Headset Bearings - Caged to Cartridge

Donie75
Donie75 Posts: 92
edited January 2016 in Workshop
Hi, I have Ridley Eos winter bike. Came back from the club spin yesterday and the headset was making an awful grinding noise. I stripped it down and found that the bearings were small (5/32 I think) balls in a cage. The cage was damaged and the balls were loose. I brought them to the bike shop this morning and they said that I can swap them out for two sealed cartridge bearings. They sold me two BBB sealed cartridge bearings that have an angled seat. I thought there would be more in the box but it's just the bearings. They said I can pop out the existing unit and slot these in but I think I need more parts.
Does anyone know how to change from a caged ball bearing headset to a cartridge type unit. I presume I need a full headset kit rather than two cartridge bearings.

Comments

  • wishitwasallflat
    wishitwasallflat Posts: 2,927
    Don't know about your specific bike but myself and loads of others have made exactly that change on Specialized bikes. I think all Spesh bikes are now sealed cartridge OEM but even a few years ago lots had caged open bearings (mindset headset they called it - search on here for several previous threads). On a spesh bike you have to knock out races that sit on ledges inside the head tube (where the caged balls run) before you can drop in cartridge bearings . Once those races are gone though you can drop a cartridge bearing onto those ledges which are already in the headset and it works great.

    If your lbs are correct it seems on your bike you can drop the cartridge bearing straight in once the cages are gone. Seems odd to me though that there are no races in the head tube for the caged bearings - but - a quick look down inside the head tube and you will soon see if there is a nice ledge ready for the cartridge bearing or not (post a picture looking down and then another looking up into the head tube so we can see too).
  • Donie75
    Donie75 Posts: 92
    Thanks for the info. I managed to knock out the bearing cups but I have the wrong size cartridge bearing. Mine are BBB 41.8mm but I need 41mm. I found the other thread with all the info. Thanks. I need to change the bearing but I'm not sure what angle I need for the tapered split ring. It's not 45 degrees.
    I'll see what other ones are available in my LBS.

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