don't need it yet. Maybe in the spring...)
Yeah, well, when I looked at that lower headset bearing, it was pretty much toast. The side cover on the sealed bearing had worn off, the balls were exposed, and some were ready to fall out.
This is why I do the breakdown, to catch stuff like this. Cane Creek, who made the headset I use, no longer makes the same model, but the replacements use bearings of the same size. And they now sell the bearings from their top-of-the-line headsets in a size that will fit into mine.
So the bearings are on order (might as well change the top one, too). Since I'm not riding this weekend (watch this space for a writeup of this year's Philly Bike Expo), I can wait for the package to arrive.
In other news, I did a wrap of the bars from the top down, instead of from the bottom up. It removes the need for the tape at the top, but I don't like the way the wrap goes into the bars under the caps at the ends on the bottom. I'll probably change it soon.
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